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powerplayunit · 2 years ago

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The stories you don't know about Evgeni Malkin's journey to 1,000 points

Mar 13, 2019 (x)

Evgeni Malkin is not one to take for granted having scored 1,000 points in the NHL. However, but he does have more lofty goals on his mind.

“I know what (Sergei) Fedorov did,” Malkin said, referring to his childhood idol. “I want to have more than him.” Goals? Points? Games? “More goals. More points. Of course. And Fedorov has three Cups, same as me. So I need one more. Maybe two. I don’t know. At least one.”

Despite his omission from the NHL 100 a couple of years ago, Malkin remains a star with few peers regarding achievements. He is one of only a handful of players to claim the Stanley Cup, and the Art Ross, Calder, Conn Smythe and Hart trophies. He is also one of only five Russians to join the Millennium Club among scorers.

Those who know Malkin best shared their memorable stories from his run to 1,000 points.

Geno pulls rank Sidney Crosby thought he knew “the rules.” He was wrong. And even though Malkin spoke few words of English during his earliest days with the Penguins, he knew enough to pull rank on the other young superstar center in Pittsburgh.

Prior to Malkin’s first regular-season game at the old Civic Arena in 2006, he and Crosby instinctively remained behind as Penguins teammates took to the ice for the opening period. As it came down to Malkin and Crosby, each player looked at each other wondering which one should go next.

“And we couldn’t really say it, right?” Crosby said, smiling. “And I’m, like, ‘Geno, you can go.’ I mean, like, ‘You. Can. Go.’ And he’s, like, ‘Oh no, you go.’ You know? And that’s, like, the most he would hear at that point.”

Again, Crosby insisted that Malkin be the penultimate Penguin to take the ice. Malkin held firm.

Crosby suggested they play Rock, Paper, Scissors to break the stalemate.

“And then I’m, like, ‘Wait a second, he’s not going to know what Rock, Paper, Scissors are,’” Crosby said.

Crosby next tried cutting to the chase. He explained that Malkin should go next so that Crosby could go last. Again, Malkin held firm.

“He goes, ‘No, three years (in) Super League,’” Crosby said. “I go, ‘This is the NHL, I went last year.’ He goes, ‘Super League (is) best league in the world.’ And I’m, like, ‘What?!’

“What he just said was more than I heard him say up to that point.”

And at that point, Crosby experienced Malkin’s preference to make a point in a roundabout way.

“He was basically trying to say, ‘Hey, I’m older, you’re younger — I’m going (last).’ But he couldn’t say that in English. So I said, ‘OK.’ And so I ended up going second, and that’s how it goes.

“That’s the story of why Geno goes last, you know? To this day, we still go in that order.”

Geno gets a crush

Max Talbot had no idea how he would handle rooming with Malkin on the road during the 2007-08 season. Between them, they spoke three languages but didn’t have one in common.

After the first couple of road trips, Talbot realized that he and Malkin did have something in common: the “Transformers” movies. During his second NHL season, Malkin became obsessed with the original “Transformers” film after Talbot purchased it on their hotel room’s television the night before a game.

“Oh, Geno watched it, like, every night,” Talbot said. “I mean, it’s not a great movie, you know? You can see it once or twice. But Geno … he always wanted to watch that ‘Transformers’ movie. You could say it got a little bit annoying.”

One night, Talbot attempted to coax Malkin into going out for dinner. Malkin declined. He invited Talbot to order room service and join him for a viewing of his favorite movie. It became the last straw.

“I said, ‘Geno, why do you always watch that movie?’” Talbot said. “He said, ‘Look (at) girl, learn English.’ And, honest to God, I probably laughed for the next five minutes.

“He had a crush on that actress (Megan Fox). He watched the movie because she was in it, right? And I guess (Sergei) Gonchar had told Geno to learn English by watching the same movie over and over. So, Geno watched that ‘Transformers’ movie because he liked that girl.”

A few weeks later, during his first group interview with Pittsburgh media, the ice was broken when Malkin recognized the word “Transformers” during a question I asked. The next day, when reading my story to Malkin, Gonchar did Talbot a favor.

“Gonchar said to Geno, ‘You know, there is a second movie,’” Talbot said. “And all I could think was ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ At least it wasn’t the same movie the rest of the year.’”

Geno learns to lie Technically, these next anecdotes are not from Malkin’s days with the Penguins. However, they were provided by his parents Vladimir and Natalia, who almost as beloved in Pittsburgh as their son.

As a 4-year-old in his native Magnitogorsk, Malkin and his father played 1-on-1 hockey outside the apartment complex where the family lived. Evgeni was behind the net one day when Vladimir shot a puck that deflected and hit Evgeni in the eye.

“I said to him, ‘What do we do? Your mom will surely be upset,’” Vladimir said. “He said, ‘Let’s not tell mom, she won’t let us play anymore.’”

Later that night, during supper, Natalia never asked her youngest son or his father about a mark near Evgeni’s eye. She did not say a word about anything during dinner.

“You could tell she knew,” Vladimir said. “We never have talked about it.”

About seven years after that incident, Evgeni was again injured — this time during an off-ice training session. He landed wrong while jumping. His leg was broken, and Evgeni was forced into a cast and to use crutches.

“This was before a tournament,” Natalia said. “We let him go with his teammates, but insisted, of course, that he could not play.”

Natalia and Vladimir were unaware that Evgeni’s coach had seen him playing tennis — the sport was a favorite pastime for Evgeni and elder brother, Denis — while on the crutches. The coach was convinced Evgeni could still help their team win the tournament even though Evgeni could not walk.

At the rink, Evgeni’s teammates helped him cut the cast off his leg with a rusty saw and then cram his foot into a skate boot. Evgeni returned home without a cast, still using crutches and also carrying a trophy awarded to the tournament MVP.

“I was not happy with him; but, yes, I was happy for him,” Natalia said. “It was never easy to keep him from hockey. I blame his father.”

Geno sees his future

Penguins centers Evgeni Malkin (left) and Sidney Crosby raised the Stanley Cup for the third time in June of 2017. (Christopher Hanewinckel / USA Today)

The day before Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup final — so, the day before the biggest game of his life — Malkin walked into the players’ lounge at Civic Arena and spotted me sitting against a doorway’s wall. During a 20-minute conversation, he discussed the many differences from the previous postseason, which ended with the Penguins watching the Detroit Red Wings skate with the Cup in Pittsburgh.

Malkin, who played injured during that 2008 Cup final, was healthy this time around. He had the postseason lead in scoring to prove it. But he wanted more than the Conn Smythe Trophy he would ultimately claim.

He pointed to a picture on the wall that showed Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr each holding up the Stanley Cup from the Penguins’ championship win in 1992.

“Me and Sid,” Malkin said. “We get our picture. It’s time.”

On the page of my notebook, I scribbled Malkin’s words and marked the time he said them into my digital recorder. I asked if I could write that part in my story advancing Game 7 at Detroit.

“Yes, you write (it), Rossi,” Malkin said. “Because we (will) win.”

The Penguins won the 2009 final. The Red Wings watched them take laps with the Cup on Joe Louis Arena’s ice. It was Malkin’s first team title at any level as a professional.

He needed another couple of Cup wins by the Penguins to finally get that picture with Crosby, though.

It was taken after the Penguins finished off the Predators at Nashville in Game 6 of the 2017 final. As he had in 2009, Malkin was the top scorer in the 2017 postseason. On the ice, he and Crosby recreated the Lemieux-Jagr pose from 1992.

That picture hangs in Malkin’s condominium on Fisher Island in Florida.

Geno gives props Gonchar had been gone from Pittsburgh for a couple of seasons when Malkin headed to Las Vegas for the NHL awards show in June 2012. Though their bond had strengthened in Gonchar’s absence, Malkin’s big night was not on Gonchar’s mind the evening of the broadcast.

“We were just sitting down at the table for dinner, and I turned on the TV with (eldest daughter) Natalie to watch cartoons,” Gonchar said. “I start getting all these text messages: ‘Great job.’ ‘Such wonderful things for Evgeni to say.’ And I didn’t get it — like, ‘What are they talking about?’”

Gonchar and his family had not planned to watch the televised broadcast of the NHL awards show. “I knew he would win,” Gonchar said. “I knew he would tell me about it.”

Malkin had already given one acceptance speech at the ceremony, so he was somewhat unprepared when taking the stage to accept the Hart Trophy. And in a callback to his first couple of seasons with the Penguins, when Malkin lived with the Gonchar family, he turned his MVP moment into a tribute to his best friend.

Thankfully, that best friend’s daughter showed Gonchar a video replay of the speech — after the cartoons, though.

“You know, I wanted to talk to him right away — after those text messages,” Gonchar said. “I called and left him a message. He never called me back.”

Instead, Malkin showed up the next afternoon at Gonchar’s house. He had a miniature Hart Trophy with him. And a fishing rod.

“He spent, like, the next 10 days with us,” Gonchar said. “It was a lot of time fishing and swimming. It was not different from any other time he was with us.”

Well, it was different one afternoon. Gonchar asked Malkin about the dedication.

https://youtu.be/RR8V88ClAtw

“He said, ‘Why talk, just watch (the) video,’” Gonchar said, laughing.

“But Evgeni was saying that he had to give a speech if he won and how he thinks everything’s been said when he won the other awards. He was telling me he just felt like he wanted to say something else. But he did not really prepare another speech. He wasn’t thinking. He was feeling emotions. It just came out.”

And that is as far as Gonchar allowed Malkin to go with the conversation about the Hart Trophy dedication.

“He was getting very emotional,” Gonchar said. “I was emotional, too. So we started talking about something else.

“We’re still Russian, I guess.”

Geno finds a friend One afternoon in August 2012, Evgeni and I walked through the Kremlin’s grounds with a photographer. The idea was to get some photographs of Malkin walking near historic sites that were a quick hop from his Moscow apartment. We would consider these for photos for the cover of his authorized biography.

During those couple of hours, Malkin started feeling his sweet tooth and stopped by a street vendor’s ice cream cart. A boy approached. Malkin offered to buy him a cone. The boy accepted.

As Malkin and the boy chatted, a woman hurried to the reigning MVP of the NHL. She appeared to scold the boy, then Malkin. In an attempt to calm her — or at least explain himself — Malkin motioned as though he would to pose for a ceremonial faceoff. He then mimicked shooting a puck with an imaginary stick. As he did this, the boy pointed and repeatedly shouted “Malkin!” but the woman remained defiant.

She grabbed the boy’s ice cream cone and handed it to Malkin. She left with the child’s hand in hers.

Malkin smiled as he rejoined our group. I asked what had happened. He explained that the woman did not want to spoil her son’s dinner. I suggested he track them down and explain who he was.

“I did,” Malkin said. “I say, ‘I’m Evgeni Malkin!’ She (did) not care. Maybe if I was Sid.”

Malkin waited a beat. His timing revealing the comedian he could have become had he not been born to do this hockey job.

“Sid (does) not eat ice cream,” Malkin said. “It’s why he’s (the) best player.”

#evgeni malkin #pittsburgh penguins #article

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icedbatik · 3 years ago

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One step closer ...

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins is close to being complete.

Fenway Sports Group has signed a purchasing agreement to take over as owner of the franchise.

Under the agreement, the high-powered Boston sports conglomerate will assume majority control over the team. Penguins co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle each will retain a minority stake in the franchise they rescued from bankruptcy in 1999.

Lemieux, a Pittsburgh sports icon and hockey Hall of Famer, also will continue to have a say in the club’s operation.

The signing of the purchasing agreement was first reported by Sportico, a sports business website, and confirmed to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by a source with knowledge of the transaction.

No other details were available. A formal announcement could come Monday.

The sale still must be approved by the National Hockey League before it becomes official. Both the FSG and Penguins boards already have approved the deal.

While the sale will end Lemieux’s nearly 40-year dominance over the franchise as a player and an owner, he will continue to play a role in the hockey side of the team’ operations. The Penguins senior management, including CEO David Morehouse and chief operating officer Kevin Acklin, also are expected to remain in place.

Lemieux won two Stanley Cup championships with the Penguins as a player and three more as an owner after teaming with Burkle, a California billionaire.

That both will continue to have a minority stake in the team should offer some assurances to Penguins fans antsy about the team’s future under the new ownership.

At the same time, FSG, valued at more than $7 billion, has the financial resources to build upon the success that the club has had under Lemieux and Burkle.

