This year I'm slowly working my way around Philip's Arena. Watching hockey from everywhere...the 400s, the 300s, the 200s and even from a few rows behind the sin-bin in some swank club seats at center ice. Blog night gave me my first opportunity to to watch from the Philip's Arena press box.
It's hard to explain the allure of this to someone who hasn't experienced it. Logic and marketing dictate that the normal sports fan want to sit as cost to the action as possibe. It's true in baseball. It's true is football. It's true in basketball with it's coveted courtside seats. Most fans think its true in hockey as well. Why else would someone pay $250 to sit next to the glass. That has to be the best seat, right? I'm here to tell you that isn't so. Yes, it's nice sit next to the action on occasion. Few things convey the spead of the game like sitting next to the boards when the players crash into them. When the puck rebounds off the glass you understand just how fast it's flying. You can hear the game from that location, but you can't see it. You can't see what is happening when players are battling for a puck near you seat. You can't see the puck or the sticks. From these seats I'm frustrated when players are in the corner near me. I actually long for action to move to the other side of the ice so that I might once again watch the game.
From seats high in the press box you can see everything. It takes a few minutes to adjust to the height, to looking at players from above. When the adjustment is complete you realize you can really see the game from this perspective. Not players speeding after the puck, but a team executing a game plan. On top of all that you get to sit and watch the game without being surrounded with some dillusional idiot who thinks Steve is doing him a personal favor every time he speaks into the microphone.