Yes, its been a while since Mr. Watts posted in this space....I try and let Jen describe the more day-to-day events in our lives, which leaves me to deal with more random stories or special events...and this past weekend was a special event for me, because it was my annual trip with my father to the NHL All-Star Game.
Right out of the gate, THUMBS DOWN to both my father and I for each forgetting our digital cameras. I left mine at home as I rushed out the door at 4am Friday to catch my flight at JFK. We had it in my hand, and then I left it, thinking "oh Dad will have his, and his is smaller and easier to lug around." So I meet Dad at baggage claim in Atlanta and what's the first thing he said to me?? "I forgot the camera"
THUMBS UP to the irish pub just outside our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta (which was the media hotel for the NHL) and had a few restaurants around the area, but we spent time Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night at the place, where the beer was good and the mozzerella sticks were awesome...mmm..fried cheese....
I'm probably coming back as a homeless person in my next life because of this next one, but THUMBS WAYYYY DOWN to the homeless beggars outside the hotel, who seemingly popped up out of nowhere even when we only had to walk a block or two. The problem with downtown Atlanta is that all the major hotels are within a two block radius of each other, so the folks looking for handouts have decided that this area is their best bet to hit up tourists and visitors for coins.
In fact, THUMBS DOWN to most Atlantans for having the same bad attitude...some of the staff at the hotel were cranky, the servers at the pub were surly, only the shuttle bus drivers seemed to be genuinely happy with themselves...everyone else seems to suffer from at eternal bad attitude, like they've figured out "Crap, I live in Atlanta...this town sucks...what am I doing here??"
THUMBS UP to getting to see the NHL guys up close and personal during the media availabilities....thats always fun...you learn pretty quickly that NHL players are usually fairly short, almost always personable, and overall genuinely good guys...guys you would want your daughter to date...in fact, when I have a daughter, we're making sure she gets together with a hockey player...of course, at this rate, I'll be 47 before we have a child, boy or girl...just kidding, sweetie...don't kill me... (seriously, don't kill me) =)
Ilya Kovalchuk
THUMBS UP for the unintentional comedy inspired by some of the people asking questions at Media Day...for instance, there was some black dude there from a hip-hop channel trying to ask edgy questions to the players...or at least trying to relate to them....which wasn't happening on any level....here's an example of one exchange:
Black interviewer: "Yo, dawg! You excited to be here and throw down for the fans??"
Vincent Lecavailer: "Uh, you know its just a great honor to be chosen to play in the game..."
Black interviewer (now hurriedly looking at his list of possible questions, because he's ALREADY out of ideas): "I feel you, I feel you, well tell the folks in the ATL that you're ready to put on a show!!"
Lecavalier (looking deadpan into the camera): "See you Atlanta folks at the game."
Highest of high comedy...good times....I love media time.
THUMBS WAYYY UP for a comedic moment infinitely more funny than the black guy at Media Day...so the Marriott Marquis was hosting a number of groups this weekend...along with the NHL, they had the International Poultry Expo (for what, chickens from Spain? turkeys from Turkey?), some sort of youth soccer convention, and the Battle of the Bands....which was taking place over at the Georgia Dome Saturday night (picture "Drumline")...so most of Saturday you had all these young kids running around the hotel...
So after the Skills competition Saturday night, we headed back to the hotel, dropped some stuff off in the room, and headed out to get a drink...so we're riding the elevator down from the 16th floor and we stop at the 11th floor and about six black guys between the ages of 16 and 18 jump on...being kinda loud, but no big deal...but they're all hip-hopped out, ghettoed to the max...
STILL no big deal for us (remember, I live in NYC now, I've seen it all and am scared of NOTHING anymore) and we're actually kinda chatting with the kids, asking how the battle went, and such...when the elevator stops on the 4th floors, the door opens, and there waiting to get on is a little white kid, probably about 12 years old....
Well, I've never seen a kid's eyes get wider...he took a step in, looked up, saw who was in the elevator....
THUMBS DOWN to the NHL for letting All-Star weekend get overshadowed by something called a "Jonas Brothers" during Saturday morning's practices....
THUMBS UP to the NHL for hosting their pre-game party at the Georgia Aquarium (just down the street from the arena). Every year the league hosts some sort of VIP party for the media and various people, where free food and free booze are in abundance, and its usually a good time...many times, they've just trucked us to some warehouse thats been converted to party central, but this time, they closed the Aquarium to everyone but us, and it was really cool....my father had recently been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Mom a couple of weeks ago, so he wasn't as enthused, but for me, I always love wandering around aquariums and zoos...as a few people know, when I was very young, I wanted to be a zoo-keeper when I grew up...(Christ, imagine that now)...but the Georgia Aquarium did have some stuff I hadn't seen before or hadn't seen in awhile...I guess they're the only aquarium in the USA to house whale sharks (which are gi-normous) and they had some beluga whales as well...the rest was pretty standard fare, but was fun to wander around and kill a couple of hours while having a beer...