Backed by billionaire John Henry, FSG owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League, Roush Fenway Racing of Nascar, and 80% of the New England Sports Network.

Henry, owner of the Boston Globe newspaper, has sought to own an NHL franchise since the 1990s.

While no details of the sales agreement for the Penguins have been announced, some experts have predicted that the deal could be worth as much as $700 million to $900 million. Forbes values the team at $650 million.

Besides the team itself, the deal is expected to include control over PPG Paints Arena, owned by the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority, and development rights to the 28-acre former Civic Arena site in the lower Hill District.

The SEA board also must approve the transaction.

#Pittsburgh Penguins #November 29 - 2021

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pittarchives · 3 years ago

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The Pittsburgh Musicians’ Union Merger: “It Revolves Around Representation”

This post was written by Char Pyle (Fall 2021 Undergraduate Intern).

(Above) Pages from the program of the AFM’s 1962 Annual Convention, hosted at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. American Federation of Musicians, Local 60-471, Pittsburgh, Pa. Records, 1906-1996, AIS.1997.41, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) is a labor union representing musicians across the country. The Pittsburgh Musicians’ Union, Local 60-471 of the AFM, has a particularly storied history. Local 60 was formed in 1897, one year after the AFM was founded. In 1908, Local 471 was created for black musicians in Pittsburgh. The two locals merged in 1966 following an integration order from the AFM. While the integration seems like it could be a positive thing, this only meant it would be more difficult for black musicians to advocate for themselves and be heard. This is evident even in the meeting minutes between both locals surrounding the merger. This interaction is noted at the beginning of the meeting:

“Before considering items, Pres. Davis asks: ‘How can we meet on common ground? What do we need? (to effect agreeable merger)’ Pres. Westray answers: ‘It revolves around representation.’”

This emphasis on representation is visible in Local 471’s proposals during the merger. Policies proposed by Local 471 included suggestions of affirmative action, shown in “Exhibit D” under “Negro Representation in Elective Offices of the Merged Union”. They sought out guaranteed representation in elected office, as they were likely not hopeful that they would truly be perceived as equals by the majority-white membership base of the merged union. Unfortunately, this has proved to be true. Since the merger, and still today, leadership of Local 60-471 is primarily white. Based on these minutes, it appears these suggestions were heavily contested and subsequently dismissed by members of Local 60. One of their arguments was that this was “a type of segregation in reverse”. This shouldn’t be an unfamiliar idea, as similar arguments are still echoed today in the realms of employment and education.

(Above) Exhibit D in the merger meeting minutes between the executive boards of both locals. American Federation of Musicians, Local 60-471, Pittsburgh, Pa. Records, 1906-1996, AIS.1997.41, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Another result of the merger is the lack of records from Local 471. There is significantly more material available for Local 60, including film reels, publications, meeting minutes, photographs, and various booklets. It’s not clear why this discrepancy exists, but Local 471’s records may have simply been overshadowed as the merged union was mostly made up of former Local 60 members. This could have led to the merged local being viewed as simply a continuation of the white local, devaluing the preservation of artifacts related to Local 471. The merger also caused many black members to become disillusioned with the union, so there wouldn’t have been many people interested in preserving those records anyway. The effects of this lack of preservation were apparent almost immediately, as membership cards for many Local 471 members were lost in the merger. This led to a discontinuation of seniority benefits (even though the opposite was promised in the merger minutes), which caused many to cancel their memberships.

It’s difficult to say whether much would have changed had these policies been approved. Perhaps with more of a presence in the administration of the union, Local 471 would have retained more of its membership and its history would have been better preserved. When so many former Local 471 members resigned, they lost the ability to play music in Pittsburgh. The city may have missed out on countless performances and talented artists because of this. Unfortunate as it may be, this event was a milestone for black musicians in Pittsburgh, and greatly shaped the landscape of Pittsburgh music as a whole. This collection would be of use to those researching local musicians from the 20th century. Prominent figures that were members of Local 471 include the following, and membership cards are available for each:

Carl Arter (President)

George Benson

Art Blakey

Ray Brown

Roy Eldridge

Erroll and Linton Garner

Walter Harper

Joe Harris

Earl Hines

Roger Humphries

Ahmad Jamal

Grover Mitchell

Horace Parlan

Stanley Turrentine

Joe Westray (President at time of merger)

Mary Lou Williams

Ruby Younge Hardy (Secretary-Treasurer)

(Above) Membership cards (from top to bottom) of Art Blakey, Erroll Garner, and Mary Lou Williams. American Federation of Musicians, Local 60-471, Pittsburgh, Pa. Records, 1906-1996, AIS.1997.41, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Additional Sources:

http://jazzburgher.ning.com/profiles/blogs/old-mon-music-pittsburgh-blog

https://www.afm.org/about/history/

https://www.afmpittsburgh.com/a01-aboutus.html

http://exhibit.library.pitt.edu/labor_legacy/MusiciansHistory471.htm

American Federation of Musicians, Local 60-471, Pittsburgh, Pa. Records, 1906-1996, AIS.1997.41, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

#jazz #pittsburghjazz #laborhistory #labor unions #erroll garner #art blakey #mary lou williams

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urbanforesterpgh · 4 years ago

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Gentrification and Pittsburgh’s Troubled History of Minority Displacement

The United States has a long history of displacement and consolidation of minority communities and Pittsburgh is certainly no exception (Vilay, 2020). In the 1950’s, the city began an urban renewal campaign that included the construction of the Pittsburgh Civic arena and ultimately resulted in the displacement of over 8,000 primarily African American residents from the Hill District community. Prior to these urban renewal initiatives, the Hill District was considered a cultural center for the African American community and the neighborhood benefited from strong social networks and high levels of trust between residents. The displacement of the Hill District community had traumatic and long-lasting effects, as the breakdown of social networks lead to psychological distress and depression which amplified economic disadvantages and made communities more susceptible to adverse health outcomes. Those that remained in the Hill District now live in one of the most distressed neighborhoods in the city (Flórez et al., 2016). With the fallout from this example of displacement still impacting African American communities and Pittsburgh experiencing levels of gentrification commonly seen in postindustrial cities, even the most at-risk residents may be hesitant to participate in buyout programs or engage in conversations about relocation. While some may argue that this influx of wealth into working class communities is a positive change, existing, lower income residents may no longer be able to afford a new home in their original community if they are displaced by a landslide. Buyout programs, when they are available, are often underfunded, with homeowners only receiving compensation for the current value of their properties (Vilay, 2020). If residents are forced to relocate to a new community because they can no longer afford the higher rents and home prices in their current neighborhood, this leads to the breakdown of community bonds, reduced access to employment or increased commute times to work or school, and worse health outcomes stemming from trauma and depression and potentially degraded environmental conditions of the new neighborhood. While Pittsburgh does not currently have a buyout program for landslide-impacted properties, any discussions surrounding the implementation of such a program should be sensitive the city’s history with minority displacement and should include feedback and engagement with members of those communities. Aside from buyout programs, the city could also pursue landslide prevention techniques that utilize reforestation and other examples of green infrastructure in order to stabilize its steepest slopes, including the Pittsburgh Greenways.

Flórez, K. R., Ghosh-Dastidar, M. B., Beckman, R., de la Haye, K., Duru, O. K., Abraído-Lanza, A. F., & Dubowitz, T. (2016). The Power of Place: Social Network Characteristics, Perceived Neighborhood Features, and Psychological Distress Among African Americans in the Historic Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58(1–2), 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12086

Kozak, S.L., 2014. From section 8 to Starbucks: the effects of gentrification on affordable housing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thesis (PhD). University of Kansas.

Vilay, Erica. Floodway Buyout Strategy for a Resilient Houston. 9 July 2020, www.jchs.harvard.edu/research-areas/working-papers/floodway-buyout-strategy-resilient-houston.

#NoBuyoutwithoutBuyin

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madamsixx · 4 years ago

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Beyond The Leather Chapter 78: Who Am I Talking To?

Wednesday, December 20th, 1989 Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA

"Thank you Pittsburgh, we love you!" Vince shouts at the wild crowd chanting Crue.

We run backstage sweating and panting. This was our last show of 89. We are heading home for the holidays.

"Shit I'm so fucking tired." Tommy breathed out while using a cloth to wipe his face.

"Same fuck." Vince huff's as he drops himself on the couch in the change room.

"Here." Mick walks over to us handing each of us a water bottle.

"Hey boys you excited." Doug smiles walking into the room with Fred walking in behind him.

"Excited for what?" Tommy asks.

"For the Christmas break." Fred says with excitment. "I finally get to get away from you fuckers."

"Haha very funny Fred." Vince chuckles sarcastically.

"Man I can't wait to see my family. This tour is exhausting." Doug groans.

"You're exhausted?" I question looking at Doug. "We're the ones playing every night."

"Yeah well still, keeping you guys in check is extremely difficult." Doug says as he walks and sits by Vince. "So what are you guys doing for the holidays?"

"Ugh, I have to spend Christmas with Heather's family." Tommy says dryly.

"Is that a bad thing?" Vince chuckles.

"Well kind of, they can be annoying some times. Especially her mom, her and Heather are always nagging me."

"What about your family?" I ask.

"Her family and my family are coming to our house. Heather wants me to clean up and help her cook. As if I know how to cook." Tommy shrugs.

"I don't know why she would trust you in the kitchen, drummer. I wouldn't eat anything you cooked, I'd rather starve to death." Mick speaks up.

All of us start laughing. Tommy throws his cloth at Mick and he grins and swats it away.

"What about you Vince?" Doug leans back on the couch looking at Vince.

"Me." Vince grunts and leans back on the couch as well. "I'm going to spend Christmas with Sharise's family."

"What about your kids?" Fred asks.

"I'm going to see Neil, but I can't see Beth. Elizabeth won't allow me to see her. She's keeping her away from me. I'm hoping that me and Sharise can have a child togther soon."

Doug patted Vince on the shoulder. I felt bad for Vince. He was always complaining that Beth would on purposely tell Vince to come see Elizabeth on the days that he was out on tour just so he wouldn't be able to see her. She wanted his money but didn't want him around. I hope he gets to have a child with Sharise.

"Well at least Sharise wants kids with you. Heather won't even talk about children with me." Tommy frowns.

"Give her time Tommy she'll come around." Doug says.

"She's had three years now. It's going to be four when we reach May of next year." I point out.

"Exactly." Tommy sighs.

"Well, since we're talking about families. I'm meeting Emi's family for the first time." Mick speaks.

"Good for you Mick." Fred nods. "I'm spending time with Jess's family for the first time."

"Ouuu Fred you and Jess getting serious?" Tommy chuckles.

"He's got googley eyes for her." Vince laughed.

"Yeah, I do." Fred smirks. "It's about time I settle down instead of fucking around like you clowns."

I listened to the guys talk and laugh about spending time with families and loved ones. I felt bad that I didn't have a family to talk about. I was hoping that no one would ask me any questions. It would make me feel worse.

"So what about you Sixx?" Doug looks at me.

"He's obviously going to be with Mani." Vince chuckles.

"Bitch." Tommy sneers under his breath thinking that I didn't hear him.

After he says that, the room goes silent. All the guys look at me with wide eyes and shock.

"Tommy!" Fred growls. "That's not cool."

"Don't speak about her like that." I move from the table and walk towards him. "Seriously Tommy leave it alone."

"What? I'll never forgive or like her for what she did."

"That's fine if you don't wanna forgive her or like her. But fucking respect her Tommy. She's my girl!" I raise my voice.

"Oh I'm sorry Sixx." Tommy touches his heart turning to me. "I didn't mean to disrespect your girl who can't even tell anyone about you guys relationship." He snarled.

"Tommy enough." Mick speaks up.

"Enough of what?" Tommy questions. "We all know that their relationship is in the closet. I feel sorry for you man." Tommy smirked and shook his head. "Can't kiss, hug, or hold hands in public."

"And you can't have children with Heather." I spat. "Cause she probably knows that you're still sticking your dick in different holes."

"Fuck you Nikki!" Tommy yells.

"Alright boys enough!" Fred yelled. "Change and let's get the hell outta here! I'm tired of your shit!"

I back away from Tommy. I walk to the side and grab my bag and walk out the door.

On the jet..

I sat in a seat alone writing in my notebook. I've been writing a lot of poetry and stories since I left rehab. It's been keeping my mind busy, especially from drinking.

"H..hey dude."

I looked up to see Tommy standing by me rubbing his hair. I scoffed and went back to writing completely ignoring him.

