Despite coming out strong early, UNH falls to BC 4-2. On the plus side - awesome to see the Whitt nearly completely full, with a loud and lively student section. I know that they were basically handing out tix to students to get butts in the seats, er, that is, FEET ON the seats, but hey whatever works. It was the first time in a long time that I was at the game by myself, though I know that my wife's spirit was there with me. I even brought her favtorite UNH Hockey sweatshirt and draped it on our second seat.
WARNING: Byatch commentary coming!
Byatch #1: What moronic D-1 hockey coach pulls the goalie when the puck is sitting between the red line and YOUR blue line??? Not that the outcome of the game was in doubt, but sheesh, talk about giving BC a freebie goal, tied up with a nice maroon and gold ribbon. Overall observation: Liam Devlin is the real deal. Not overly impressed with the rest of the bunch, but they showed some flashes of potential. It's still early.
Byatch#2: OK, so our row, for many seasons, were full of STH's, and we generally had a great time at the games. Most of them have either moved seats or given them up entirely, so now almost our entire row is "up for grabs" on any given home game. Tonight's disaster: Four or five young families and their sons, aged I'm guessing between 6 and 8, hyped up on Dippin' Dots, popcorn, pretzels, or whatever was doled out to them from Mommy and Daddy, so that said Mommies and Daddies could sit together and enjoy their copious amounts of beer. Meanwhile, all the li'l Juniors are running up and down the stairs, climbing all over the chairs, spilling crap, endlessly walking in front of me while I'm trying to enjoy the game. One of them just stood there directly in front with the play going on in BC's defensive zone, and I literally had to yell at the kid to PLEASE MOVE! There were some in my row and the row behind me....at one point in they all tried to congregate in my row and attempt to sit on the empty (paid for) seat next to me with my wife's sweatshirt, and I had to play the "grumpy old man" and say, "No, you can't sit there." At that point, I was so close to going up and speaking to one of the yellow-jacketed yahoos to come down and straighten things out, but I couldn't tell which kid belonged to which parents. Essentially, my game night experience, which I had hoped to be semi-spiritual in nature, was ruined. And yes, the UNH Athletics office is gonna hear from me on Monday.
Byatch #3: So...why is UNH now pretty much "mandating" that every spectator better have a smartphone with them??? I mean, OK I get the electronic ticketing, not a fan at all, but, ooookay, UNH I'll play along. But making the 50-50 all electronic too?? ***?? I felt bad for the UNH cheerleaders having to walk around with these big pieces of cardboard with QR codes on them. That's right folks...CASHLESS transactions! I tried twice to scan the stupid thing twice and couldn't pull up the website where you're supposed to make the 50-50 transaction. "Sorry ladies, I know it's not your fault, but the higher-ups seem to think that this "COOL" thing that they're doing, 'wow, look at us? lookee how high-tech we are here at UNH!' But if I can't just give you cash and get a ticket in return, I'm not playing. Sorry!"
Again, the Athletics office is going to get an earful from one of the WORST game experiences I've ever had.
/EndByatch