THUMBS DOWN to Kathleen Edwards for singing part of the Canadian anthem in French...I can't begin to tell you how much I hate, HATE it when anthem singers do that...I know, I know, Quebec and the french-speakers probably love it, but it drives me crazy...sorry Gabe...I need my Canadian anthem in English please...the rest of you frogs can f-off...I can't even talk about it now without getting annoyed....lets just move on...
Finally, THUMBS UP for another fun trip overall...the All-Star game was fun, filled with spectactular plays and moments to remember...the weekend in itself was great, and it was cool to be able to spend another All-Star weekend with Dad...especially since I hadn't seen him since we moved to NYC....
As many friends and family know, my Dad and I have made this a regular trip since I got into the media business and was able to secure us credentials for each game...we've been to every game since 2000 (minus the 2003 game in Miami) which has given us the chance to eat free food and take in some fun hockey in cities like Toronto, Denver, LA, St. Paul and Dallas...
This year, the game was in Atlanta, and we had a blast, though there were some things that we were decidedly "thumbs down" about...so lets turn this whole post into a Siskel & Ebert recap of the weekend:
Right out of the gate, THUMBS DOWN to both my father and I for each forgetting our digital cameras. I left mine at home as I rushed out the door at 4am Friday to catch my flight at JFK. We had it in my hand, and then I left it, thinking "oh Dad will have his, and his is smaller and easier to lug around." So I meet Dad at baggage claim in Atlanta and what's the first thing he said to me?? "I forgot the camera"
So please excuse the pictures in this post for their low quality and overall shoddy feel...they are from my cell phone, and they're not the best, but hopefully they'll add a little spice to the post.
THUMBS UP to the irish pub just outside our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta (which was the media hotel for the NHL) and had a few restaurants around the area, but we spent time Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night at the place, where the beer was good and the mozzerella sticks were awesome...mmm..fried cheese....
I'm probably coming back as a homeless person in my next life because of this next one, but THUMBS WAYYYY DOWN to the homeless beggars outside the hotel, who seemingly popped up out of nowhere even when we only had to walk a block or two. The problem with downtown Atlanta is that all the major hotels are within a two block radius of each other, so the folks looking for handouts have decided that this area is their best bet to hit up tourists and visitors for coins. And its not like I mind giving some homeless dude some cash every now and then. Lord knows I've been hit up more than a few times in NYC....but here's the difference between NYC homeless people and Atlanta homeless people...in NYC, you might get someone to ask for some cash, but if you tell them you don't have anything for them, they stop talking and leave you alone...Atlanta homeless people aren't put off that easily....first they come up to you and ask you where you're headed, then walk step-by-step with you as you try to get away, trying to make conversation with you, before finally, FINALLY saying something like "look I don't mean to bug you, but...."
REALLY?!?! You don't mean to bug me?!?! Well, you're doing a fine job so far, you annoying prick!!
As much as I'd like to have said that (or a few other choice things), I didn't...because you never know when a homeless guy might whip out a switch and cut ya or something, but still,
So I'd say, "hey, Man...I've got nothing for you."
And then you get harassed! They always say something smart or obnoxious, usually punctuated with the F-word or something...I'm telling you, homeless people around Atlanta have attitudes...and again, I know the previous few paragraphs is probably putting me on the fast-track to hell, but seriously!! I'll take my homeless people a little less obnoxious, please...
In fact, THUMBS DOWN to most Atlantans for having the same bad attitude...some of the staff at the hotel were cranky, the servers at the pub were surly, only the shuttle bus drivers seemed to be genuinely happy with themselves...everyone else seems to suffer from at eternal bad attitude, like they've figured out "Crap, I live in Atlanta...this town sucks...what am I doing here??"
THUMBS UP to getting to see the NHL guys up close and personal during the media availabilities....thats always fun...you learn pretty quickly that NHL players are usually fairly short, almost always personable, and overall genuinely good guys...guys you would want your daughter to date...in fact, when I have a daughter, we're making sure she gets together with a hockey player...of course, at this rate, I'll be 47 before we have a child, boy or girl...just kidding, sweetie...don't kill me... (seriously, don't kill me) =)Anyways, here are some pictures from that day...none of them rival the picture of me interviewing Eric Lindros one-on-one while Bob Dylan looks on, but still pretty cool...
Ilya Kovalchuk
Scott Gomez
Evgeni Malkin
Henrik Sedin
By the way, the Watts-Lindros-Dylan picture does exist...just not digitally...which is unfortunate.
THUMBS UP for the unintentional comedy inspired by some of the people asking questions at Media Day...for instance, there was some black dude there from a hip-hop channel trying to ask edgy questions to the players...or at least trying to relate to them....which wasn't happening on any level....here's an example of one exchange:Black interviewer: "Yo, dawg! You excited to be here and throw down for the fans??"
Vincent Lecavailer: "Uh, you know its just a great honor to be chosen to play in the game..."
Black interviewer (now hurriedly looking at his list of possible questions, because he's ALREADY out of ideas): "I feel you, I feel you, well tell the folks in the ATL that you're ready to put on a show!!"