"Can I please sit?" He pleads.

I shrug but continue to write, I'm not sure what he wants to talk about. I'm pissed at him after what he said about me and Mani. It's clear that he doesn't support my relationship.

"So uh, what are you writing?" He asks hesitantly.

No response.

"You uh, writing new lyrics." Tommy says nervously as he starts using his fingers to drum on his thigh.

No response.

"Sixx c'mon, please can we talk?" He pleaded.

I sighed and looked up at him then closed my book.

"Talk."

"Ok, well I'm angry at Mani because she shit on something that was special to Heather. And on top of that she nearly killed you Nikki. That was uncalled for."

"Tommy." I leaned forward so I could be face to face with with him. "I am sorry about Heather, ok. I apologized before and I'm still apologizing now. I know Mani feels bad about it too. But you need to let it go."

"It's hard for me to let it go." Tommy huff's leaning back on the couch.

"When you first brought Heather around us. She looked at me like I was shit, and she would always make snide remarks about me and the band. I tolerated it because you loved her."

"Yeah, you did." Tommy frowns.

"Look, I was mad at first when Mani did that to me. But in a way I deserved it. And if I'm being honest, I'm glad it happened. Because it brought us back together and helped us to talk about the things in our past that we never resolved."

He nodded his head and turned away from me.

"Tommy I love her, and I'm trying to stay on this positive path. I'm balancing staying sober, being in a secret relationship with Mani, these new emotions, touring, fighting with Brandi for a divorce, and you."

"Sixx-"

"Listen, if you can't let it go and forgive her than we can't be friends. Because I can't allow you to speak about her like that. She means a lot to me."

"So what are you saying?" Tommy mumbles and looks at me.

"I'm saying...that I'm choosing her."

It went silent for a long time. I could see it in Tommy's eyes that he was a bit upset. I hate to do this to him because we have been best friends since 81 and he is my terror twin. But this relationship with Mani means a lot to me. She trusts me, she loves me, and makes me feel good about myself. I want things to go further with us and I... actually.. we can only do that by keeping the negative people away.

"You really love her huh?" Tommy looks up at me with a sad face.

"I do Tommy, she means the world to me. She forgave me after everything I put her through, so that has to mean something worth fighting for. I don't want to lose any chance of happiness."

Tommy nodded his head slowly and rubbed his neck.

"Sixx, you're going to get mad at me. But I have to tell you something." Tommy says with a nervous look on his face.

"Please don't tell me you did something stupid." I let out and amused groan.

"Well...it could be considered funny." He shrugged chuckling.

"What is it?"

"I uh..I sent Mani a coke bomb on her birthday when she was in paris." He mumbled lowly.

"Tommy." I groan and slide down in my seat.

"Sorry I was still pissed off." He waved his hands. "But I'm not anymore, I see how happy she makes you and I feel bad for saying rude things about her infront of you."

"It's fine." I sigh and sit back up. "Just from now on I need you to be nice to her. Considering how much I hurt her I want her to feel safe and accepted with all of us."

"Yeah I hear you. We good?" Tommy raises his brows.

"Of course T-bone."

He got up to leave but stopped and turned around.

"Also, another thing Sixx." Tommy's face turns serious. "Remember how you said it wasn't Mani that drugged you. What did you mean by that?"

"I meant that it was her manager. She's not a good person. She tells Mani to do fucked up shit and she's always in her ear whispering bad things to her."

"So Mani always does what her manager tells her to do and say?" Tommy asks with concern.

"Did Mani say something to you?" I furrow my brows.

"N..no..I just wanna know." He chuckled nervously.

I sigh and scratch my head ready to tell him.

"Look Tommy, I use to manipulate Mani when she was younger because she couldn't think for herself. I would tell her what she wanted to hear or call her to make her pity me and feel sorry for me so I could get her to come to me. Then, I would make her do things that she wouldn't normally do. Like running away on tour with me. It was so easy because she was young and raised in a strict house hold and very sheltered. She knew nothing about the real world. She grew up never being able to make decisions for herself. Other people always made descions for her, including me. But I realized how dangerous it is to manipulate someone who can't think for themselves. It means that when someone tells Mani something, it's hard for her not to listen. Especially if that person has been in her life for a long time. Like her manager."

"Shit." Tommy mumbled and rubbed his head. He started biting his fingers tips and looked down at the ground.

"Yeah." I breath out. "Now that I'm sober and able to think properly I try my hardest to sit down and talk to her instead of putting thoughts and words in her ear. Mani's a sweet girl. I want her to make her own decisions. I want her to stand up to Tamara rather than say yes to everything Tamara tells her to do."

"Does she know you use to manipulate her?"

"No." I shake my head. "But I am gonna tell her when the time is right. It's something that she needs to know."

"Fuck." Tommy breathed out.

"Tommy." I called to him. "If she said something to you, you know you can tell me. Right?" I ask with seriousness.

"Oh..uh..no she didn't say anything to me." He studdred. "When I see Mani again I'm going to apologize for how I've been treating her. I want you and her to be happy."

"Thanks T-bone."

Los Angeles's

When the jet landed we all got out and gave each other a hug goodbye. We weren't going to see each other until next year. I got into my limo and reached home. I sigh as I looked around the big empty house. I didn't bother to put my stuff away properly. I sat down on the couch wondering what I would be doing for the break. Before Mani left she said she would call me and we can talk often. She's spending time with her family in Canada for the holidays. Every one has someone except for me. My holidays are going to be very lonely. I guess shit just doesn't change for me. I was lonely in the past, I'm lonely in the present, and chances are I'll be lonely in the future.

After taking a quick nap. I've been speaking to Mani a lot on the phone. I had to pretend like I was ok here. I told her that I was going to be hanging around with my friends for the Christmas break. But I have no friends. The ones that I do are still on drugs or drinking. Robbin called me as well but he was so out of it that I had no clue what he was saying. Tom also called and I spoke to some of my aunts and uncles. I wish I could go to Idaho, but there's not enough time. Plus I don't want to go to Idaho by myself. I got up then headed downstairs with my new base that Mani got for me. I sat there and started strumming but nothing was coming to me. I just felt bored and unmotivated.

Ring Ring Ring

I put my base down and walked to the phone.

"Hey."

"Hi babe."

"Hi princess how are you?" I asked as I walked back to the couch and sat down.

"I'm alright, just checking in on you. I hope you're ok?"

"Babe I'm fine, I keep telling you that. What's that noise in the backround?"

"Oh." She laughs. "It's my mom's church music. She plays it every Christmas. I can't believe you can actually hear it. I'm in my sisters room and the music is downstairs."

"Yeah I can hear it." I chuckled. "So is it just you and your family having a Christmas dinner or are other people going to be at your place?"

"Well we're actually going over to my uncle's house. Him and his wife just had a baby. So the whole family is going to spend Christmas there."

"That's...that's great." I mumble.

I stayed silent for a bit. Family. Something that I have never had. Going over to my girlfriend's house for a Christmas dinner to meet her family is something I wish I could experience. People always groan and complain about not wanting to see their in laws. But that's something I would kill to have.

"Nikki are you still there?"

"Oh ..uh sorry I kind of tuned out a bit. What were you saying?"

"I said so what are you doing today?"

I sighed. I wanted to tell her that I have no plans today or any other day but I didn't want her to pity me. I don't want anyone's pity. And I don't want her to travel all the way down here to come and be with me. I want her to be with her family. She deserves to have happiness. She deserves to smile.

"Oh, I'm going to be hanging with friends." I said with fake excitement. "We're going to go out and eat. You know, do guy stuff."

"Guy stuff?" She questions.

"No strip clubs I promise." I chuckled.

"Are they clean?" She asks with concern.

"Yeah babe they're clean." I assure.

"Nikki I can come after Christmas to see you-"

"Mani I'm fine." I assure. "You came out for my birthday so please spend time with your family as long as you need to."

"Ok." She says casually. "I'll call you later."

"Alright babe."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

We both hang up the phone. I think maybe I'll go out shopping for myself. And buy some Christmas presents for people. I probably won't give them the presents till after Christmas cause everyone will be with their families.

I tied my hair back and put on a baseball cap and sunglasses for my disguise. I grabbed my car keys then locked up and got into my car. It was busy out on the roads. People wanted to do some last minute shopping before Christmas.

I stopped and parked my car and got out then headed into the mall. I grabbed a shopping cart then walked around looking for things to buy. I picked up a couple of things that I thought Mani would like, I also got something for Fred, Jess, Tommy, Vince, and Mick. I got something for Tom as well, I'll have to ship it down to Idaho.

"Nikki?"

I tensed up hearing that familiar voice.

"Hi Brie." I smiled nervously.

"Hi." She smiled and gave me a hug. "Nice disguise." She chuckled.

"Well it keeps the fans from recognizing me." I shrug. "Uh..well it's nice to see you I have-"

"Nikki you don't have to keep avoiding me." She frowned. "I know you and Brandi are going through some trouble but it doesn't mean that when you see me you have to run away."

"I know." I rub my hair feeling a bit awkward. "It's just Brandi's your daughter and I don't want trouble."

"I understand." She nods. "But also I feel like you should try and work things out with her. I don't feel like you two really tried. You know she really misses you and wants you two to work things out. And well, so do I." She speaks softly.

And you wonder why I avoid you.

"Brie." I sigh. "I don't know if Brandi told you but I'm in a relationship with someone else."

I saw the hurt on Brie's face. I felt really bad for having to tell her this. Ever since me and Brandi have been having problems I haven't spoken to Brie. Last I saw her was when she came over to get Brandi at our Dr. Feelgood release party. Since then I've been avoiding her like the plague.

"So, you marry my daughter and tell her you want to have a family with her. But the moment you two start arguing you want to call it quits and move onto a different woman right away." She said bitterly.

"Brie it's not that." I groaned.

"So what is it?" She furrows her brows and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Brie I'm sober now." I sigh. "I'm not doing drugs, I'm not drinking, I'm not smoking. I'm clean and Brandi's not. So it's a problem for me."

She nods her and looks passed me like she's thinking. "Well problems have solutions. Why don't you come over on Christmas eve to my place and we can sit down all together and talk about all of this. Brandi will be really happy to see you." She pleads. "And honestly I miss you too. I'm sure you don't want to be alone for Christmas. I know you don't have any family here. And Brandi is still your wife."

"Ok I'll think about it." I nod. "I..uh..I gotta go."

I push my cart passed her and speed walked over to the line. I paid and ran out of the store. I was feeling anxious and overwhelmed for some reason. I threw my stuff in the trunk, climbed into my car, and sat there for a bit. Maybe spending time with Brie and Brandi wouldn't be so bad. They both miss me and I do need company. Plus I'm still married to her so it's normal for married people to spend time with each other.

"Fuck Nikki no, you can't." I grumbled to myself. "Fuck."

I drove out of the shopping mall parking lot and found myself down by the sunset strip. I watched all the teens hanging out by the clubs drinking and smoking. The place has calmed down since the early eighties. I looked down at my leg and realized it was bouncing up and down. Why am I feeling anxious and stressed out? I feel like I need a drink.

"Fuck." I groaned.

My problem is loneliness, it always has been. I turn and drive down to the cathouse. I park my car in the lot and climb out. I pull my hat down just a bit more to cover my face as I head into the cathouse. All these guys that never made it as rockstars are still here drugged out and drinking. This was a bad idea, I need to get out of here before I...

"Hey Sixx!"

I turn to the right to see who's calling me.

"King!"

I ran over to Robbin with open arms. He picked me up and gave me a big bear hug. Wow he looks like complete shit.

"Shit man where have you been?" He slurred.

"I've been on tour bro." I patted his arm. "You uh..you look..good." I lied.

"Thanks dude." He smiled. "Hey come sit." He grabbed my arm and walked me over to the booth he was sitting at.

"Hey Sixx what's up?" Riki walked over to greet me.

"Hey Riki."

He's another one that I tried avoiding. Especially because he introduced me to Brandi.

"I thought you were sober? What brings you here?" Riki asked.

"I was just driving by." I shrug. "It looks like King is doing his afternoon drinking." I point at Robbin.

"He's been here since morning." Riki chuckled.

"Well I have nothing better to do. Steven's pissing me off. He has lead singer syndrome. Thinks he's the shit, he's trying to kick me out of the band."

"He can't do that." I snap.

"Shit that sucks." Riki speaks up. "Hey you and Brandi still together or what?" He looks at me.

"We're married but separated." I say with nervousness.

