The Frozen Four | Tour Guy Road Notes

So basically, the theme of this week's episode is that hockey fans are more fun to be around than wrestling fans. Actually, to be more specific, North Dakota hockey fans are more fun. I'm not necessarily excluding Notre Dame, BC, or Michigan fans, it's just that there were 20x more Fighting Sioux fans than anybody else. It wasn't even close.

Anyway, the Frozen Four is a pretty good time, downtown Denver is surprisingly nice, and hockey fans are what you'd expect (I expected somewhat rowdy, in a good way). The first game kind of sucked - BC slaughtered North Dakota - and it was over pretty early. With the crowd being so overwhelmingly UND, there was almost no energy in the stadium as the Eagles piled it on. Oh well. Like always, I took stunning 7.1 megapixel shots in and around the stadium and city. You know you have a couple more minutes to sit and think that you could blog better than I can.

Hockey. Sort of. We literally sat in the last row, but still had a pretty good view. You know who else had a pretty good view? The North Dakota goalie watching all the BC shots whiz by.

Let's go back to the beginning of the day. The forecast called for 30ish and snow, and guess what? 30ish and snow. Kind of disheartening when you want to shoot video outside for a few hours. We somehow got lucky and it stopped after lunch. In case you were wondering, if it had continued snowing hard, I still would've felt the need to turn in something to SI, so the episode would've basically been alternating shots of me swearing, slipping, and probably crying. Not pretty.

Bleh.

The UND Pep Band and cheer team. The band was pretty good and the cheerleaders skate during intermissions. Apparently, it's rare for a team to have skating cheerleaders, but all they really did was skate circles with the team flag. I was expecting a show, and I must say, there were absolutely zero lutzes or axels. WEAK.

(On the other hand, UND cheerleaders were kind of hot, so whatever, we're cool.)

The Notre Dame contingent. There were about 40 Irish fans that I could see, which makes sense considering how good football is going these days. Right? Right?

This was the valet lot behind the stadium. A steal at $25. If you valet your car at a hockey game in Denver, chances are we are not and will never be friends. Psh, your loss.

UND homies. I have no idea what I'm doing with my hands. I freeze when it comes time to pose and just pick random emotions. I should get this in check, pronto.

This guy sort of reminded me of Crazy Joe Davola from Seinfeld. A painted face like a clown, but not so jolly. Let's continue...

Camera Guy Casey's focus. He sort of looks like he might kill somebody mid-shoot, and by "somebody," I mean probably me. What have we learned? Never work with Padre fans.

These guys were promoting beer by growing bad facial hair, wearing hats made with beer cans, and pants made of rubber. I feel like they're targeting a very small cross-section of beer drinkers that may not necessarily be at hockey tournaments. Just saying.

If I were one of the people on the side of this truck, I would insist on driving it everywhere. It'd make stoplights way more fun. Nothing but, "Yep, it's really me!"

Twin 'Boni in the garage next to the rink.

I call this "Guy Pondering 'Boni."

A partial view of the edge of Downtown Denver. I can recommend "Two Fisted Mario's," a pizzeria that's loud, a little bit dirty, has rude employees, and makes great pizzas. I asked the cashier for change for the meter and basically almost got jumped. Totally somehow worth it, though.

My favorite thing outside of the hockey rink in Denver: Vietnamese soup called Pho at a place called Pho Duy. I know this makes no sense, but whatever, Denver=Giant Bowls of Vietnamese Soup.

Casey is manning the camera that appears to be coming out of the face of the guy on the left. He held his own up there with the camera guys who had "legitimate reasons to be filming up against the glass."

If you're going to buy a customized jersey and put your first name on the back, don't.

A quick note: if you want to rent a car that feels like it has more power than a riding mower, the Mitsubishi Lancer is most definitely not the answer.

Goodbye Pepsi Center, I'll never forget your ample parking and lot attendant who was possibly in a coma while slumped over a gate sleeping.

New entry next week.

Casey's blog can be found here, although he hasn't updated yet. I'm confident he'll take a break from shooting dice with high-class prostitutes long enough to make fun of me via thinly-veiled San Diego sports references.

Email:

sitourguy@gmail.com

Links:

Tour Guy Road Notes (permanent link)

The College Football Tour Guide (2006 college football episodes from the Pac-10)

SI Video on YouTube

SI College Football channel on Veoh

Windows Media Player 9 (for Mac)

Flip4Mac (to watch SI Video on a Mac)