The best St. Patrick's day I've ever had
This week I was someone apprehensive about St. Patrick's day coming up, since I had no money, and as of Thursday morning, had no plans the big exciting Friday night. I listened to my messages from the night before, and had one from Jay, telling me that I was coming out with him for St. Patrick's even if he had to pay my way and buy me drinks all night. This made me feel a little better, but I still feel guilty when other people do all the buying, so I wasn't really thrilled at the idea. Thursday evening my buddy Bill called me, asking if I wanted to go to a hockey game Friday. I hadn't been to a hockey game in probably 10 years, so I said sure. We weren't sure exactly what it was, other than that it was at the Xcel Energy Center, and was a WCHA thing. He wasn't certain, but seemed to have two sets of tickets - one for 2:30, and one for 7:30. I turned it over in my head, but I figured there was no way they would schedule two games that close together - the players need to rest sometime. I guessed he was reading the tickets wrong somehow. Regardless, we decided to coordinate the next morning, and I'd meet him downtown around 2:30ish.
Friday around noon, Bill called to figure out the plan. The best we could come up with was to meet downtown, see if there was indeed a 2:30 game, and if not, go out drinking instead. We arrived downtown at our planned time, but what we didn't expect was the absolute chaos that enveloped St. Paul at the time. Since it was the middle of the day, most parking ramps were close to full already, and with a game and St. Patrick's day going on, there were a lot of "extra" people in addition to the regulars. Not surprisingly, finding parking was tough.
We finally manged to meet up and head towards the game around 3:00. I felt bad for running late, but there really wasn't much we could have done to change things once we were downtown. We wandered into the Xcel center, and sure enough, there was hockey going on! We had happened into the WCHA Final Five playoffs. We went in, and got two $6 bottles of Bacardi Silver Raz, which tastes sort of like raspberry Sprite. Tasty stuff. The first game was NDSU vs. UW Madison, and we cheered for Madison due to my Wisconsin connections. Also, I got burned really badly by a girl from ND once, so the NDSU team was not in good standing with me. We drank, I rambled on about my school debate for a while, and Bill spent quite a bit of time chatting with the girl behind us about Rollerderby. Apparently, she was a big fan, and piqued Bill's curiosity. Next Rollerderby match is March 24th at Roy Wilkens Auditorium, $10 to get in - in case anyone is wondering.
NDSU won the game, and we strolled back out onto the street to see what was going on. There seemed to be an Irish pub kitty-corner from Xcel, but there was a throng of people outside, and we decided to try our luck elsewhere. Everywhere on the street were drunken people in green, and we saw a guy that looked disturbingly like an actual leprechaun.
There was a really busy Italian looking place down the street, and we kept walking. A block or so farther down was another pub with a very Irish name (that I can't remember) and a mass of people that looked to be twice the size of the one near the Xcel Center. I was ready to keep walking, find a quiet bar, and drink in peace somewhere else... but Bill decided we should check this one out. They were no longer letting people in the front door, and the staffer told us to try the tent around back. We walked towards the back, and found another door with a line that was not admitting people. Down further, a third door... and HEY! THE LINE IS MOVING!
We got in line, and quickly headed inside... big shock, it was PACKED. The place was so full that getting in beyond the entrance ramp was difficult, and reaching the bar seemed near impossible. We decided that this main area probably was not our best option, and followed someone who was mumbling about "downstairs" instead. We noticed two things once we found the stairs, and reached the bottom. Thing one: half as many people. It was possible to move around, and even hear yourself think, if you thought loudly. Thing two: it was 15 degrees hotter in the basement. The air was thick and humid; so much so that you would almost immediately begin sweating.
