Missouri Mavericks

There's a hockey team in Kansas City again...not in Kemper Arena or Sprint Center, but in the new Independence Events Center.

I took my dad to a game for Father's Day. It was a delayed FD present, and this is a delayed post about it. He was very excited, and repeatedly told me how great of a gift this was. Of course, he bought us some BBQ ribs beforehand, kind of evening out the gift.

The Independence Events Center has a huge parking lot, and it is free. We parked about a half a mile away, toward the exits, so we wouldn't have to wait on the way out. We are so smart.

The arena is very nice, and all of the seats are close to the rink. We sat toward one end, and all of the scoring ended up being on the other end, but we did see some nice defensive plays. The PA system was way too loud. I can't stand the two second snippets of rock songs during every stoppage of play. Also annoying was how the mascot was passing out t-shirts while the game was going on, causing a ruckus in the stands. And there was a competition about which section could be the loudest for one full minute to get free pizza or something, and that was during play as well. The main entertainment product should be just the game, not all the other shenanigans.

But the game was fun, even though I don't understand all of the hockey penalties. The Mavericks came back from behind and won. My dad was VERY into the game, and he seriously cared whether the Mavericks won or lost. Hence that is what separates me from what you would call a "sports fan", my ability to not really care when I don't want to. That skill comes in handy when the Royals are your major league baseball team.

The halftime show was fun, a bunch of inflatable mascots did a dance in the middle of the rink. Some other contests were MC-ed by Holly Starr, who hosts 38 the Spot in the evening, which has the Simpsons.

Overall, I would say it's an overly expensive form of entertainment. But I am the same person who was on KCTV5 news a while back, saying that if an NHL hockey team would move to KC, I would not watch any games on TV.

http://lostlifefound.blogspot.com/2007/01/dan-on-news.html
http://lostlifefound.blogspot.com/2007/03/keeping-out-pens.html


I am looking forward to some T-Bones (minor league baseball) games this summer - you can get into that for $3 if you wear green on the right promotion day, and stuff like that. And that is a sport where I actually know the rules. Not spoken like a true Canadian, but that is how it is.