Corey is now 18, living on campus in Boston, and feeling a bit grown up and independent. Well, maybe not completely independent. He did buy me a birthday present (maybe the first time ever in his life without his mother putting money in his hand and driving him to a store) – two tickets for a Bruins hockey game, but of course he assumed that with the second ticket I would invite him, drive, pay for parking, and food. Over the past several years he has developed a love of the sport and was eager to see a game live. The Thursday March 6th 7:00pm game versus Toronto was during his spring break week and wouldn’t interfere with any school priorities. Then he found out that as part of the NEU pep band, he got to go to Virginia to cheer on the NEU basketball team – and he had to back at campus to board the bus by 4:30pm (Thursday March 6th). Oops – so much for Corey’s Big Bad Bruins Adventure. 
Thinking quickly, he decided that having already spent the money for the second ticket he could claim it as an early birthday present to Joe (therefore not having to spend future money on him while still claiming to have been generous to him).
So Friday through Wednesday Corey filled Joe with stories of Zdano Chara et al – watched games on TV and viewed YouTube clippings of various hockey fights. Joe was ready!
Tim and Corey got Joe out of school early and drove to meet me at work. Corey, Joe and I continued on to the city, dropped off Corey on campus, and met up with Mary in Copley Square. She usually takes the subway to North Station and the train to Billerica, but she joined us for the ride and we killed a little time exploring around Causeway St. Then Joe wanted to look in the Pro Shop – he has his mind set a getting a “Chara” jersey. For $180 he could have gotten one that would have been big on ME, but none were to be found in anything even close to his small size. Bergeron, Kessel, Thomas, Savard – none of them interested him because he didn’t know who they were (apparently Corey didn’t do a very thorough job teaching Joe all about the B’s). Jackets – no. Sweatshirts – no. Hats, foam fingers, B’s pajama’s – no, no, and no. Mary offered to chip in for anything up to $60 – no. Chara or nothing was pretty much Joe’s mood. We did find a Chara poster for $6 that I said I would get for him after the game, which cheered him up slightly. After a McDonalds meal and seeing Mary off onto her train, we headed up into the stadium – Joe’s first ever major sporting event. I explained to Joe that the seats would be up in the “nose-bleed” section, the balcony. He was concerned that people really got nose-bleeds there. Being amongst the first fans to enter, we walked the whole upper concourse and then went to find our seat. Balcony, section 306, row 15 is as high up as you can get – top row, back against the stadium wall, very steep steps to get there and poor Joe worried that if his shoelace became undone and he tripped it was going to be a long and painful fall. Still over half an hour until game time, we acclimated to the view and then went back to the concourse – me for popcorn and Joe still hoping to find his prized Chara shirt. Thankfully, even at the !! 50% OFF ALL BRUINS MERCHANDISE !! kiosk there were none to be found. They did have a cute little yellow huggy monkee with the Velcro hands and a Bruins “B” on it for $6.50, which Joe attached around his neck for the entire game.
The game started well with the B’s scoring first, but people standing up blocked Joes. He also noted how lots of people use bad words, two big smelly guys kept going past us with beer, Toronto scored eight unanswered goals, the concession stands didn’t have Root Beer and Chara didn’t fight anybody. Joe commented how “it apparently isn’t the Bruins night tonight”. We called Corey half way through the second period (he was on the bus headed to Virginia) so Joe could let him know how it was going. Joe told him to “next time get us tickets to a better game”. Into the 3rd period as the score was getting more lopsided I told Joe that if he was tired or bored we could leave early and beat the rush, but he insisted that he was having fun and wanted to stay to the end. That meant he got to see a fight (not Chara) and the B’s final goal with 34 second left. As we were leaving he headed straight for the pro shop and grabbed his promised poster and started wondering where to hang it in his room. At 10:20pm (hours past his normal bedtime) Joe called Mom (who would be in the van on her way TO work) to tell her all about it.
“Ya, it was fun. Ya, I’m tired. No I didn’t get a shirt or a coat. Goodnight Mom.”
Two tickets to professional hockey game = free
Parking at North Station = $30
McDonalds for two at North Station = $11
Poster, monkee, popcorn, twizzlers and a coke = $25
Bringing a son to his first professional sporting event = priceless
Thinking quickly, he decided that having already spent the money for the second ticket he could claim it as an early birthday present to Joe (therefore not having to spend future money on him while still claiming to have been generous to him).
So Friday through Wednesday Corey filled Joe with stories of Zdano Chara et al – watched games on TV and viewed YouTube clippings of various hockey fights. Joe was ready!
Tim and Corey got Joe out of school early and drove to meet me at work. Corey, Joe and I continued on to the city, dropped off Corey on campus, and met up with Mary in Copley Square. She usually takes the subway to North Station and the train to Billerica, but she joined us for the ride and we killed a little time exploring around Causeway St. Then Joe wanted to look in the Pro Shop – he has his mind set a getting a “Chara” jersey. For $180 he could have gotten one that would have been big on ME, but none were to be found in anything even close to his small size. Bergeron, Kessel, Thomas, Savard – none of them interested him because he didn’t know who they were (apparently Corey didn’t do a very thorough job teaching Joe all about the B’s). Jackets – no. Sweatshirts – no. Hats, foam fingers, B’s pajama’s – no, no, and no. Mary offered to chip in for anything up to $60 – no. Chara or nothing was pretty much Joe’s mood. We did find a Chara poster for $6 that I said I would get for him after the game, which cheered him up slightly. After a McDonalds meal and seeing Mary off onto her train, we headed up into the stadium – Joe’s first ever major sporting event. I explained to Joe that the seats would be up in the “nose-bleed” section, the balcony. He was concerned that people really got nose-bleeds there. Being amongst the first fans to enter, we walked the whole upper concourse and then went to find our seat. Balcony, section 306, row 15 is as high up as you can get – top row, back against the stadium wall, very steep steps to get there and poor Joe worried that if his shoelace became undone and he tripped it was going to be a long and painful fall. Still over half an hour until game time, we acclimated to the view and then went back to the concourse – me for popcorn and Joe still hoping to find his prized Chara shirt. Thankfully, even at the !! 50% OFF ALL BRUINS MERCHANDISE !! kiosk there were none to be found. They did have a cute little yellow huggy monkee with the Velcro hands and a Bruins “B” on it for $6.50, which Joe attached around his neck for the entire game.
The game started well with the B’s scoring first, but people standing up blocked Joes. He also noted how lots of people use bad words, two big smelly guys kept going past us with beer, Toronto scored eight unanswered goals, the concession stands didn’t have Root Beer and Chara didn’t fight anybody. Joe commented how “it apparently isn’t the Bruins night tonight”. We called Corey half way through the second period (he was on the bus headed to Virginia) so Joe could let him know how it was going. Joe told him to “next time get us tickets to a better game”. Into the 3rd period as the score was getting more lopsided I told Joe that if he was tired or bored we could leave early and beat the rush, but he insisted that he was having fun and wanted to stay to the end. That meant he got to see a fight (not Chara) and the B’s final goal with 34 second left. As we were leaving he headed straight for the pro shop and grabbed his promised poster and started wondering where to hang it in his room. At 10:20pm (hours past his normal bedtime) Joe called Mom (who would be in the van on her way TO work) to tell her all about it.
“Ya, it was fun. Ya, I’m tired. No I didn’t get a shirt or a coat. Goodnight Mom.”
Two tickets to professional hockey game = free
Parking at North Station = $30
McDonalds for two at North Station = $11
Poster, monkee, popcorn, twizzlers and a coke = $25
Bringing a son to his first professional sporting event = priceless
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