Wa-ha Happend Was...

by Ryan



Yeah, I think that sums up the night. Well, kinda. Let's take a closer look at that ticket.



Yeah, I... I can explain.

---

So Rich sends me a text at 4:49 PM.

"Let's go to the Bandits game. You down? It's the league championship game."

Of course I say yes. However, I had prior engagements and told him I would meet him downtown, assuming tickets would be set. Well, Rich doesn't have the series of tubes at his current residence and was going to get tickets downtown. Of course, I could have bought 300 level seats at 8:30 this morning and we would have been fine, but what good story ends like that?

As I'm on my way down to the arena, Rich tells me that they don't have seats together anymore. That's fine, we've done this before. To the scalpers! Well, the scalpers happen to have a multitude of like-minded customers to pick from, and the price is just a bit too high for broke people of our demographic. (read: holy crap man, I know where that seat is and this isn't a gold game.) So... now we're in downtown Buffalo and don't have a ticket into the lacrosse game.



Third Row, first two seats. $21 total.

We missed two innings, but we got to see the Bisons take on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs at Dunn Tire Park. It was a heck of a lot cheaper than paying three times face for a seat next to Mr. Pillar and Big Sweaty Guy in row 10. In fact, there were two people just in front of us that couldn't get Bandits tickets either, so that was fun.

Some things I learned tonight that you just can't get anywhere but minor league baseball:

- IronPigs backup catcher John Suomi has Ricky Martin's "The Cup of Life" as his at bat music. This led to the conversation in which I firmly stated that my MiLB at bat music would be this. Forever.

- Bison on Bison crime is just out of hand these days.

- Dunn Tire is very... old school with their stats. They listed at-bats for everyone (which was helpful, actually) but didn't bother with any on-base percentages or pitcher stats that, well... are more indicative of a good pitcher. Not complaining, just mentioning that no one in the Bisons gameday crew seems to have read Michael Lewis.



After the Bisons won 5-2 and they got done blowing some stuff up to the tune of "God Bless America" we decided to head back down to the Arena to see what was up with our original destination. We got inside the atrium just in time for the last few seconds of the game, and as the crowd flipped out and a few high fives were exchanged, we slipped inside the Sabres Store to see what would be available.

I've never been around for any kind of championship celebration, but it was pretty cool to be there when they first wheeled out the championship shirts and hats. You never really get to see those kind of things happen when you are at a game or at home, so missing out on tickets and just... being there was a pretty interesting feeling.

After buying the obligatory shirt (and making the obligatory "Ethiopian children in LumberJax gear" joke) we just kind of stood around watching people yell and scream. The overall celebration was a bit underwhelming, but I guess they are saving the riot for when the Bills or Sabres do something worth buying a shirt for.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend either of us are huge Bandits fan and fully grasp what this means for the fanbase, but hey, at least Larry Quinn brought us that championship we've been waiting for. Anyone can say the cliches about winning, so I'll just go ahead and say it was nice to walk away from HSBC Arena in May with something to cheer about. Celebrating a banner that actually means something is nice, even if it is going to be orange.

So yeah, that was my night.

If you are looking for the real story, I'd check out USRT. For some reason I can't access their site tonight, but I'm positive they have something of more substance up about the matter.