Do you remember your first sports team you liked or followed? Do you remember the first time you got to see them live? Well I still remember when my father took me to see my first Philadelphia Eagles game at Veteran stadium when I was 12. Man what an experience for me. Granted it was a preseason game but it felt like everything was larger then life. The players, the stadium, that atmosphere was so overwhelming. Well, this past weekend I was lucky enough to take my youngest son to his first Philadelphia Flyers game at the Wells Fargo Arena where they played the New York Islanders.
Now we live about two and half hours away from Philly, so of course the first lovely experience I got to experience with him was with the infamous “Are we there yet?” and the “How many more minutes until we’re there?” 20 minutes into the drive. I knew he was excited so I couldn’t be mad at him. We finally pull into the parking lot and have a quick bite to eat because lets be honest. Who likes paying $10 for hot dogs or whatever the outrageous prices they charge? Not me. So we get into the arena a little early and only the Cadillac Grill was open. Rest of the arena didn’t open until 11:30. 11:30 hit and first thing out of his mouth? “Can we go to the team store?”. So we head into the store to get a few things. He loves that big orange hair googly-eyed creature so of course, he wanted to get a Gritty t-shirt to wear because his broad street bullies t-shirt is getting small on him. “o dad can I get a foam finger?”. Sure I figured. It’s his first game. Let’s throw the budget out the window in the team store. A half hour later and my wallet being about 25lbs lighter, I said ok let’s go walk around the arena. This was actually my first ever time at Wells Fargo as well. This was my third flyers game but the other two were the outdoor games in Pittsburgh and at the Linc this past year.
So we started walking around the arena and the first thing we passed was the Flyers Hat Trick History. It was an enclosure of hats that have been thrown onto the ice over the years. It was pretty cool. It was different, maybe that’s why it stood out to me and him. Even on the ride home, I asked him what was something he thought was cool when we walked around and that was one of them. The other thing I had a chuckle or two watching him do was playing the virtual reality goalie game. Let’s just say he made Steve Mason look good. Then before we went to our seats I noticed two of the Flyers ice girls. “Hey Jon, want to get your picture taken with the ice girls?” “ummmm ok.” saying it nervously. It was so cute. He was so nervous but he was a gentleman and took his hat off. We took the picture and as we’re walking away he’s still blushing so I asked: “Hey bud, what’s the matter?”. He said, “They were pretty.” We both laughed at his response and headed to our seats. Lineup starts to be announce and I look over and he’s smiling ear to ear. He completely went nuts when the announcer announce Jakub Voracek. That’s been his favorite player since watching games with me.
Then the Flyers scored first off of Robert Hagg’s, let’s be honest, fluke goal. The whole place goes nuts and I’m pretty sure my little dude was the loudest in there. He was more excited than usual, but who wouldn’t be since it was his first live game. He laughed at Gritty throughout the game and listening to him in between periods of what we need to do to win this game was funny hearing. Some of what he said was smarter than what Dave Hakstol would of done.
As the game went on and the intermissions came and gone, the flyers, unfortunately, lost 4-2. I was so worried he would of been really upset. I asked are you ok and he responded with, “Ya. They tried their best. Maybe next time they’ll play a little better and win..(slight pause).… can we come back next weekend to see them play the Rangers?” What does this kid think I’m made of money or something? Until next time this is your good friend Jimbo singing out
Follow me at @jimbostsports and my show @stsportspodcast