Even with humidity considered, it was still better than being upstairs. We negotiated our way to the bar, where it was Black & Tan time. From there we wandered back into the dense conglomeration of bodies upstairs. Realizing immediately why we had headed downstairs in the first place, we navigated through the flows of people until we reached the door we had come in. As it turns out, had we walked 10 feet farther, we would have reached the tent. The tent was also full, but had a DJ, and much more open space. Plus, with soft sides, the tent did not keep heat in as well as the brick building, which was nice. Bill and I drank, and danced like the drunken pros we were. I didn't really talk to many people, but it was fun to look around and see all the stories going on around me. In front of us were a couple of older ladies with great big rings on the left hand... who later came over to flirt with Bill and I. Somehow it was flattering and unsettling at the same time. Behind me to my left was a guy at least twice my size wearing an enormous inflatable green hat. Directly behind us was a circle of people who had brought their own CASE of beer with. Just minutes after I spotted it, the box was empty.
We made a few trips back and forth to the intolerably warm basement bar, and on one pass I noticed a group of people had stuck 8-10 cans of beer in the snow, and were using it as their personal drink cooler. A guy passed out on stage, and the people dancing near the front passed around knowing glanced and snickered at him. Shortly thereafter, a couple of staff members and a police officer came and helped him away, while Bill shouted to anyone that would listen that he was going to buy the (formerly) passed out guy a shot, and that everybody should do the same.
One guy dancing on stage got a little out of hand, and knocked the DJ's tripod-mounted speaker over at the peak of a song. Less than a minute later, the speaker was back up and seemed none the worse for wear, but that guy stayed off the stage after that.
It was about this time that it slowly started to occur to Bill and I that we had another hockey game to go to. Sure, we had thought about it before, but it seemed so far off. We accidentally left, realizing that our quest for a bathroom may be better off if we didn't try to go through the mob of people in the bar - which had gotten so tightly packed that people were stuck in some places for quite a while, with people pushing in on them from all sides. Fire Hazard? Nonsense.
We made a quick stop at the Italian place to use their bathroom, by sneaking in the exit door (which had some large handwritten Do Not Enter signs on it), across the serving area, and through the line of people waiting to get in. Whoops.
After that it was back to the arena. Bill suggested that we use the time during the next game to sober up, and I didn't object. We got some pizza and some water, and headed back to our seats. The rollerderby girl was gone from the seat behind us, but I saw a few familiar faces in the seats nearby.
I knew the Gophers were playing in the 7:30 game, but I didn't know against who. Somewhere, I saw "huskies" - but didn't know whose mascot that is. There was a marching band in vertical-black-and-yellow striped overalls, and I made the connection that it was Michigan Tech (their colors). As it turned out, it's the St. Cloud Huskies (SCSU) and I have no idea what the band was doing there.
SCSU vs. U of M was intense. I hadn't seen the Gophers play in years, but they were as impressive as I've ever seen. St. Cloud really pummeled them, though, and although not as good offensively, they were exceptional at keeping the opposing players covered at all times, rarely letting them get the puck while not fighting off another guy.
At the start, I was cheering for SCSU because I figured "hey, they're both MN teams," and the anti-St. Cloud energy in the place was strong. They got booed when introduced, and the crowd applauded and cheered any time one of their guys got sent to the penalty box, or they screwed up and had to face off in front for their net. I felt bad for them. As the game progressed, my leanings went more and more toward the U of M, because I figured they were the better representatives of the state, and this was one of the final games. Plus, the city of St. Cloud is on my list of places to drive as quickly and carefully through as possible - there seem to be a lot of stupid/crazy/obnoxious people there.
It's hard to give a good impression of how ferocious the game was, but by the end I was just loving being part of the crowd. Like now, I often have an excess of emotion, and a very limited way of expressing it. When the crowd cheered, it was like an extension of me. The deafening roar was just the way I would have liked to show my enthusiasm about what was going on - and there it was. I yelled, screamed, and cheered until I could barely speak. The Gophers reached their low point in the 1st period, where it was 2 to 5 for a while, in St. Cloud's favor. They scored a 4th goal with tenths of a second to spare in the 2nd period, which also was a Hat Trick for one of the guys, and the announcer had to ask the crowd to please stop throwing hats onto the ice so they could play out the rest of the period. The cheering must've lasted for close to 5 minutes. In the last minute or so of the 3rd period, the Gophers finally managed to catch up to the Huskies, leaving them tied at 7 when the clock ran out. Once again, the cheering seemed like it would never end.
