"General Admission": Pens at Flyers

General Admission

by Rege Ryan

regeryan@gmail.com

Well readers, I survived the lion's den. Walking away with a win would have been the best case scenario, but regardless of the "L", this was one of the most entertaining Penguins games I’ve been to in long time.

First off, we had our tickets in the all-you-can-eat section of the Wachovia Center, which is pretty self-explanatory. They give you a wrist band and you're off to the races. Our buddy Dane did his best Kobayashi impression and housed seven dogs, two boxes of popcorn, two orders of nachos and multiple drafts of Miller Lite. I limited myself to a mere three dogs and two nachos. Needless to say, nobody went home hungry.

After we loaded up on free hot dogs and draft beer, we made it up to our seats. A chorus of "Crosby sucks" promptly greeted us, but I’ve seen much uglier chants at Steeler games. The craziest two taunts of the evening had to be, "Hey Lemieux, cancer's coming back to finish the job!" and "Hey Malkin, get off the ice you f***ing Commie!"

Philadelphia. Always classy.

There were just too may Crosby taunts to list. You would think for how much these fans genuinely hate him that Sid took a train to Philly and personally slept with every Flyers' fan's wife/girlfriend. Growing up we all hated Eric Lindros, but he was a genuine prick/A-Hole. Sid is neither. I took my medicine like a man and kept my counter-taunting to a minimum.

Off the ice, the Flyers entertainment staff embraces the signature virtues of the city of Philadelphia: obesity, public intoxication, and total disregard for social norms. “Dancing Guy” as the Flyer fans refer to him as, gets a free season ticket every year, now that he dances for the jumbo-tron every game. This YouTube link is actually pretty funny .

Aside from the all-you-can-eat snacks, taunts, and dancing fatsos, the Pens put a nice effort in on Thursday night. The hitting was hard and the physicality of the game was a sight to see live.

I’m confident that the Pens can sustain .500 hockey until Crosby returns. I really get the feeling that this is a mentally hardened group. That atmosphere in the Wachovia Center is rather intimidating and this game opened my eyes to how difficult it would be to win a playoff series in this building. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.