"She really loves you Sixx, she told me herself."

I breath out and rub my face.

"Hey Riki you're stressing him out. Go get us some whiskey, Sixx needs a drink."

"Alright." Riki walks away.

"Uh no Robbin I can't stay, I'm trying to stay sober." I object.

"Sixx it's one fucking drink, it's not going to kill you like heroin nearly did. Come on bro for old times sake." He laughed and patted my arm.

"Robbin I can't, I promised Mani I would stay sober."

"Mani, Mani, Mani. Come on man, she's not here."

"Robbin-" I groaned.

"Ok, one drink. Just one drink."

"Alright here you go boys." Riki says as he puts the tray of shot glasses down. "I'll do one with you."

I look at the whiskey in the shot glass. My leg starts to shake underneath the table.

Would Iman find out if I had just one drink?

Will I be ok just having one drink?

"Sixx?" Robbin raises a brow.

It's only one drink. It can't lead to anything else.

"Alright, one drink." I smiled.

We pick up our shot glasses and down them. I clear my throat as the delicious taste of alcohol goes down my throat. I've missed this. I miss feeling alive, I miss hanging out with King and being at the cathouse, I miss partying.

"How about another?" Robbin slures.

"Sixx?" Riki looks at me.

"Yeah, I could use one more." I think one more will be fine. It's not like I'm over doing it. I rub my face and breath out.

"Atta boy!" Robbin yells. "Mani's been keeping you on a leash! It's time to free your self! Get the whole bottle Riki!" Robbin cheers.

"Alright, settle down Robbin." Riki chuckles.

Riki came back with two bottles instead of one. We opened them up and finished the whole thing. _____

Thursday, December 21st, 1989

Morning...

"Oh fuck." I grumbled.

I stird and looked around realizing that I wasn't at home. This looks like Kings house.

"King!" I called out.

My head was fucking throbbing. I rolled out of the bed and stumbled a bit using the dresser to steady myself. Something felt like it was coming up my stomatch. I looked around for the bathroom but couldn't find it. So I had to puke on the rug.

"Uh..shit." I groaned as I finished puking. I wiped my mouth and opened the door to leave the room. "Robbin?"

"He's still sleeping Nikki." Theresa said from downstairs. "Come downstairs and have some breakfast."

I walk downstairs and rub my face. I sat at the table feeling like complete shit for what I did last night. I broke my sobriety.

"Did we drive?"

"No, Riki called you guys a taxi and Robbin brought you here. Your car is still at the cathouse."

"Fuck!" I raised my voice. "Fuck!" I yelled slamming my hand down on the table.

"So." Theresa walks over with cornflakes and milk. "How much did you drink?"

She placed them down on the table then turned around to grab me a bowl.

"Two maybe three bottles." I say with disappointment in my tone. "Thanks." I say as I grab the bowl from her.

"And how does Iman feel?"

Ugh Mani will fucking hate me.

"She doesn't know, Theresa." I get frustrated and grab the cereal box pouring it aggressively into the bowl. "I'm not going to drink again."

"I said I was going to stop injecting heroin two years ago. So I went to rehab, but when I got out and came back home to Robbin. He had it all around the house and was doing it infront of me. So I relapsed." She says sadly.

I watch her as she picks up a cigarette and lights it up. Theresa used to be a beauty. Full figure, long black hair, tanned skin, with white teeth. Now she looks like me when I was on heroin. It's scary to see her like this.

"Have you spoken to Mani since Tamara fired you?"

"No I haven't." She shakes her head. "I don't want her to see me like this. I wanna be clean before I talk to her." She says blowing smoke out.

"She cares about you."

She nods her head and sniffles. "I always cared about her..I just..you and Robbin got me into this shit." She grumbles and points at me. "Now I depend on him for everything." She sniffles again. "My family won't even talk to me cause I married him. I have to spend my Christmas here with Robbin doing drugs." She sobbed.

I sigh and put my spoon down. "Theresa I can hook you up with a specialist. He helped me get sober. I can give you his number."

She snickers and shakes her head then puts the cigarette out in the ash tray. "He must be shit." She chuckles.

"Why do you say that?" I furrow my brows taken aback at what she said.

She gets up and leans close to my face placing her hands on the table for balance. "Cause you- are not-sober." She grins smugly and leans back. "Finish your cereal and get fuck out." She sneered and walked away.

I rubbed my face knowing that she got to this point because of me and Robbin. I introduced her to drugs the same why I introduced Mani to my life of decadence. The only difference between Iman and Theresa, is that Iman had her morals and was strong willed to never touch drugs where as Theresa gave in. I'll just finish my cereal and..

"Nikki!" Theresa shouted from upstairs. "You pouta! You puked on my carpet!"

I think I'll just leave now.

Nikki's house..

I picked up my car from the cathouse but before coming home I stopped to buy two bottles of jack. I might need them for later, you never know who's going to come over for a visit. I showered then brushed and laid down in bed. My head was hurting and I still felt like shit. I felt angry at my self for drinking. I swore to Mani that I wouldn't drink, but I did. And I had more than one bottle. The phone started ringing and I didn't feel like talking to anyone, including Mani. I was so angry at myself that I drank. But then again I can't ignore her, I love her too much.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby boy." Mani said in a seductive voice.

"Hey princess." I chuckled. "Better not let your mom hear you talking like that." I joked.

"She's not home, and uh, neither are my sisters."

I sat up on my bed and leaned back on the head board. "Mmm so what does that mean?" I breathed out smiling to myself.

"It means your hand needs to be inside your pants and my finger is going to be underneath my skirt." She chuckled.

I stopped smiling and sighed and stayed quiet.

"Nikki? Nikki, you there?"

"Is it..is it always going to be like this?" I ask sadly.

She sighs. "No it won't, and I'm so sorry for making you feel like this."

"It's ok babe, I put us in this situation. I know if anyone finds out about us it will be a problem for you."

"I'm sorry Nik."

"I just...it's frustrating sometimes when I see couples out walking together hand and hand or kissing and touching. And I can't do that." I say with agitation.

It goes silent on her end. I don't mean to bring up all these things before Christmas because I don't want her feeling bad for leaving. But all these emotions are just coming in and I feel like I'm about to drown in them.

"Do you want me to come back?" She mumbles.

Yes baby I do, I really need you here with me cause I feel lonely. Is what I want to say.

"No babe, I want you with your family." I lie.

"I love you baby boy." She whispers.

Nikki you have to tell her you drank.

"Mani." I said with nervousness.

"Yeah."

"I.."

"Youuuuu..."

"I um.."

"Nik, you sure you're ok?"

I can't do it.

"I love you too princess." I whisper back feeling very guilty.

"Aww baby." She chirped. "So how about that hand?" She asks seductively.

Afternoon..

I woke up after a nap. I really fucking needed it. I huffed when I heard my phone ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sixx it's Robbin, what's up dude?"

"Hey King, I'm good." I say

"Hey listen sorry about Theresa this morning. She's been in a bad mood since yesterday. That's why I went out to drink. Had to get away from her." He laughed.

"Nah, it was my fault." I chuckle. "I puked on your carpet."

"So, any plans today?"

"Mm, no not really. I'm going to be here alone." I respond trying not to feel sad.

"Where's Mani? I thought she was with you, that's why I brought you back to my place."

"She's with her family in Canada spending the break with them."

"Wow, so Christmas came early for you huh." He chuckled humorously.

"Yeah...I guess." I frown a bit.

"So, can I come over? We can chill like old times. We haven't really hung out in a while."

A part of me wanted to say no because Robbin is still snorting, drinking, and injecting. And I am trying to stay sober. But a big part of me wants to say yes because I don't have anyone to hang out with. Last night we had a lot of fun hanging out. It was like old times.

"Uh..no I'm waiting on Mani's call and we're going to have phone sex. So I don't want you to hear that." I lie.

"Alright Sixx, well I'll let you go then. Call me if you change your mind."

"Yeah sure no problem."

I hung up the phone and rubbed my face. I got up and walked around my mansion. What's the point of having a big mansion with six bedrooms, four bathrooms, three living rooms, a huge backyard with a pool if I don't have a fucking family. Does that make sense?

I walked outside and walked around my pool. I then came back in and looked in my fridge for something to eat but I didn't feel like eating. I then sat back down on the couch and turned the TV on. I watched MTV but I felt a little bored after watching it for some time.

I went upstairs to my office to see if I could find a book to read or find something to do so I could pass the time, but there was nothing. I walked into my bedroom and looked at the two bottles of Jack Daniels sitting on the drawer. There an was ich that was starting to form in my body. I bit my fingertips and started twitching my toes.

"Fuck Nikki no." I growled turning around and walking out of the room. I stopped infront of the stairs and started pacing. "Fuck." I rubbed my face over and over again.

The feeling wasn't going away. I needed something to do to get the feeling to just leave me. Maybe one drink can help get rid of the loneliness. Yeah one drink will be fine. This time I'm not around Robbin or Riki so I can control how much I drink. Maybe I can call Tommy and see what he's up to. We're both in the same boat staying sober, we can both look out for each other so that we drink only a little. I walked back into my room and dialed Tommy's number. My leg was still bouncing up and down. I hope he answers.

This is a two part chapter. Couldn't fit everything in one.

#Nikki Sixx #Vince Neil #Tommy Lee #Mick Mars #Chanel Iman #The Dirt #Model #Motley Crue #Rocknroll #80s #90s #rock #glam metal #slash

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purplehassan · 7 years ago

Photo

I’M JUST A FREAK

CD 1: https://we.tl/SEVFkk8LTM

CD 2: https://we.tl/3V9vZommoa

CD 3: https://we.tl/alwvnDYWC8

Eye Records Type: 3 CD Release Year: 2017 Play Length: 03:03:46 Date: 8 March 1980 | 16 March 1980 | 20 November 1981 Quality: EX+ Soundboard

Disc One Live at Civic Center Arena | Lakeland, FL | USA | 8 March 1980

01. Boogie intro (instr.) incl. Jingle Bells (a.k.a. One Horse Open Sleigh) [James Lord Pierpont] (instr., short) 02. Soft And Wet 03. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? 04. Still Waiting 05. Bambi 06. Band introduction 07. Sexy Dancer 08. Just As Long As We’re Together 09. I Wanna Be Your Lover

Disc Two Live at Carolina Coliseum | Columbia, NC | USA | 16 March 1980

01. Boogie intro (instr.) incl. Jingle Bells (a.k.a. One Horse Open Sleigh) [James Lord Pierpont] (instr., short) 02. Soft And Wet 03. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? 04. Still Waiting 05. Band introduction 06. Sexy Dancer 07. I Wanna Be Your Lover

Disc Three Live at the Stanley Theatre | Pittsburgh, PA | USA | 20 November 1981

01. The Second Coming (show intro) 02. Sexuality 03. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? 04. Jack U Off 05. When You Were Mine 06. I Wanna Be Your Lover 07. Head 08. Annie Christian 09. Dirty Mind 10. Do Me, Baby 11. Let’s Work 12. Controversy 13. Uptown 14. Partyup

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soccerdrawings · 5 years ago

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The Ten Secrets About Corporate Soccer 8 Unblocked Only A Handful Of People Know | Corporate Soccer 8 Unblocked

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Now that the hangover has beat off (sort of) and we’ve emerged from Paul Rudd’s mom’s abode almost safe (kind of) and yep, the Royals are still in the Angel Series, like our heads, the blow of the angel keeps on spinning.

