People/things you are nostalgic about that might raise an eyebrow

[blood gin]

I kind of miss having faceoffs all over the ice instead of just the nine spots that they can occur at now. It would sometimes lead to some very interesting and chaotic occurrences and scoring chances

 

[blood gin]

I miss the few rinks that had smaller ice sufaces. Buffalo, Boston, and Chicago. Games there were always a bit crazier in terms of physical play and scoring chances going back and forth. Even watching old Bruins highlights on youtube it's crazy how small that neutral zone was

I recall rumors that MLG was slightly smaller as well and that Ballard did this to squeeze some more seats in. Not sure how true this is

 

[sharkhawk]

I miss having stadiums without skyboxes, so when you sat in the second balcony you felt like you were practically right over the ice. I miss the bench clearing and line brawls, and the goalie fights. I miss sitting right over the Barton organ at the stadium. I miss the history of the old arenas, the fights in the crowd, heck I even miss walking up 110 steps to the second balcony, although my knees probably couldn’t take it anymore. I miss paying 6 dollars for second balcony seats. Definitely agree about the helmet less players, gave them more personality. Also miss the great hockey nicknames

 

[Big Phil]

OJ was not a decent guy at all off the field. I'm not going to get into his problems prior to USC.

From growing up in Buffalo with people who knew him, encountered him, and worked for The Bills, I can tell you he wasn't a good person at all.

I edited my post to delete specifics, because this is not really the place to do so.

Let's just say what happened in 1994 was no surprise to some of us at all. It fit the profile we had been privy to for years prior...

Not trying to derail the OP here, just couldn't let anyone think OJ was a good guy who made a bad choice one day....

No problem, I was thinking more along the lines of his public perception. Most fans didn't know OJ from a personal standpoint, like me. Obviously as the years have gone by you hear about things and realize he wasn't the clean cut guy that he was portrayed to be.

 

[Big Phil]

I miss having stadiums without skyboxes, so when you sat in the second balcony you felt like you were practically right over the ice. I miss the bench clearing and line brawls, and the goalie fights. I miss sitting right over the Barton organ at the stadium. I miss the history of the old arenas, the fights in the crowd, heck I even miss walking up 110 steps to the second balcony, although my knees probably couldn’t take it anymore. I miss paying 6 dollars for second balcony seats. Definitely agree about the helmet less players, gave them more personality. Also miss the great hockey nicknames

I agree, I miss the line brawls and goalie fights too. Whenever there is a brawl on the ice with three different fights you hear about it nowadays.

I'll say this though, I don't think fan fights have changed a whole lot. People still drink like fishes and lose their temper. You can see a whole slew of modern fights on Youtube in games. Still lots in NFL games, which are the craziest of all the 4 sports.

I can remember specifically January 20th, 2007. Leafs at the Pens. The Pens won 8-2 with Malkin collecting 5 assists. The third period, when the game was out of hand, was a fight fest. McCabe vs. Thorburn, Gill vs. Thorburn, Green vs. Talbot. Lots of fighting. For whatever reason the fans fought a lot in that 3rd period too. I had a perfect view behind the net on the upper bowl at the Igloo. During the game, during a stoppage, whatever, there was someone in a Leafs jersey slugging it out with someone else. We honestly watched the stands more than we did the ice in the 3rd period. It was a hostile game, but boy was that not as fun of an experience as I've ever had at a game.

So yeah, as long as there is alcohol in the world there will be fan fights. I don't think that will ever go away, there are always drunk idiots.

 

[SealsFan]

I miss paying 6 dollars for second balcony seats.

Oh yeah, first couple of years going to Islander games, $6 upper level seats for only $3 with your student "G.O." card, or something like that. I don't even recall having an actual card, if you were of school age, you got the tix for $3.

 

[Howie Hodge]

No problem, I was thinking more along the lines of his public perception. Most fans didn't know OJ from a personal standpoint, like me. Obviously as the years have gone by you hear about things and realize he wasn't the clean cut guy that he was portrayed to be.

No problem at all! I liked your post; but I guess knowing what I do about OJ has me disliking him intensely over the years - which is a shame because I had so admired him on the gridiron!

