Back From Calgary

Well I survived Calgary and met a bunch of great Calgary fans. I arrived on Friday and proceeded to Hertz to get my rental car. After waiting in line for about 15 - 20 minutes while 2 couples were being served ahead of me, another Hertz Clerk came along and asked if he could help me. As I had been waiting and I think he was in the back room and knew this he was very apologetic about the wait. So he asks for my info and checks my reservation and keeps looking at his computer and at a paper list and not making eye contact with me. So I start to think “Ah Crap they don’t have a car for me” Finally after a couple of minutes I ask if there is a problem and he says well since I have been so patient waiting to be served he is going to upgrade me. I think cool then he tells me a Mustang Convertible. So I got to drive around Calgary in a White Mustang Convertible. Let me tell you it was pretty sweet.

So I spent Friday evening driving around then went to a pub for dinner. Pretty nice place with live music. Saturday I went to Chinook Centre which is the largest mall in Calgary about 200 stores. I wandered through there for a couple of hours as the weather was kinda rainy and grey. I made my way downtown in the afternoon and found myself in line at the Ship and Anchor Pub. I met some military guys from Newfoundland in line and some other folks as well. We decided to try another place as it was 4:30pm and we did not know if we would get into the Pub before game time. We found a place called the Cocktail Club and made ourselves comfortable. The place was packed and there were good looking women everywhere. Did I mention that Calgary has tons of good looking women, seems to be a higher proportion than most places I have visited. The place was packed and we stood as there were no seats available. It did not matter the beer was flowing the company was good and the game was great. After the game which Calgary won 3-0 we went out onto 17th Ave and observed all the lunacy. Crowds were estimated to be in the 38,000 to 40,000 range in a 5 block area. The area is called the Red Mile and after the games the crowds congregate on the street and watch for girls to show their breats and it does not take long for the crowd to convince some sweet thing to lift her top and show off for the crowd. Saturday was a ‘good’ time for yours truly and I definitely had a memorable time.

Sunday I drove up to Banff with the top down and spent that day wandering in Banff and up hiking in the mountains. The trip back to Calgary was again with the roof down and wind blowing through my hair.

On Monday Morning I was driving past Chinook Centre and saw a giant street hockey game going on so I stopped off and saw about 500 people gathered to watch the pickup game and noticed a few of the Flames Alumni in attendance including Ron Stern and Colin Patterson. Not sure who else had been there but it was interesting to see this and I found out it was organized by a local radio station and they were giving away tickets to the game that night so I entered and kept my fingers crossed. I did not win but it still was fun to see that much enthusiasm from all the fans.

I headed to the Saddledome for the pre game festivities and was amazed at the number of fanes in attendance up to 3 hours before the game. Makes me feel better that I wasn’t the only crazy hanging out. I got to meet the hckey guys from Sportnet and TSN and got my pictures taken with them. I had a discussion with Nick Kyprios from Sportsnet on the the Flames and why he thought they had done so well. He had a pretty good perspective on Sutter and his ability to build a winning team and motivate his players. I wandered around and took some more pcitures before heading off to the Cocktail Club to watch the Game. As this was Monday I knew it was not going to be as crazy as Saturday so I left it a little late to get a seat for the game. The game was exciting but the outcome was not a happy one Tampa 1-0. So we know there would be a Game 6 on Saturday. It would be great for Calgary to take the Cup at home.

Tuesday I headed home and back to work on Wednesday. I had no intention of returning to Calgary for Game 6 but then a friend put the bug in my ear and I figured What the Hell! So it is back to Calgary for Game 6th and after the result of Game 5 in Tampa on Thursday Calgary 3-2 in overtime. Calgary can Clinch the Cup at home on Saturday. What better reason than that to head back to Calgary…..so more to come stay tuned. Calgary Part Deux coming after the weekend.