The cheerleaders came out, did a rather uninspiring round of the Min-Ne-So-Ta cheer, the rink was resurfaced, and into overtime they went. Both teams played fast and hard, with a flurry of shots at St. Cloud's net in the first couple minutes. Eventually, play came back down to the Gophers' end, and in another series of rapid-succession shots, one of them made it over the line. The Huskies flowed out of the player's box in a sort of red blur. While the crowd helped express the excitement I felt during the game, there was no sound that would adequately convey the disappointment I felt as soon as I saw the goal light start spinning. All that hope, all the enthusiasm... wasted. The Gophers' fans started to file out amid somewhat morbid murmuring. The occasional obnoxious Huskies fan could be heard shouting amidst the crowd, but usually they realized they should be quiet before some U of M fan took out their disappointment on them.
I had planned on going drinking again after the game, but Bill had to work in the morning, so he decided he was heading home. Rather than drink in St. Paul by myself, I called around and checked out my options. Jay and Christina were downtown Minneapolis at O'Donovan's, and Christina nearly begged me to come out. I told her I wasn't really sure, but would head out onto the freeway and see which direction I ended up heading. After about 8 hours of drinking, cheering, and dancing, I was pretty darn tired.
I really wanted to go home, but I remembered what I had learned after my summer in Wisconsin Dells. At the end of that summer, I told myself: "If there's one thing I regret doing while I was here, it's not partying enough with my friends. Too many nights I came home and went straight to bed. Sure, I was tired, but I missed out on a lot."
So, with that in mind, I headed downtown to meet up with Jay and Christina. After more drinking (but less dancing), we ended up at Pizza Luce for my second round of pizza that day. It just occurred to me that my one meal today was pizza, too. Funny how that happens. It turned out that I was one of the very few people to show up, out of the many that Jay had invited. Suddenly Christina's near-insistence that I come out made more sense.
I finally made it home around 7am this morning. Considering I had left around 2pm the day before, I consider my "night" of partying to be a success. Thanks to all who made it possible.
Today, we had a family birthday party for my nephew, and mine got tacked on as well. Between the two, I am exhausted. Goodnight, all.
Friday around noon, Bill called to figure out the plan. The best we could come up with was to meet downtown, see if there was indeed a 2:30 game, and if not, go out drinking instead. We arrived downtown at our planned time, but what we didn't expect was the absolute chaos that enveloped St. Paul at the time. Since it was the middle of the day, most parking ramps were close to full already, and with a game and St. Patrick's day going on, there were a lot of "extra" people in addition to the regulars. Not surprisingly, finding parking was tough.
We finally manged to meet up and head towards the game around 3:00. I felt bad for running late, but there really wasn't much we could have done to change things once we were downtown. We wandered into the Xcel center, and sure enough, there was hockey going on! We had happened into the WCHA Final Five playoffs. We went in, and got two $6 bottles of Bacardi Silver Raz, which tastes sort of like raspberry Sprite. Tasty stuff. The first game was NDSU vs. UW Madison, and we cheered for Madison due to my Wisconsin connections. Also, I got burned really badly by a girl from ND once, so the NDSU team was not in good standing with me. We drank, I rambled on about my school debate for a while, and Bill spent quite a bit of time chatting with the girl behind us about Rollerderby. Apparently, she was a big fan, and piqued Bill's curiosity. Next Rollerderby match is March 24th at Roy Wilkens Auditorium, $10 to get in - in case anyone is wondering.