Head Soccer Unblocked • Play Big Head Soccer Game | The Dots - corporate soccer 2 unblocked | corporate soccer 2 unblocked And continuing with our 1985 bequest affair of the week, hey, the NBA is aback in Kansas City! Well, for a night. And for an exhibition. And no LeBron James. But still: NBA! Here! Now! Mario Chalmers! Steph Curry! Heat! Warriors! "I anticipate the big affair is about affairs and accumulated advocacy and suites," says Scott Wedman, above brilliant of the old Kansas Burghal Kings, who alleged the burghal home — added or less, it was complicated — from 1972 through ’85. "Whether they would be a allocation of it. Maybe it has abeyant area it would work. I aloof don’t apperceive if we’re activity to get a chance." Oh. The Heat and Warriors lock up Friday night at Sprint Center in a preseason tilt, and for Kansas Burghal and AEG, the aggregation that runs the facility, it’s absolutely added a drive-by than an accessible audition. It isn’t that the dream of a abiding pro basketball addressee in the Power & Light Commune is asleep so abundant as it … well, charcoal in limbo. As with sports admirers in Kansas City, the admiral that be in the NBA accept their eyes on added things at the moment. "I absolutely anticipate it’s activity to be (about) an NBA China and an NBA Europe someday," says Wedman, a built-in of Harper, Kan., who was drafted by the Kings in 1974 and afterwards accomplished the Kansas Burghal Knights of the asleep American Basketball Association. "It’s activity to be a all-around game. There are artlessly applicable teams on those continents appropriate now." It’s casual and maybe a little cool that we’ve had 1985 formed into our accuracy actuality over the accomplished six weeks or so as the 2014 Royals accumulate animadversion bottomward very, actual old baseball benchmarks, benchmarks dating aback 29 years — aboriginal playoff anchorage aback ’85, aboriginal postseason win aback ’85, aboriginal postseason alternation win aback ’85, aboriginal ALCS actualization aback ’85, aboriginal banderole aback ’85, aboriginal Angel Alternation aback ’85, aught playoff losses aback ’85, and on bottomward the line. Because 1985 is additionally aback Banderole Fever Central chock-full actuality an NBA burghal — and it hasn’t absolutely had a 18-carat chaw of the angel since.

Fun Unblocked Games - corporate soccer 2 unblocked | corporate soccer 2 unblocked The NBA, that’s an big-ticket ticket. There may be 10,000 NHL admirers (in greater Kansas City), (but) are they activity to be affairs division tickets to every bold and will they accompany two accompany to every game?Kathy Nelson, admiral and CEO of the Greater Kansas Burghal Sports Agency and FoundationOn Jan. 21, 1985, the then-Kansas Burghal Kings filed paperwork with the NBA to alpha the action of a move to Sacramento, basic burghal of the Golden State. The aftermost home date at Kemper Amphitheatre was on a Sunday, April 14, a 122-116 accident to the Los Angeles Lakers, putting the cap on a 31-51 division — the ninth accident attack over 13 years in Kansas City. "We had eight or nine altered owners," says Wedman who, forth with Otis Birdsong, aerial the Kings to the 1981 Western Conference finals adjoin Houston, averaging 19 credibility and 5.3 boards per contest. "And it was inevitable. "If they could accept afraid on for addition brace years, I anticipate they would accept stayed. Aggregate aloof became that abundant added assisting and with the (new TV) arrangement and all that, afresh I anticipate they would’ve had a acceptable adventitious of staying." In November 1989, the NBA active a four-year, $600 actor arrangement with NBC, cashing in on the drive of the Bird-Magic decade. Of course, by then, it was too little, too backward for pro hoops admirers in Kansas City: The Kings had been on plywood planks from the get-go here, as was their history. The club has consistently been one of pro basketball’s oldest but best active operations, a authorization that never seemed to booty anywhere, consistently affective west, ablution in Rochester as the Royals, bailing afterwards 12 years there, cuddling up to Cincinnati for 15 years afore a 13-year break in Kansas City. Although the aboriginal six seasons actuality were strange, too, with the club christened the "Kansas City-Omaha Kings," a aggregation for the Abundant Plains, the I-29 corridor, Big Eight country, agreeable home dates amid Kemper to the south and Civic Auditorium up in Omaha. The end aftereffect was that neither bazaar acquired a hell of a lot of traction, and the Nebraska ancillary of the blueprint was eventually phased out. Tweets by @SeanKeeler"It’s absolutely a bit altered (now) than Kemper in the backward ’70s and aboriginal ’80s — location, adjacency about town," Wedman says of the P&L. "I anticipate it’s a abundant combination, the way they’ve got it set up." But 30 years ago, not so much: The gates were not great, Kemper was not great, the teams were not great, and if you’re a fan of the (now departed) Seattle Supersonics, you already apperceive how this one ends — the adventure that bankrupt hearts in the Pacific Northwest played out in eerily agnate appearance in the Burghal of Fountains a bearing earlier. An advance accumulation from a big, pro-sports-hungry boondocks (in this case, Sacramento) bought an accustomed NBA authorization that was on all-a-quiver amphitheatre in 1983, afresh absolved in and declared about that they had no ambition of affective the team. Of course, the charter at Kemper was due to expire afterwards the 1984-85 season, and aback the advance accumulation saw a club entering its "free-agent year," so to speak, it pounced. Before long, there were letters of that aforementioned advance core sniffing about for accessible amphitheater sites in Sacramento, afresh some snarky animadversion amid burghal admiral and the new owners, and the bold was over. The assignment then, as now, is the same: Aback an broker or investors from a burghal that wants to become an NBA boondocks buys a aggregation in your NBA town, affairs are your NBA boondocks is about to become beneath of an NBA town.

soccer heads - GamesBly | corporate soccer 2 unblocked At any rate, what’s done is continued aback done and dusted. But clashing Seattle, Kansas Burghal has been sitting with an NBA-ready, NBA-worthy arena, in a world-class ball district, for about eight years now with aggregate in place. Everything, that is, except a alleged ballast addressee from the NBA or the NHL. The closing teased a accessible Pittsburgh Penguins move aback amphitheater negotiations in the Steel Burghal hit an impasse in 2007. Ultimately, the Penguins got a new architecture and backward put, and Sprint remained empty. Fine, fine, fine, not empty. Flexible. "You can’t move a aggregation after the affairs allocation of it, and that’s not our focus," says Kathy Nelson, admiral and CEO of the Greater Kansas Burghal Sports Agency and Foundation. "We’re not (really) focused on the NHL or NBA." Nelson is a bounded — she alike played in the old Kings pep band. She bleeds Royals dejected and Chiefs red and Sporting azure as proudly as anyone. But alike she wonders if the bazaar is, added or less, broke out at present. "How far does that dollar go?" Nelson asks. "That’s what’s concerning. Are we absolutely putting butts in seats? "The NBA, that’s an big-ticket ticket. There may be 10,000 NHL admirers (in greater Kansas City), (but) are they activity to be affairs division tickets to every bold and will they accompany two accompany to every game? "So if you ask me if we’re out there aggravating to allure a team, I wouldn’t say that we are not, but at the aforementioned time, we’re not aggressively accomplishing that. That doesn’t (necessarily) abatement on the sports agency — that’s a amount for AEG, Sprint Center business." There’s addition agency in play, too in agreement of trickle-down dollars larboard on the pie blueprint already the Chiefs, Royals and colleges (Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State, primarily) accept gotten their chaw of consumers: Sporting Kansas City. The MLS is now the brilliant allure for the new-money ancillary of the metro, the affection of a retail-and-development commune that marks the western aperture to boondocks the way the Truman Sports Complex has done with the eastern aperture for generations. Sporting Park has a accommodation of 18,467 seats for soccer matches; Sporting reportedly awash out its allocation of 14,000 division tickets afore the alpha of the 2014 division for 17 home dates. An NBA and NHL home agenda anniversary appearance 41 regular-season dates. The former’s New Orleans Pelicans accomplished the 10,000-season-ticket mark alone in 2011, aback they were the Hornets, and had continued been appropriate — in bike with the Kings, afresh — as one of the league’s arch targets for alteration until Saints buyer Tom Benson and his accumulation stepped in to acquirement the club. Given the overhead, a season-ticket abject of, say, 9,500 for your MLS authorization isn’t absolutely desirable, but it’s workable. But if an NBA or NHL club is ambidextrous with the aforementioned affectionate of numbers, the owners are apparently activity to alpha attractive to get the aggregation out the door. Or get out themselves. To put it addition way, and this isn’t to slight Sporting, but Kansas Burghal at the moment — with a appear busline citizenry of 2.34 actor — apparently has astute allowance for 2.6 able sports teams that can all fit on the boat. That 0.6 in catechism acceptable wouldn’t sustain an NBA franchise, per se, but a well-run MLS one — and Sporting is advised one of the jewels of the alliance and has helped to ammunition Kansas Burghal as a above soccer hub for the United States — could endure, and alike thrive.

sport Archives - unblocked games - corporate soccer 2 unblocked | corporate soccer 2 unblocked "And afresh aback you anticipate about the demographics (with them) and how they’re targeting that, they accept done a abundant job targeting millennials and the bodies who are accommodating to absorb that money," Nelson says. "And they accommodate an ‘experience.’ Sporting provides an ‘experience.’ "We’re a baby non-profit; we don’t pay great. And adolescent bodies on our staff, they accept division tickets to Sporting and they will not accord them up. And to bazaar that is incredible. They go early, they break late, they go to watch parties aback they’re on the road, they go to Sporting Park and they get this ‘experience.’ With an NBA and an NHL game, does it feel the same? I don’t know." The added you look, the added hurdles you find. The NBA has set a ambrosial bright contour for its ambition markets: Either massive all-around metros that accept yet to be broke — Beijing, Mexico City, London — or, in because areas alfresco the 10 bigger in the U.S., would it be the aboriginal best for the sports dollar or, bigger yet, the alone big-league aggregation in town? Memphis and Oklahoma City, like Sacramento afore them, gave the NBA a clear, accessible aisle to the advanced folio of the sports section. And the Thunder’s success to this point gives the alliance a Abundant Plains ballast afresh that makes Kansas City, in the big picture, on the behemothic alliance map, geographically redundant. Of course, in pro sports, you never say never — attending at the Royals, bodies — and Josh Riesgo has both anxiety durably in the "never" camp. Riesgo is co-founder of Charlie Hustle sportswear, the bounded accouterment bandage best acclaimed for those "heart KC" shirts that you’ll see beat by celebrities such as Rudd, who grew up in Overland Park. Amid their abounding appearance offerings is a dejected shirt that reads, in a actual ’80s, awakening font: "Our parents would allocution about how they acclimated to accept the Kansas Burghal Kings and the NBA was here, and it’s gone," Riesgo says. "Think about the Chiefs abrogation or the Royals leaving. How did you let them leave? What’s activity on? What, did you NOT go to games? (They said) ‘They were terrible.’ We’re like, ‘That is crazy to us.’" Riesgo contends the Kings shirt charcoal amid the top bristles acknowledged items in their absolute catalog, and that it makes "a acceptable chat piece." And speaking of conversations, AEG CEO Tim Leiweke told KHSB-TV absolutely two Octobers ago that his accumulation was, indeed, still in the coursing for ballast tenants, sniffing for teams that may appetite a sweetheart charter in a sweetheart of a town. But the coercion of 2007 is gone now. "What anybody in the business association believes is the assortment of those contest is far added ambrosial than aggravating to go attempt with the Royals and the Chiefs and the soccer aggregation and aggravating to cull added money out of division tickets," Leiweke told KHSB. "So if there’s a aggregation that is moving, we’re engaged. We absolutely accept a ambrosial acceptable accumulation of bodies actuality that are absorbed in affairs a team, apparently hockey added than basketball because (Kansas Burghal is) a abundant academy basketball marketplace. "That said, I anticipate the accuracy of Sprint Center is, I anticipate the business association and the association as a accomplished loves the assortment of the 140 contest a year that we’re accomplishing here. We’re authoritative added money than anyone anytime anticipation we would make. We’re giving a lot of money aback to the city. And whether it will be the ambassador or the business community, what anybody is adage now is, ‘You apperceive what? Break the course. This is ambrosial good, what’s activity on here.’" Bottom line: Sprint isn’t absolutely affliction for dates. Or dollars. Because of the accoutrement in the administration arrangement amid AEG and the metro, Sprint Center administrator of communications and business Shani Tate Ross says the burghal of Kansas Burghal able has accustomed $10 actor in "unanticipated revenue," collectively, aback the architecture opened in October 2007, or almost $1.43 million, on average, per year. The P&L commune has hosted at atomic one NBA exhibition a year aback 2008, save for the lockout abatement of 2011. While Ross says there isn’t one on the calendar for 2015 yet, "we are actual admiring with the accident — as is the (Heat)."

Sports Heads Soccer - Play unblocked soccer head game online - corporate soccer 2 unblocked | corporate soccer 2 unblocked That said, she additionally addendum that affluence of acceptable seats were still accessible as of mid-Thursday afternoon. Afterwards all, you’ll charge article to do with your disposable assets amid now and Bold 1 at Kauffman Amphitheater on Tuesday night. You can chase Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at [email protected]. The Ten Secrets About Corporate Soccer 8 Unblocked Only A Handful Of People Know | Corporate Soccer 8 Unblocked - corporate soccer 2 unblocked | Pleasant to be able to my personal blog, with this moment I'm going to show you about keyword. And today, this can be a 1st photograph:

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talhaghafoor2019-blog · 6 years ago

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Alabama Goes On 50th Anniversary Tour With Very Special Guests | Classic Country Music

One of the most-loved groups to ever hit country radio is celebrating more than half a century of incredible music…and they’re giving fans the chance to join them!