Lecavalier (looking deadpan into the camera): "See you Atlanta folks at the game."
Highest of high comedy...good times....I love media time.
THUMBS WAYYY UP for a comedic moment infinitely more funny than the black guy at Media Day...so the Marriott Marquis was hosting a number of groups this weekend...along with the NHL, they had the International Poultry Expo (for what, chickens from Spain? turkeys from Turkey?), some sort of youth soccer convention, and the Battle of the Bands....which was taking place over at the Georgia Dome Saturday night (picture "Drumline")...so most of Saturday you had all these young kids running around the hotel...So after the Skills competition Saturday night, we headed back to the hotel, dropped some stuff off in the room, and headed out to get a drink...so we're riding the elevator down from the 16th floor and we stop at the 11th floor and about six black guys between the ages of 16 and 18 jump on...being kinda loud, but no big deal...but they're all hip-hopped out, ghettoed to the max...
STILL no big deal for us (remember, I live in NYC now, I've seen it all and am scared of NOTHING anymore) and we're actually kinda chatting with the kids, asking how the battle went, and such...when the elevator stops on the 4th floors, the door opens, and there waiting to get on is a little white kid, probably about 12 years old....
Well, I've never seen a kid's eyes get wider...he took a step in, looked up, saw who was in the elevator....
got a look of panic in his face, and stepped back and walked away...terrified...meanwhile, one of the kids sees this and hollers back at him, "Hey, what you afraid of?!"....
I swear, Dad and I laughed about that the rest of the way down the elevator with the kids, then pretty much the rest of the night...the look was priceless...that kid probably figured he'd ended up in an elevator from Harlem or something...
THUMBS DOWN to the NHL for letting All-Star weekend get overshadowed by something called a "Jonas Brothers" during Saturday morning's practices....First off, if anyone knows what a "Jonas Brothers" is, I'd love to know...please inform me...though I did find a picture on the Internet...
So, are they like Menudo for the new generation? Do they sing songs about getting rides on dates from their Mom?? And which one is the secretly gay one? (there's always one..if we learned nothing from N'Sync, we learned that...thanks Lance!)
...I'm brimming with questions...
anyways, so we show up for the morning skate Saturday and media availability and as we're watching the practices, I notice a fair amount of young teen girls in the crowd with signs like "I love you Nick!!" and "Jordan makes me hot!" and I'm scanning the rosters...not a Jordan in sight, and I'm pretty sure they're not talking about Nick Lidstrom...so we come to find out they'd hired these "Jonas Brothers" to perform after practice....
So after the practices we're down in the media room for awhile, and then we head up to leave, but we can hear all this screaming coming from the arena...so we walk up into the arena, only to find these Jonas Brothers performing, and all these tween girls screaming, and crying and shouting and WHAT THE HELL?!?!?
I guarantee about 75 percent of the people at the practice were those girls that didn't care about the hockey, but were willing to wait through it to see the boy band....oy vey....
Anyways, here's a blurry picture of some of their "fans"
THUMBS UP to the NHL for hosting their pre-game party at the Georgia Aquarium (just down the street from the arena). Every year the league hosts some sort of VIP party for the media and various people, where free food and free booze are in abundance, and its usually a good time...many times, they've just trucked us to some warehouse thats been converted to party central, but this time, they closed the Aquarium to everyone but us, and it was really cool....my father had recently been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with Mom a couple of weeks ago, so he wasn't as enthused, but for me, I always love wandering around aquariums and zoos...as a few people know, when I was very young, I wanted to be a zoo-keeper when I grew up...(Christ, imagine that now)...but the Georgia Aquarium did have some stuff I hadn't seen before or hadn't seen in awhile...I guess they're the only aquarium in the USA to house whale sharks (which are gi-normous) and they had some beluga whales as well...the rest was pretty standard fare, but was fun to wander around and kill a couple of hours while having a beer...
THUMBS DOWN to Kathleen Edwards for singing part of the Canadian anthem in French...I can't begin to tell you how much I hate, HATE it when anthem singers do that...I know, I know, Quebec and the french-speakers probably love it, but it drives me crazy...sorry Gabe...I need my Canadian anthem in English please...the rest of you frogs can f-off...I can't even talk about it now without getting annoyed....lets just move on...
Finally, THUMBS UP for another fun trip overall...the All-Star game was fun, filled with spectactular plays and moments to remember...the weekend in itself was great, and it was cool to be able to spend another All-Star weekend with Dad...especially since I hadn't seen him since we moved to NYC....All in all, a great trip...and I look forward to next year's All-Star game in Montreal!
Wait.....
That means the homeless people will be bugging me in French...
@%#^%!!!
I may kill someone...
Mike
4 comments:
Great post. Sounds like you guys had a blast. I demand the digitization and posting of the Watts-Lindros-Dylan picture!
Mike, I just had my birthday reading this post.
Um, do you mean THE Bob Dylan???
michael, don't flatter yourself. i just got through the entire post :)
p.s. are we still going to get to babysit coop?
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