Friday, March 25
Ice hockey - not the new rock 'n' roll
On Thursday I went to watch a Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey match. It's the first time i've ever been and although it was quite entertaining in parts, i'm not sure if i'll go again for a while...
The game is split into three periods of 20 minutes, but it takes bloody ages to play. The clock keeps stopping all the time during play and then there are the interminably long breaks between the periods, presumably whilst you go and buy something from the 'merch booth'.
Sponsorship and advertising really annoy when i'm at my most placid, but during the match it drove me crazy. Seemingly every 30 seconds the announcer guy gets on the mic to plug some crap product or tinpot company. Some of their sponsors include an accountants, a solicitors, a union, a computer training company and a garden centre. Whilst their shorts are sponsored by some sort of drainage company, which the announcer delights in telling us every five minutes to the backing track of Hot Legs by ZZ Top...I think he was actually one of those guys you get a weddings, you know...the ones that fade down the song during the chorus so you can all sing along...even Phillipe Bergeroo hasn't managed to learn that one yet...
It's not very rock and roll is it?
Where's the blood, the violence, the baying crowds and Paul Newman? Perhaps I got the wrong idea from watching Slap Shot too many times...
On Thursday I went to watch a Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey match. It's the first time i've ever been and although it was quite entertaining in parts, i'm not sure if i'll go again for a while...
The game is split into three periods of 20 minutes, but it takes bloody ages to play. The clock keeps stopping all the time during play and then there are the interminably long breaks between the periods, presumably whilst you go and buy something from the 'merch booth'.
Sponsorship and advertising really annoy when i'm at my most placid, but during the match it drove me crazy. Seemingly every 30 seconds the announcer guy gets on the mic to plug some crap product or tinpot company. Some of their sponsors include an accountants, a solicitors, a union, a computer training company and a garden centre. Whilst their shorts are sponsored by some sort of drainage company, which the announcer delights in telling us every five minutes to the backing track of Hot Legs by ZZ Top...I think he was actually one of those guys you get a weddings, you know...the ones that fade down the song during the chorus so you can all sing along...even Phillipe Bergeroo hasn't managed to learn that one yet...
It's not very rock and roll is it?
Where's the blood, the violence, the baying crowds and Paul Newman? Perhaps I got the wrong idea from watching Slap Shot too many times...