Hitmaker country band Alabama is heading out on tour in just a few weeks for their 50th Anniversary Tour and tickets are on sale now!

But, the excitement doesn’t stop there…

ON SALE NOW🎶 @TheAlabamaBand's 50th Anniversary Tour is heading to @USCellCenter on Friday, May 31 & tickets are on sale now! Get tickets here: https://t.co/fq0HHOsbfT pic.twitter.com/VCUIBosYgd

— Outback Concerts (@OutbackConcerts) December 14, 2018

Kicking off on January 10th, 2019, Alabama’s hallmark celebration of their musical journey and all the fans that have stuck with them will be the concert to see – especially after you see who’ve they have lined up as special guests.

50 years is a big deal for anyone – and it’s especially big for guys like Randy Owen, Teddy Gentry, and Jeff Cook who have delivered hits like “Mountain Music,” “I’m in a Hurry (And Don’t Know Why),” and “Song of the South.”

The band has charted songs across genres and throughout the last 50 years, and held more than 30 No. 1 hits since 1980.

5th time seeing them in concert and they still rock the house! One day I’ll have front row seats! @TheAlabamaBand #bestgroupever #rupparena pic.twitter.com/fmRgrA67jS

— Courtney Durham (@tupey9800) December 8, 2018

Formed in Fort Payne, Alabama in 1969, they have won more than 200 awards and have been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

They will be kicking off this grand celebration on January 10th, 2019 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit with rising country star Chris Janson as their special guest.

The Charlie Daniels Band, Tracy Lawrence, and The Oak Ridge boys (among many others) are all slated to appear alongside Alabama on this sure-to-be-amazing tour.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ON SALE NOW!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cedar Rapids, IA Friday, May 31, 2019 at the U.S. Cellular Centerhttps://t.co/Dm7TBNWzrp pic.twitter.com/IrJjiEGG3V

— ALABAMA (@TheAlabamaBand) December 14, 2018

See the full list of dates below and watch the promo for it in the video.

Jan 10 – Detroit, MI – The Fox Theatre (w/ Chris Janson)

Jan 11 – Indianapolis, IN – Bankers Life Fieldhouse (w/ Restless Heart)

Jan 19 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena

Feb 14 – San Antonio, TX – San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

Feb 15 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center (w/ Tracy Lawrence)

Feb 28 – Plant City, FL – Florida Strawberry Festival

March 1 – St. Augustine, FL – The St. Augustine Amphitheatre

March 14 – Salem, VA – Salem Civic Center (w/ The Oak Ridge Boys)

March 15 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena (w/ Tracy Lawrence)

March 22 – Springfield, MO – JQH Arena (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

March 23 – North Little Rock, AR – Verizon Arena (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

April 5 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

April 6 – Charlottesville, VA – John Paul Jones Arena (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

April 12 – Wilkes-Barre, PA – Mohegan Sun Arena (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

April 13 – Hartford, CT – XL Center (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

April 26 – Providence, RI – Dunkin’ Donuts Center (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

April 27 – State College, PA – Bryce Jordan Center (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

May 31 – Cedar Rapids, IA – U.S. Cellular Center

June 1 – La Cygne, KS – Tumbleweed

June 6 – Myrtle Beach, SC – Carolina Country Music Festival

June 7 – Macon, GA – Macon Centreplex Coliseum (w/ The Marshall Tucker Band)

June 13 -16 – Grand Junction, CO – Country Jam (performance date TBA)

June 15 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center

June 26 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center (w/ The Charlie Daniels Band)

June 27 – Oshkosh, WI – Country USA

This content was originally published here.

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atlanticcanada · 7 years ago

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Sidney Crosby hints the Stanley Cup will return to his hometown

HALIFAX -- Hockey superstar Sidney Crosby has hinted he will mark is 30th birthday by once again parading the Stanley Cup around his hometown in Nova Scotia.

Speaking to reporters at his annual youth hockey camp in Cole Harbour, N.S., Crosby confirmed he will have the Cup on Aug. 6 and 7.

Crosby said his plans for the trophy are still in the works, but he noted there is an annual, civic parade in nearby Halifax on Aug. 7 -- his 30th birthday.

"The Natal Day parade is on the Monday ... so we're kind of throwing that idea around," Crosby said, referring to the event that celebrates Halifax's birthday.

"That seems like it would be a good fit."

Crosby added that he wants as many people as possible to see the trophy.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain has shown off professional hockey's most prestigious trophy twice before in Cole Harbour -- in 2009 and 2016.

Last July, Crosby carried the Cup in the back of a pickup that made its way to an arena in Cole Harbour as thousands of cheering fans looked on amid sweltering heat.

Crosby recalled hoisting the Cup above his head many times as the truck crawled along the Forest Hills Parkway for just over half a kilometre.

"I had a little bit of a later night the night before, too, so it was tough," he said with a laugh.

"But it was fun. To see everyone turn out, you see all the chairs and everyone camped out on the sides. It's an experience. When you think about bringing the Cup home, that's the snapshots you have, seeing the amount of people that are there."

Each player of the Cup-winning NHL team gets brief custody of the trophy.

Crosby's annual hockey camp for boys and girls age 9 to 12 benefits his foundation for underprivileged kids.

On Wednesday, Crosby stopped by the camp to help coach some young players, donning a navy blue jacket and ball cap, both emblazoned with his hockey school's logo.

from CTV News - Atlantic http://ift.tt/2tPS4Ws

#new brunswick #prince edward island #nova scotia #news #politics #canada #CTVAtlantic

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profbruce · 8 years ago

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Why Canadian Tire Centre is Where it is

As the Ottawa Senators get ready to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in game 7 of the eastern conference final on Thursday May 26th, 2017, there is considerable discussion about why the Sens are having so much difficulty filling their rink, not only during the regular 2016/17 season but also during the playoffs up to and including last night’s third round game 6 in Ottawa where attendance was about 3,000 below capacity.

It may have something to do with a malaise in the local economy (although employment in Ottawa-Gatineau is an astounding three quarters of a million people with jobs out of a total population of 1.3 million), federal civil servants still not being allowed to accept free tickets or be guests at the rink, the high cost of going to a live game, the convenience of watching for free on television at home and being able to see Don Cherry and his sidekick, Ron Maclean, do their thing, the lack of belief that the Sens can actually win (Ottawa has long been known as a show-me kind of town), formidable competition from the CFL’s Redblacks who play in a newly renovated (downtown!) TD Place stadium in a well-run Lansdowne Live community, big brother envy of downtown arenas elsewhere in places like Montreal and Toronto (with a tremendous Maple Leaf Square experience thrown into the mix) or maybe a negative perception of team executives and a subsequent cooling of the longterm love affair that has been going on ever since the unlikely and unexpected grant of conditional NHL franchise to Ottawa in December 1990.

Additionally, there may be a sense that since the team is likely headed to a downtown arena to serve the next generation of fans; they may just as well wait until they do.

So there is a great deal of blame being heaped on the team’s original founder (who ultimately chose the suburban Kanata location) for its current attendance woes. Why would anyone have been foolish enough to stick a major community facility like the Palladium (the arena’s original moniker) in the sticks?

Here’s one reason—if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have to worry about flagging attendance because the team wouldn’t be playing in Ottawa… it would be in Anaheim. That’s right. If the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board, which the government of Ontario is threatening to terminate) hadn’t approved its current location, there was no way the team could have survived playing in the Ottawa Civic Centre, a 10,000-seat arena.

The Sens had a standing offer to relocate to California to play out of a then Ogden-owned arena, which lacked a primary tenant. This was before the advent of the Mighty Ducks, now the Ducks, who play out of the Honda Center.

So here’s an excerpt from Don’t Back Down, the real story of the founding of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and why big leagues matter. It explains why Canadian Tire Centre is where it is…

I get asked why the Canadian Tire Centre (CTC) is in Kanata and not at… (pick one) Lebreton Flats, Lansdowne Park, in Orleans (in the east end) somewhere along Highway 174, at South Keys, at Lac Leamy in Gatineau or right downtown like the Bell Centre in Montréal or the Air Canada Centre in TO.

All of these locations were ones we looked at from 1987 to 1989 before we decided on the current location for the Palladium—in Kanata along Highway 417 (the Queensway) with its “own” interchange.

First, here are a few observations that came primarily from Gino Rossetti, Detroit-based architect of record for the Palladium as well as the Palace of Auburn Hills where the NBA’s Pistons play. A city needs an arena site that has:

1. A large horizontal surface for parking

2. A site that is not less than 85 acres and preferably 100

3. Access to a major transportation corridor

4. Access to public transit

5. A site that would allow the structure to be half in the ground and half above grade to distribute guests more efficiently and to make the building more human scale.

Other things on our collective wish-list included:

a. Access at grade

b. Double-loaded storefronts at grade so that on days when the arena is dark, there is still be life in and around the facility

c. Opportunity for architectural signage to maximize that revenue stream

d. A curtain-wall entrance that left no doubt as to how to access the arena.

Let’s first look at some of the alternative sites. LeBreton Flats is owned by the National Capital Commission and the NCC informed us that they had a (very) long term plan for the site that did not include an arena, even if was going to be a “very nice arena”, it was still just a rink to them. They felt that national priorities such as a new museum (which turned out to be the War Museum) or a new SCC (Supreme Court of Canada) building should take precedence.

Then chair of the NCC Jean Piggott explained it this way, “If you ask me privately, Bruce, the answer is ‘no’. A rink just isn’t in our plans for this important site so close to the parliamentary precinct. But if you ask us publicly, the answer will be, ‘we’ll study it.’ You see, we don’t like to say no to members of the public so we say we’ll study it until one of two things happen—you either give up and go away or you die, whichever comes first. And frankly, we don’t care which.”

Jean was a great gal with a terrific sense of humor. But of course, she meant it too.

Now you might ask, “But how come the Sens and the NCC are today talking about moving the team to LeBreton?”

Good question.

The answer is simple: over the last 25 years, the NCC has had a change of heart. They aren’t too impressed with the state of development at LeBreton today, and believe they need to find new ways to animate the site to make it more of a Toronto Distillery District and less like outer suburbia. Animation here means creating a live-work-play-entertain-learn-make-shop-walkable community, which requires an anchor like an arena and major league sports team.

…

We also looked at the Lac Leamy site where the Casino du Lac Leamy is now. It’s a beautiful site, next to water, close to a major highway and just five minutes from Parliament Hill. Better yet, it was for sale at that time. After all, you can’t build on a site that doesn’t belong to you (ie, in the case of NCC ownership of LeBreton Flats).

But there were already two NHL teams in the province of Québec (unfortunately, les Nordiques have long since moved from Québec City to Denver) and the majority of the Senators potential fan base did not want to see a third team headquartered there while Ontario still only had one team.

What about locating a team at Lansdowne Park?

There were three significant issues with that choice. Firstly, the Civic Centre would be impossible to renovate for the reasons I dealt with above.

Secondly, there are more lawyers living in the Glebe than practically anywhere else in Ottawa. How would they and the Glebe community react to having another two million visitors descend on their neighborhood? I can tell you from hard experience—not well. The planning for a new arena might have taken years to get approved, if ever.

Thirdly, we felt that the NCC (again) would never allow Ottawa’s transit operator, OC Transpo, to run buses on Queen Elizabeth drive. Hence, the only way to get people in and out by public transit would be Bank street. The MAXIMUM number of people that OC can run up and down Bank street is about 2,500 pph (people per hour).

For an arena with a 20,000 person capacity, it would take four hours to exit everyone from the building using buses, if you were to rely on public transit for, say, 50% of attendance at a game or an event[1].

Now that tells you something about why the ACC and the Bell Centre are downtown arenas. We could have built the Palladium on a downtown site if Ottawa had a big time people mover like the métro in Montréal or the subway in TO. Those two systems can move between 20,000 and 30,000 pph—a huge increase from what OC can do.

When I used to go to Montréal to see Expos games, we would drive downtown, have dinner and then take the métro to the Big ‘O’, Olympic Stadium; we would never think of taking our car.

But I can tell you that if we relied on buses, we would have had one sellout—opening night and after that, there would have been a fan revolt.

