Such a grand time was had by all that I almost forgot it ever happened: a few weeks ago we went to the Air Canada Centre to take in a prime exhibition of Canada's national sport: lacrosse (yes,
lacrosse).
Tickets, you see, were a mere $15 - the same price as a large beer, as it turned out - so we decided to treat ourselves to 60 minutes (or however long a game is) of hard-hitting, hi-octane lacrossing action: imagine ice hockey with all the padding but none of the ice and you're pretty much there. As a bonus, Toronto Rock - the current champions, obviously - were facing their hated nemeses, the Rochester Knighthawks (though for most of the night I was jeering the "Rochester Phantoms", whoever
they are).
Some observations:
- The half-time mini-game between two little league lacrosse sides was most entertaining; Premier League sides should take note (or at the very least bring back the crossbar challenge at SJP).
- Lacrosse is so far the only sport I've attended where music is playing throughout. We arrived late and thought the teams were running around for a warm-up while LMFAO blasted over the arena PA... until somebody scored and the crowd cheered. It was fairly surreal.
- $10 for a beer at the Rogers Centre (baseball) is a kick in the teeth, but the ACC ups the stakes: $15.40.
- Though the game ended something like 11-10 to Toronto, I was unable to catch a score/goal/point/basket on camera. Curious.
- The ACC must be a spectacular sight when the Leafs are playing (and winning). Unfortunately, hockey tickets appear to run to twelvety-hundred dollars or more.
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| The score when we arrived, delayed by pub business |
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| Above: the Leafs' fading Stanley Cup calibre (last win: 1967) |
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| Clearly something exciting has just happened |
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| Don't know if I've mentioned it already, but fifteen dollars |
So overall I'd give the experience eight Rochester Phantoms out of five: it was jolly nice to sit in the nosebleeds and take in some jock-on-jock action while the DJ dropped snippets of our favourite pop combos. In fact, it was an awful lot like a Friday night in Blu Bambu (minus the radgies, WKD and post-club punch-up).
And while I'm at it, another couple of photos I completely forgot I had taken...
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| A 750ml can of Molson. I thought this would look funnier. |
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| Surely it's the voting public, not the contestants, confronting their fears... |
