Chicago Blackhawks: Red Rising

Since I was in Chicago, I decided to take in some of the "local culture." I decided to head to a Blackhawks game. Their motto, I suppose, is "Red Rising." I'm not really sure what exactly it means, but it was all over the arena and on the scoreboard. There were some pretty interesting things that happened during the game.

1. The usher for my section was very concerned that people remain in their assigned seats. Keep in mind, I was in the "cheap seats" and the arena was only about 50% sold. However, she made a very big deal of rearranging the entire row in front of me until every person was in the seat that was listed on their ticket. Nobody really seemed to care about being in the correct seat except her (and some lame chicks that couldn't just move up one row where there was nobody sitting but me and two other guys.)

2. Apparently, if you are over 40 and can recognize a song by Modest Mouse within the first 30 seconds, you're cool. The 40 year old in front of me was very impressed with himself for knowing who the group was. The 50 and 60 year olds with him, didn't know what he was talking about, nor did they care!

3. I don't understand the point of "ice girls." They wear skimpy outfits and skate around during time outs pretending to clean up the ice. All the while a couple of guys are actually scraping the ice with snow shovels. I suppose they are meant to be the cheerleaders of hockey. There really is nothing they can do, kind of like cheerleaders at a professional basketball game. The only professional cheerleaders should be the originals, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders!

4. I was blown away by the lack of homeless people around the United Center. Yes, I know this sounds odd; but its true. The United Center is in the heart of downtown Chicago. Yes, there were homeless people asking for money. However, I encounter more homeless people asking for change when I go to the grocery store in Sugar House.

All in all, I had a great time and its nice to feel safe when in a major metropolitan area. And, why do nachos with fake cheese taste so good when at a sporting event?