04/19/24
February 15, 2023
SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
BuT hOcKeY dOeSn'T bElOnG iN tHe SoUtH!
When hockey rinks came to south Florida in the 1960's, most of the kids that lived there had never seen snow.
On Saturday afternoons there would be an open public skate. Where old men who skated effortlessly with their hands clasped behind their backs while ogling the ladies magically appeared from out of nowhere. They'd been in the county all along, but nobody knew.
The main event was out in the parking lot near the service vehicle chute. The Zamboni would come out and cut its load loose on the tarmac and local kids would swarm over the pile to get the next snowball fight going. Florida Zamboni dumpings pack hard - and wet. You did not want to get hit in the haid with an snowball. But if the kid next to you got hit, the spray from the impact felt great.
posted by beaverboard at 03:30 PM on February 15, 2023
I took my daughter to skating lessons when she was real young and favorite part was the snow piles in the parking lot.
posted by NoMich at 03:35 PM on February 15, 2023
Gettin' excited for the outdoor game here in Raleigh on Saturday evening. Been in the 70s all this week, but a cool front is blowing through the area on Friday morning so it will be clear skies and upper 30s/low 40s for the game, and then on Sunday, it will be back up in the 60s. The hockey gods are smiling on our fair city.
Too bad I can't afford a ticket to the game. /sigh Oh well, I got priced out of the arena for the All Star game as well.
For the intermission entertainment, the NHL did its usual fantastic job of screwing everything up. There's approximately 5 billion great musical acts in all genres to choose from here in North Carolina but they went with some bro country schlub from Florida.
Scene inside the NHL headquarters:
"What music are we going to have for the intermissions?"
"I don't know. Country music? They like that kind of stuff in Raleigh-Durham, Carolina, right?"
"Yeah, get a bunch of Nascar guys to wave green flags too. They love that shit there."
Aaand scene.
Trivia: so far this century, only two NHL teams have seen a draft, an All Star game, an outdoor game, and a Stanley Cup victory. Raleigh and Los Angeles. BuT hOcKeY dOeSn'T bElOnG iN tHe SoUtH!