Even in 1987-1989, we thought the event horizon to get a rapid transit system here in Ottawa was a generation away and given the way our city is currently proceeding (or not proceeding), I am not holding my breath to see a high capacity light rail system appear in Ottawa any time soon that links east and west, north and south[2].

In fact, people coming from east end Orleans by car would have taken more time to get to Lansdowne Park or LeBreton Flats than to get to CTC in Kanata—sure, they can get to their Queensway exit in 20 minutes, but threading their way off the highway and hunting and pecking their way to a parking spot, who knows where, could easily take more time and gas than going to the west end site where CTC sits today.

So why not build a big, multi-level parking garage somewhere?

Well, you can’t actually park more than 7,000 vehicles vertically. Since everyone will leave at the same second the team loses in overtime to the Maple Leafs, a multi-level garage simply will not work.

It will become grid locked.

If you have ever been in a major shopping plaza like downtown Ottawa’s Rideau Centre on Christmas Eve (the only time of the year when men outnumber women there) and everyone leaves at the same time (ie, closing time), the public garage becomes such a nightmare that police have to be called to come and untangle the mess—one car backing out while another moves forward on every level results in an unsolvable puzzle. I know, I was in just such a mess one Xmas eve.

So I knew when we were looking for a site that we needed one that we could own, that would have enough room for 7,000 cars and 500+ buses on a single level.

The soil conditions had to be right to bury half the building. If you have ever been to Madison Square Gardens, you already know what a pain it is when everyone has to go UP to get to their seats for a Knicks game or whatever.

There had to be room for a new interchange and there had to be more than one way to get to the site. It couldn’t be imposed on existing communities who would react in NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) fashion to the extra traffic, noise and congestion that would be generated by a MCF (major community facility)[3].

Well, we looked for a long time for an appropriate site and we didn’t find one—the CCEA did that for us.

The Central Canada Exhibition Association had thought about moving out of Lansdowne Park for quite a while. Their board found the site where CTC is now—not me. One day I woke up to read in a local newspaper that the CCEA had optioned a site of some 500 to 600 acres at Huntmar and the Queensway. I jumped in my Saab and drove to the Huntmar overpass; I stood on the bridge looking east. I could see the homes of Kanata marching like ants over Moodie Hill towards me and I knew that the CCEA had beaten me to a great site.

I silently saluted them and cursed them too.

I told my staff at Terrace; we were all disappointed.

But a couple of months later, for reasons known only to the CCEA, their board decided to release their options on these lands. Again, I read about that in the same local newspaper. By 10 am, Jim Steel and I were sitting in one of the local farmer’s homes drinking rye and trying to convince the family to sell their lands to us.

Fortunately, many of those fine people did—we ended up with 600 acres.

…

We told only a few people what we were doing—Des Adam, then mayor of Kanata knew as did Jimmy Durrell, mayor of Ottawa and Andy Haydon, chair of the RMOC, Regional Municipality of Ottawa Carleton.

We told them and then premier of Ontario, David Peterson, that they each had a magic wand, and we wanted them to use it—we said that private money would buy the team ($50 million) and build the building[4] ($240 million), but we needed three things from government. One, we needed the Palladium site (100 acres) and the remaining lands (500 acres) to be given a priority[5] in terms of rezoning the lands for a MCF and other uses. Two, we needed public monies to fund the new interchange (a $30 million cost) because the day the interchange was completed, it would have to be given to MTO (the Ministry of Transportation for Ontario) for $2, and you can’t finance something you don’t own—it would be like me putting a mortgage on your home. Three, we needed their support to tell the NHL in December of that year (1990) what a great place Ottawa is, how much hockey is loved here and what a great place Ontario is to invest in.

Alberta had two teams, Québec had two teams, but the largest (and, at that time) the richest province only had one.

We asked them to focus their wands on the Palladium lands and, presto/change-o, the lands (after all due process) would be rezoned. The average price we paid for our property was $12k per acre, and we made no secret of the fact that, after rezoning, we hoped the value would increase to $112k per acre (lands in the area are now trading for $300,000 to as much as $546,000 per acre). The $100k per acre increase in value multiplied by the 500 acres of “surplus” land we had bought (and which we planned to resell) would exactly equal the $50 million purchase price for the NHL expansion team.

But we told them we wouldn’t keep that money—we would put it in armored trucks and take it to Ziegler’s office in NYC and give it to him. In return, we would get a (pretty crappy looking) faxed piece of 8 and ½ by 11 inch paper called a NHL expansion franchise. We would put Ottawa on the map, and it wouldn’t cost the city of Ottawa a dime.

We won local votes in Kanata and at the RMOC by a margin of 32 to 1, and later we obtained the agreement of the Mr Peterson’s (liberal) government of Ontario to our three requests.

…

David was a deal-making gunslinger of a premier. He chain smoked (never in public though). He was also a good listener on the day that our in-house general counsel Terry Denison and I visited Queens Park in Toronto. He was careful not to commit himself until he’d heard all three of our asks.

The thing that appealed to him most was coming to Palm Beach in December (much warmer than Toronto at that time of year) to tell the NHL’s BOG what a great place Ontario is. It was going to be a great PR opportunity. He also liked hearing this was not another Sky Dome financial fiasco.

No one knows exactly how much it cost to build that stadium, but $650 million is about right. It was supposed to cost $150 million, but when you have a government guarantee backstopping construction, you can make strange decisions like, say, adding a hotel after the building is already coming out of the ground.

Two things kill your budget in construction—change orders and delay, both of which are, of course, connected. And adding a hotel post hoc because a politician thinks it’s a cool idea is a change order of immense stupidity.

Sky Dome was sold to Rogers Communications and renamed Rogers Centre in November 2004; it sold for a reported (paltry) $25 million. Ontario taxpayers wrote off hundreds of millions.

So David liked our plan to have private money buy the team and fund the stadium, and he understood that it made sense for Ontario to build the new interchange that would make the whole thing work—public money for public infrastructure, private money for a private (supposedly) for-profit business.

Things were looking pretty good early in the summer of 1990.

But for some reason, Mr Peterson decided to call an election two and a half years early[6] and, with a nearly impossible splitting of the vote, Bob Rae and the NDP came to power later on September 6th 1990 with a majority[7] in the legislature based on a 37.6% share of the total vote.

Mr Rae’s new government had just one member from an Ottawa riding compared to taking 11 of 12 seats in Hamilton-Wentworth and Niagara regions, which spelled trouble, big trouble for us.

We didn’t know this at the time.

…

After Bob Rae was elected, I called a senior staff meeting to talk about the results.

“Here’s my take. The new NDP government,” I said naively, “will value the Palladium as much as Mr Peterson’s did. It means jobs, union jobs, and that’s the power base for the New Democratic Party. It’s like our Honda Motor Car plant or a new Ford factory, which means so much to Toronto… I’ll call Bob, congratulate him, and ask him to reaffirm the government’s commitments to us. Everybody OK with that?”

They were.

…

In Ottawa, commercial construction is largely the domain of union workers. By this point, we had hired PCL Constructors, a large employee-owned firm operating in the United States, Canada and Australia, as general contractor, GC. We also had hired local ZW Group as project manager.

The job of the GC was to provide us with a GMP, guaranteed maximum price, a price above which they guarantee the cost to complete will not exceed.

For that to be a meaningful guarantee, the GC must be credible, be bonded, and, above all, must be trustworthy. If you don’t have a rich uncle with an unlimited checkbook standing ready to bail you out (eg, the Ontario taxpayer), you cannot conceive of going into a project like this without a GMP.

So you agree in advance that the GC will make a flat fee (it can vary from 5 to 21% of the project’s cost, depending on size and complexity) and you get the GC to sit on the same side of the table with you, the owner/developer/promoter. Your interests are theirs and vice versa.

The PM, project manager’s job, is to liaise with the GC, the architect, the owner, the unions, the sub-trades, the engineers, building inspectors, financiers, city and provincial or state approval authorities/facilitators/ expediters, and to run the schedule and keep everything on track. S/he is the owner’s eyes and ears on the project, and keeps everyone honest. They too are on a flat, pre-negotiated fee.

The folks who sit on the other side of the table are the sub-trades who competitively bid on each set of working and shop drawings.

You also need to establish a contingency fund that you expect will be completely spent to assure quality. In addition, you’ll set up bonuses for things like early delivery of a completed building and a cost savings sharing formula—where everyone from the architect, GC, PM and ownership benefit from any cost savings discovered during construction (provided that quality and safety do not suffer as a result).

I am quite sure this is the right way to run a railroad, and deliver large complex projects on time and on budget.

PCL divided the Palladium into four quadrants each with their own tower crane and team. They really built four buildings, and finished on budget ($240 million including $30 million for a new interchange) and six months early (in 18 months instead of 24[8]).

The other thing you need is a not-crazy owner who will not, under any circumstances, approve any change order unless it is required for the safety of the public when your building opens.

…

But all of this was still years into an uncertain future. After months of calling Queens Park in the fall of 1990 to no avail, we finally received a letter from Mr Rae’s government. It was November 29th 990, less than a week before we had to be in Palm Beach to present our case for an expansion franchise for Ottawa.

Forgive me for (grossly) paraphrasing his letter—

Dear Mr Firestone:

Do you remember how the previous occupant of this office foolishly made three promises to your company?

Well, I feel I should mention that, you know, Ontario is facing hard times, and so it’s with great reluctance that I have to say that too bad/so sad, but we can’t afford to build a new interchange for you so you are on your own on that score, so to speak.

I realize it’ll be the only interchange ever built by private money on a 400-series highway in Ontario. Just imagine, you can make history!

Also as a new premier, I’m sure you’ll understand that I’m super busy right now running Ontario, so I have to decline your kind invitation to visit Florida for this year’s NHL winter meetings. Again my apologies.

Oh, and lastly, did you know that there are really only two levels of government in Canada? Under the British North America Act of 1867, which created this great nation, there is no such thing, constitutionally, as a city, town, village, township or county, they are all really administrative creatures of the provinces. This means I can sack any mayor or reeve or councilor I so choose, and upend, reverse or ignore any bylaw, zoning ordinance and official plan amendment I don’t like.

Do you know the expression—le roi, c'est moi? Well, it is with deepest regret that I have to tell you Mr Firestone that I intend to use all the powers of the provincial government of Ontario, its ministries and authorities to oppose the rezoning of the Palladium.

Yours very truly,

Robert

Bob Rae’s government

ps Go Hamilton go!

pps BRING BACK THE HAMILTON TIGERS who played in the NHL from 1920-25.

…

I’ll admit this isn’t an exact copy of that letter, but you get its drift. I knew from the moment that I got it that Queens Park would leak it, probably that very afternoon, so I called a press conference in one the buildings we’d built, at 301-303 Moodie drive in Ottawa. This was serving as Terrace head office and official center of the universe, at least as far as things relating to the Ottawa Senators were concerned.

Mallorn Centre and Royal Bank Pavilion

Over 80 members of national and local media showed up for that briefing, sure to a man (they were practically all men in those days) that the Sens were toast. Most of them were secretly cheering for us to fail, I believe. It’s just the Canadian way.

Canucks in entertainment, tech and education have had to leave (mainly for the US, previously for Britain) to achieve a higher level of success before acceptance (subsequently) at home.

No Canadian would dare dream BIG in Canada, would they?

I held up the letter and said, “There’s no need for you to take notes. Copies of this letter from the government of Ontario will be available for you to take with you when you leave.

“Obviously, today is a disappointing day for all of us here at Terrace and for hockey fans in Ottawa, west Quebec and eastern Ontario.

“The government of Ontario feels that, despite the overwhelming local support for the rezoning of the Palladium, it would be better to leave the lands in their current state—wet clay that produces no more than $7,500 per year of feed corn.

“But here’s what we are going to do,” I concluded, my voice shaking with emotion.

“We are going to go down to Palm Beach next week and tell the NHL that they should award their franchises to places where that will nurture them, to people who love the game of hockey and appreciate it for the great game it is.

“Then, after we win an expansion franchise, we’re going to come back here and litigate with our own government.

“There is a thing called the Ontario Municipal Board, which is the ultimate arbiter of appropriate land use in this province. It is not up to Mr Rae or his ministers to decide that unilaterally. We will go to the OMB, and we will win approval for our building.

“Thank you for coming.”

Something went unsaid at that press conference—OMB panel members are appointed by government. They are (mostly) former distinguished real estate lawyers. And they were appointed by liberal and conservative premiers, every single one of them.