NDSU won the game, and we strolled back out onto the street to see what was going on. There seemed to be an Irish pub kitty-corner from Xcel, but there was a throng of people outside, and we decided to try our luck elsewhere. Everywhere on the street were drunken people in green, and we saw a guy that looked disturbingly like an actual leprechaun.
There was a really busy Italian looking place down the street, and we kept walking. A block or so farther down was another pub with a very Irish name (that I can't remember) and a mass of people that looked to be twice the size of the one near the Xcel Center. I was ready to keep walking, find a quiet bar, and drink in peace somewhere else... but Bill decided we should check this one out. They were no longer letting people in the front door, and the staffer told us to try the tent around back. We walked towards the back, and found another door with a line that was not admitting people. Down further, a third door... and HEY! THE LINE IS MOVING!
We got in line, and quickly headed inside... big shock, it was PACKED. The place was so full that getting in beyond the entrance ramp was difficult, and reaching the bar seemed near impossible. We decided that this main area probably was not our best option, and followed someone who was mumbling about "downstairs" instead. We noticed two things once we found the stairs, and reached the bottom. Thing one: half as many people. It was possible to move around, and even hear yourself think, if you thought loudly. Thing two: it was 15 degrees hotter in the basement. The air was thick and humid; so much so that you would almost immediately begin sweating.
Even with humidity considered, it was still better than being upstairs. We negotiated our way to the bar, where it was Black & Tan time. From there we wandered back into the dense conglomeration of bodies upstairs. Realizing immediately why we had headed downstairs in the first place, we navigated through the flows of people until we reached the door we had come in. As it turns out, had we walked 10 feet farther, we would have reached the tent. The tent was also full, but had a DJ, and much more open space. Plus, with soft sides, the tent did not keep heat in as well as the brick building, which was nice. Bill and I drank, and danced like the drunken pros we were. I didn't really talk to many people, but it was fun to look around and see all the stories going on around me. In front of us were a couple of older ladies with great big rings on the left hand... who later came over to flirt with Bill and I. Somehow it was flattering and unsettling at the same time. Behind me to my left was a guy at least twice my size wearing an enormous inflatable green hat. Directly behind us was a circle of people who had brought their own CASE of beer with. Just minutes after I spotted it, the box was empty.
We made a few trips back and forth to the intolerably warm basement bar, and on one pass I noticed a group of people had stuck 8-10 cans of beer in the snow, and were using it as their personal drink cooler. A guy passed out on stage, and the people dancing near the front passed around knowing glanced and snickered at him. Shortly thereafter, a couple of staff members and a police officer came and helped him away, while Bill shouted to anyone that would listen that he was going to buy the (formerly) passed out guy a shot, and that everybody should do the same.
One guy dancing on stage got a little out of hand, and knocked the DJ's tripod-mounted speaker over at the peak of a song. Less than a minute later, the speaker was back up and seemed none the worse for wear, but that guy stayed off the stage after that.
It was about this time that it slowly started to occur to Bill and I that we had another hockey game to go to. Sure, we had thought about it before, but it seemed so far off. We accidentally left, realizing that our quest for a bathroom may be better off if we didn't try to go through the mob of people in the bar - which had gotten so tightly packed that people were stuck in some places for quite a while, with people pushing in on them from all sides. Fire Hazard? Nonsense.
We made a quick stop at the Italian place to use their bathroom, by sneaking in the exit door (which had some large handwritten Do Not Enter signs on it), across the serving area, and through the line of people waiting to get in. Whoops.
After that it was back to the arena. Bill suggested that we use the time during the next game to sober up, and I didn't object. We got some pizza and some water, and headed back to our seats. The rollerderby girl was gone from the seat behind us, but I saw a few familiar faces in the seats nearby.
I knew the Gophers were playing in the 7:30 game, but I didn't know against who. Somewhere, I saw "huskies" - but didn't know whose mascot that is. There was a marching band in vertical-black-and-yellow striped overalls, and I made the connection that it was Michigan Tech (their colors). As it turned out, it's the St. Cloud Huskies (SCSU) and I have no idea what the band was doing there.
