In A World of Sports

Normally when I go to a Leaf game I get tickets afforded me through a connection which gets me some good platinum seats about 6 rows off the ice.  Great seats in fact, the view is almost as good as watching it on an HD television.  But often we’re surrounded by the suits, the much talked about patrons of the Air Canada Centre (ACC) who are blamed for making the atmosphere in Toronto boring.  The guys you always see conducting business deals, reading papers, and talking about anything other than hockey.  Ya, it’s quiet down there by the ice, which I always attributed to the men in black, with their briefcases and clients.

The silence of a Leafs game has always bugged me; I’ve attended OHL games for the the London Knights, the Mississauga St. Mike’s Majors, the Oshawa Generals, and attended NHL games in Montreal where the atmosphere is ridiculously loud, and fun.  Ok, the Majors game wasn’t too loud, but that was because the rink was half empty, but my friends and I were so drunk we didn’t really notice, we were too busy heckeling Marc Staal (to this day we think he shot that puck at us on purpose).

Last night, however, I went to a Leaf game with my good friend, and fellow hockey fanatic Sachin, and we were standing room only, nose bleeds if you may.  Up with the hardcore fans, the real fans, the blue collar guy who worship the ice the Leafs skate on.  This may come off as sounding quite ignorant, but I had never attended a sporting event (save maybe the World Cup of Hockey in Montreal) so far from the action.  Needless to say, I was looking forward to it.  Sitting with these strangers, I expected to bond with them via errant high-fives on Leaf goals, to lose my mind and to hug every man, woman and child in sight out of the happiness of a Leaf victory.

If the silence in the platinums was upsetting, the silence up high was deafening.  

I can’t tell you if this is the product of Leaf fans being torn about whether to cheer or boo a win these days, but the atmosphere up top was surprisingly reminiscent of that of the suits.  I was distraught, sad, even angry.  I hear people complain about the suits all the time, the people who aren’t ”real” fans who ruin the ACC.  Well I am one of those platinum seaters on some nights and I must say, the noise level at the bottom of the ACC is chillingly similar to the noise level at the top.  I couldn’t be angrier.  Here are the real fans, sitting down, drinking a bit, shouting out a couple of insults to the usual targets (McCabe, Antropov, and any visiting big name player), but that is no different from the platinums.  It was actually sad in the sense that the fans up top yell to ears that will never hear the words, at least when I make fun of McCabe he might actually hear it.

It’s a delusion, that the suits ruin the atmosphere.  Something needs to be done here.  Me, I’m of the mind that the fans, both “rich” and “poor” aren’t entirely to blame.  MLSE and the ACC need to do their part as well, and with that in mind here are three quick fixes:

1)  Cheerleaders.  I don’t know why more hockey teams don’t have girls (attractive ones) running up and down the aisles entertaining the fans.  I know Carolina does it, or did it, and I’m pretty sure a couple other traditionally non-hockey markets, like Tampa Bay, do it too.  I like girls.  Let’s add them to hockey.

2)  Switch up the rest of the entertainment package too.  It’s stale.  The same songs, same gimmicks, all the time during the game.  The face of the Leaf crowd pleasers is a big stuffed bear named Carlton.  He is a silent character, as quiet as the fans.  That’s ok, no mascots really talk, but Raptor at least entertains a hell of a lot more than Carlton.  Raptor inflates and shrinks, falls down stairs and consumes security guards.  The Raptors do a much better job of entertaining the fans outside of the actual sport.  Leafs need to rethink their in-game entertainment cause what’s happening on the ice isn’t doing much for anyone right now.

3) Lower the cost of alcohol.  I’m serious.  I don’t expect the beer to be cheap, but reasonable is good.  I think that MLSE could lower the cost of beer a bit, and make more money out of the increased volume in beer sold.  2 large beers cost me just over $25 last night, $25.68 I believe.  Include a tip for the bartender and you’re talking about $28.  That’s not really affordable.  Get people a little more drunk, and the noise will come.  What amazes me though is despite the astronomical price of beer, people always manage to throw up at Leafs games in the washrooms.  Without fail I see spew at every game.  Last night I witnessed the cleanup which was impressive.  They use a powder that works like kitty litter on the stuff, cleans it right up, it should be in every household.

That’s it for now.  I’m sure there are more practical ways to get the fans boisterous again, like improving the hockey club, giving all the fans something to really cheer about, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon, even by the most optimistic standard.  But the silence of the fans is aggravating.  I don’t give any credence to the argument that if there were no suits at the ACC, it would be the loudest building in hockey. This theory was disproved to me last night the most definitive way possible: through the quiet that befalls the ACC when the Leafs take to the ice, no matter where you sit.