…

Bruce M Firestone, PhD, Ottawa Senators founder, Century 21 Explorer Realty broker, Real Estate Investment and Business coach. Follow him on twitter @ProfBruce or email him [email protected]

[1] Arrivals tend to be more spread out than departures since, if you lose to the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference Final as the Sens did in 2003, EVERYONE wants to go home at exactly the same moment. Hence, departures for OC buses on Bank street would have been problematic since the mix with cars would effectively lock down the street.

[2] Only in Ottawa would city council sign a binding contract to build a light rail line from downtown to its south end with responsible firms like Siemens and PCL (the latter built the CTC), acquire land rights, do preliminary design work and spend $80 million, only to cancel it. Then pay tens of millions in compensation to Siemens/PCL, lose more than $900 million in senior government subsidies for the new line, and torpedo about $1 to $2 billion of knock-on private sector development at planned-for stations… to get nothing.

[3] Communities are now being built around CTC by Mattamy, Minto, Richcraft and others, but the key difference here is that people who buy those homes are self-selecting to be near CTC. We are not imposing them on an existing community. This was a matter that caused me a great deal of worry at the subsequent OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) hearing that would eventually decide the fate/approve construction of the Palladium. We believed that the Palladium would be a trigger for development around it—if you look at our original plan called West Terrace, now expanded on and improved by the city of Ottawa who renamed it the Kanata West Concept Plan Area, it called for significant residential development as well as other employment and commercial development. More on this later.

[4] We told Mr Peterson that this was not another Sky Dome (now known as the Rogers Centre) which cost the Ontario taxpayer about $500 million in losses.

[5] We did not ask for special treatment only that the Palladium not get backed up behind, say, approval of your home renovation. I told the premier that this was eastern Ontario’s motor car plant, which is a big industry in southern Ontario, an analogy he immediately grasped.

[6] No Ontario premier had ever called an election this early, and almost certainly no one will ever repeat this mistake. The electorate never forgave Mr Peterson for calling a needless election, so his high pre-election approval numbers disappeared in just a few weeks of campaigning.

[7] Mr Rae won 74 seats in the 130-seat legislature, up from just 19 when the election was called.

[8] It took about three times longer (60 months) to finance the building and overcome all the planning hurdles, which tells you that the development business in bureaucratic, risk-averse nations like Canada is becoming bizarrely complex and uncertain.

#canadian tire centre #ottawa senators

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dropthosegloves · 8 years ago

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@inejsghafa so this is going to be a long post. Bear with me.

So, quick history lesson. There was a neighborhood called the Lower Hill where the Civic Arena used to be. It was one of the most well-known black neighborhoods in the entire US back in the 40′s and early 50′s. It was the heart of the larger Hill District neighborhood.

In the mid-1950′s the neighborhood had hit a rough patch and “urban renewal” was all the rage. The City of Pittsburgh, under the guise of “urban renewal” tore apart the Lower Hill, East Liberty and the North Side, all of which were neighborhoods with a large population of black residents. Of the three neighborhoods effected, the Hill District was the worst. City of Pittsburgh decided to demolish the Lower Hill to make room for the Civic Arena and a couple highway projects. To build the Civic Arena, 1,300 buildings were demolished in 1956, displacing 8,000 residents and 400 mostly black-owned businesses. They completely cut off the larger Hill District from Downtown Pittsburgh, the economic hub of the city.

The effects were devastating. The neighborhood never recovered from losing its heart in the Lower Hill. Penguins-related businesses moved in, but the long-time residents of the hill reaped no benefits from the arena. Fast forward to present day. PPG Pains Arena was built five years ago. The Civic Arena was torn down in 2012. The Penguins organization won the exclusive rights to redevelop that 28 acres that used to be the Lower Hill- turned Civic Arena. The Penguins kept pushing back redevelopment construction. Their deadline was supposed to be last October. They pushed it back further. It looks like it finally broke ground earlier this year. Hill District residents have made some (in my opinion, not very demanding) requests. The most important one was that they want mixed income housing, with 30% designated affordable for low-income families. Basically, they want people from the Hill and families that were forced to leave the Lower Hill to be able to live in the new housing developments. Redevelopment is being fueled by public funds, so they want it to do some public good. What did the Penguins do? They designated 20% of units as “affordable.” Meaning if you make at least 80% of Pittsburgh’s median income (which is about $39,000) you could afford to live in a one bedroom apartment. It’s horse shit. It still keeps those apartments out of reach for many of the people living in the Hill. It’s complete and utter gentrification. The exact same thing happened in East Liberty. They’re displacing lifelong residents to build studio apartments for hipsters.They need to make 30% of the development affordable for people making 50% of the Pittsburgh median income. So, basically, the Penguins (working with City of Pittsburgh) destroyed an entire neighborhood for an arena, tore down the arena, retained rights to the land, and are still screwing over the people that live there. It’s bullshit.

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keystonewarrior · 4 years ago

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short story

All over again

“Ah, there you are, or there you were, I was wondering if you were ever going to manage it, but of course you did,” the man speaking was tall and slim and had an accent, “it is absolutely silly of me to get so impatient.” He said that part mostly to himself but he was still looking at me.

The look on my face must’ve said it all.

“Oh, well, see,” he paused with a finger on his lips, pursed “you’ve made a torus, sort of, a kind of bubble in the universe, right?” He dropped both hands behind his back and straightened up a little and looked at me with a little concerned amusement.

I wondered where he was going with all of this before he cleared his throat and continued.

“Well, there’s something you want to change, I haven’t any notion of what it is myself, not this time and not last time either,” he strode over to the open door at the end of the office, “But for the time being, and for the space involved there’s sort of two of you, but it won’t last long. It never does. It never could” he gestured for me to follow, “come have a look at yourself.”

I followed him out of the office into an old-fashioned cube farm. The tops of heads were just barely visible over most cubes. He had walked into a foyer next to an empty secretary station shrouded in artificial plants and was waving me over. I remembered this place.

He gestured at the mirror.

I was so young. Those clothes! I can hardly believe anybody used to dress like that. I felt like a fool, but I fit right in. An elevator, one of four on this floor, pinged nearby and four people got out, and they all kind of looked like me. And there was, oh damn, what was their name? Stacy? Tracy? Three of the people walked to offices on the other side of the building but Stacy-Tracy walked past me, “See you tonight, right?”

They seemed to have a knowing look on their face so I gave a noncommittal grunt of agreement and looked at myself in the mirror again briefly. My hair! Those glasses. I suddenly recalled where my cube was.

I turned and followed my friend (office buddy? acquaintance?) along the cubes, they turned down a side aisle but I kept walking. I could see the man waiting for me in his funny clothes, but not that funny, everybody would dress that way later. He didn’t even stand out much. Everybody probably thought he was in a temp, or maybe in advertising. I went past the copy room and caught a bit of office gossip I’d forgotten, and was almost to my cube when he raised a hand to stop me.

“Now, you’ve done this before,” he looked into my eyes, “but you won’t remember. There is usually no danger at all. Unless you try to run away.”

Suddenly he didn’t seem so friendly. Suddenly his height and obvious physical fitness made it clear he was much more of a threat. The man who had felt more like a confidant and counselor now seemed much more like a cop.

“The energies involved in changing the past aren’t trifling. It helps to be close to a good source of gravity. This can’t be done on the Moon and it is more successful here than on Mars,” he continued, “Running is the worst thing you can do. It stretches out and magnifies the energies. It demands more and more from you and the part of the universe you are currently in. In both places and in both times. You know what you came here for, so do it and don’t dilly dally. When you see yourself in a moment there will be a sort of battle of wills, it will be brief. You’ll be surprised - the younger you will be surprised - but you’ve got all the regret and anxiety and emotional baggage of what you believe - the older you believes - was a mistake, ebbing and flowing around you like a hurricane. That is usually more than enough to make the change. If necessary, just get physically violent. You’ve done it before successfully. You’re not old anymore. You know how to struggle, how to take a little temporary pain, and to people nearby,” he indicated the cube farm “thank goodness there really won’t be any witnesses, not really, all anybody would see would be you shiver or maybe you wig out a little.”

I looked over at my cube. “I’ve done this before?”

“Yes,” he turned and gestured to invite me to finish what I came back for. He wasn’t being impatient or rude, but I sensed part of him didn’t really want to say what he said next but that another part of him desired to explain it all to me.

“A great many people have done this sort of thing a great many times, and nobody ever really remembers” he looked down at me “you may have dreams of a different you, with different people you know or knew or didn’t, doing things you did or didn’t do. You may have dreams of odd arrangements of people and places and times you’ve known that don’t seem to go together and if the discontinuity is discomforting it wakes you up, but it all feels real enough. You may imagine alternative pasts, with their ascendant futures, and while a lot of that is just ordinary wistfulness or wishy wash trash on a star, some of it is just a little space and time flotsam and jetsam and the overlap of memory, what was once real and what is really real because that was what you did and not what you didn’t.”

He had maneuvered beside me and put a friendly hand on my shoulder, giving me just a little nudge.

“You’ve done this before and I’ve been here to keep you honest before.”

“I ran before, didn’t I?”

“You did. What was an embarrassing momentary lapse for you was years of grueling overtime and paperwork for me,” the nudge was becoming a push, “so get on with it.”

I walked to the cubicle. I might have walked a little apprehensively. I knew why I was here and what I had to do. I had done something like this before. I could hear myself typing in the cube. Did I try to do something or not do something before? Was I trapped in a loop? I looked back. He was right behind me.

“No, you aren't in a loop. This isn’t Groundhog Day” he whispered. “You’ve never been back to this particular moment. You’ve been back to high school and college and other times. Of course after this all the other times I knew you after this will be different in some way. You are changing the past to alter your future after all. Maybe you’ll have to sneak backwards in time to events after now and keep making little changes, a twist there and a tweak there. You’re never one for big changes.”

He smiled at me. I realized it was the first time he smiled at me.

“But you’ve been through this with me before? I’m putting you through the ringer?”

His smile got bigger and brighter. “Your concern for me is your most endearing trait. I do miss you. Don’t worry about me. All that overtime I put in got me a nice timeshare in Florida. I even wrote a book; made good money too. I can’t retire, not yet, but when I do me and the missus are set. The kids have a great future. Thank you.”

“Maybe I should be the one thanking you, for this chance to get a do-over.”

I turned the corner and stood in the cube. The phone was tucked between my shoulder and cheek, my fingers were hovering over the numbers, but my attention was on the computer screen. I mashed the hook switch down and yanked the phone out my other hand. The momentary contact with my other self almost overwhelmed me while it damn near knocked other me out. The energies involved are not trifling. I could feel a dam breaking. I spun the chair around to look at myself. The look of shock and fear in a face from so long ago was pitiable. I was so weak then. Overcoming myself felt like crushing a tinkertoy under a HEMMT wheel. I felt nothing but contempt and disgust as I crushed myself and suddenly felt myself falling.

I jerked upright in the chair and gasped. Ben stood and looked over the cube wall at me.

“Dude, you okay? he asked. That mullet has got to go.

“I’m okay I said,” I looked up at Ben, “just a little deja vu.”

Ben disappeared, sitting. “I get that too sometimes; except mine doesn’t usually sound like a cab going into a manhole without the cover.” He laughed at himself.

I looked at the phone in my hand and hung it up. I looked at the computer screen, saved my work, closed the tab, and logged off. I stood and picked up my Y2K mug, I was looking at Ben in his cube, his lips moved as he read what he just typed.

“Ben, that mullet has got to go,” I said. Ben nodded, grunted, and typed.

I walked down the rows of cubes to the cube that did duty as a coffee station. Shawn Tracy was standing by the windows talking with Stacy McAllister looking at the snow falling in Pittsburgh. I could see Civic Arena in the distance. They turned and looked at me.

“You’re coming to the game tonight, right?” he said.

“I already told you he said yes” she said.

“I’m sorry I gotta cancel on you two,” they put pretend expressions of hurt on their faces, “I’m driving to New York after work to see my folks, it’s a surprise” I said that part on impulse. I just had an urge to go see my folks. “Pens are in New York tomorrow anyway. I’ll wear my sweater and hassle my little brother. Take Ben, he could use some hockey. I’ll bet he’s missing Minnesota anyway.” I gestured out the window with my mug before I filled it up.

I went back to my cube and almost spilled coffee crashing into my chair.

From his cube next to mine Ben razzed me a little, “It’s like deja vu all over again.”

#deja vu #Pittsburgh

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