SCSU vs. U of M was intense. I hadn't seen the Gophers play in years, but they were as impressive as I've ever seen. St. Cloud really pummeled them, though, and although not as good offensively, they were exceptional at keeping the opposing players covered at all times, rarely letting them get the puck while not fighting off another guy.
At the start, I was cheering for SCSU because I figured "hey, they're both MN teams," and the anti-St. Cloud energy in the place was strong. They got booed when introduced, and the crowd applauded and cheered any time one of their guys got sent to the penalty box, or they screwed up and had to face off in front for their net. I felt bad for them. As the game progressed, my leanings went more and more toward the U of M, because I figured they were the better representatives of the state, and this was one of the final games. Plus, the city of St. Cloud is on my list of places to drive as quickly and carefully through as possible - there seem to be a lot of stupid/crazy/obnoxious people there.
It's hard to give a good impression of how ferocious the game was, but by the end I was just loving being part of the crowd. Like now, I often have an excess of emotion, and a very limited way of expressing it. When the crowd cheered, it was like an extension of me. The deafening roar was just the way I would have liked to show my enthusiasm about what was going on - and there it was. I yelled, screamed, and cheered until I could barely speak. The Gophers reached their low point in the 1st period, where it was 2 to 5 for a while, in St. Cloud's favor. They scored a 4th goal with tenths of a second to spare in the 2nd period, which also was a Hat Trick for one of the guys, and the announcer had to ask the crowd to please stop throwing hats onto the ice so they could play out the rest of the period. The cheering must've lasted for close to 5 minutes. In the last minute or so of the 3rd period, the Gophers finally managed to catch up to the Huskies, leaving them tied at 7 when the clock ran out. Once again, the cheering seemed like it would never end.
The cheerleaders came out, did a rather uninspiring round of the Min-Ne-So-Ta cheer, the rink was resurfaced, and into overtime they went. Both teams played fast and hard, with a flurry of shots at St. Cloud's net in the first couple minutes. Eventually, play came back down to the Gophers' end, and in another series of rapid-succession shots, one of them made it over the line. The Huskies flowed out of the player's box in a sort of red blur. While the crowd helped express the excitement I felt during the game, there was no sound that would adequately convey the disappointment I felt as soon as I saw the goal light start spinning. All that hope, all the enthusiasm... wasted. The Gophers' fans started to file out amid somewhat morbid murmuring. The occasional obnoxious Huskies fan could be heard shouting amidst the crowd, but usually they realized they should be quiet before some U of M fan took out their disappointment on them.
I had planned on going drinking again after the game, but Bill had to work in the morning, so he decided he was heading home. Rather than drink in St. Paul by myself, I called around and checked out my options. Jay and Christina were downtown Minneapolis at O'Donovan's, and Christina nearly begged me to come out. I told her I wasn't really sure, but would head out onto the freeway and see which direction I ended up heading. After about 8 hours of drinking, cheering, and dancing, I was pretty darn tired.
I really wanted to go home, but I remembered what I had learned after my summer in Wisconsin Dells. At the end of that summer, I told myself: "If there's one thing I regret doing while I was here, it's not partying enough with my friends. Too many nights I came home and went straight to bed. Sure, I was tired, but I missed out on a lot."
So, with that in mind, I headed downtown to meet up with Jay and Christina. After more drinking (but less dancing), we ended up at Pizza Luce for my second round of pizza that day. It just occurred to me that my one meal today was pizza, too. Funny how that happens. It turned out that I was one of the very few people to show up, out of the many that Jay had invited. Suddenly Christina's near-insistence that I come out made more sense.
I finally made it home around 7am this morning. Considering I had left around 2pm the day before, I consider my "night" of partying to be a success. Thanks to all who made it possible.
Today, we had a family birthday party for my nephew, and mine got tacked on as well. Between the two, I am exhausted. Goodnight, all.