 

[Howie Hodge]

Oh yeah, first couple of years going to Islander games, $6 upper level seats for only $3 with your student "G.O." card, or something like that. I don't even recall having an actual card, if you were of school age, you got the tix for $3.

The good old days, eh? Standing room at The Aud was $3 in the early 70's!

I can still remember being behind and under the press box a couple times. PP Announcer Ted Darling and Color Man Pat Hannigan could scarf hot dogs and guzzle beer during commercial breaks like nobody's business; most impressive! lol

 

[LeafsNation75]

I agree, I miss the line brawls and goalie fights too. Whenever there is a brawl on the ice with three different fights you hear about it nowadays.

I'll say this though, I don't think fan fights have changed a whole lot. People still drink like fishes and lose their temper. You can see a whole slew of modern fights on Youtube in games. Still lots in NFL games, which are the craziest of all the 4 sports.

I can remember specifically January 20th, 2007. Leafs at the Pens. The Pens won 8-2 with Malkin collecting 5 assists. The third period, when the game was out of hand, was a fight fest. McCabe vs. Thorburn, Gill vs. Thorburn, Green vs. Talbot. Lots of fighting. For whatever reason the fans fought a lot in that 3rd period too. I had a perfect view behind the net on the upper bowl at the Igloo. During the game, during a stoppage, whatever, there was someone in a Leafs jersey slugging it out with someone else. We honestly watched the stands more than we did the ice in the 3rd period. It was a hostile game, but boy was that not as fun of an experience as I've ever had at a game.

So yeah, as long as there is alcohol in the world there will be fan fights. I don't think that will ever go away, there are always drunk idiots.

The closet thing I have seen that almost turned into a fan fight was 2 guys arguing in the concourse in Tampa Bay during the 1st intermission when I saw the Leafs play down there in December 2007. I can't remember exactly what happened but I think one guy must have bumped into someone and both of them yelling, so I decided to walk away before anything else happened.

Now I do remember being at a Leafs-Canadiens game in October 2007 and I had rail seats inside the Air Canada Club restaurant. Anyway prior to the game this Leafs fan who might have been drunk prior to the game was very friendly with everyone around him and he must have had at least 3 Beers during the game itself and he was sitting in the last row of the Red sears. What I remember is some Montreal fan must have accused him poring Beer on her. I honestly don't remember seeing that happen because I was paying attention to the game. One of the ushers tells him he's cut off from drinking and he tells him ok. I would say no more than 1-2 minutes later this much bigger usher physical removes the guy from his seat and says your gone. It was too bad because he missed a Leafs overtime win that night.

 

[brachyrynchos]

Oh yeah, first couple of years going to Islander games, $6 upper level seats for only $3 with your student "G.O." card, or something like that. I don't even recall having an actual card, if you were of school age, you got the tix for $3.

Jealous. I remember paying around $11, myself and two close friends, we were going on school nights during high school. Parents took turns driving us there/picking us up. They'd drop us off right on the turnpike. We paid for our own tickets with the paper routes and typical teen jobs we worked for and happily spent. My favorite was Potvin's last home game (vs WSH: my team lost, but still one of my best memories of the Coliseum.)
Being so blessed to live in a market/region where games were on all the time, local NYI, NYR, NJ, and the old (I miss them still) Bruins matinee games. Great times, Best Island.

 

[El Cohiba]

The Bauer Vapor line of skates starting with Pavel Bure (the Vapor 10's, 20's and 30's) and the white wheels donned by Fedorov and Gretzky (Nike Zoom Airs). Also, the white skates Kovalev wore. (CCM and Reebok). As a gear whore, those were the glory days of hockey. I was too young to have seen the white skates the Blues rocked, but I like the pics

 

[sharkhawk]

I agree, I miss the line brawls and goalie fights too. Whenever there is a brawl on the ice with three different fights you hear about it nowadays.

I'll say this though, I don't think fan fights have changed a whole lot. People still drink like fishes and lose their temper. You can see a whole slew of modern fights on Youtube in games. Still lots in NFL games, which are the craziest of all the 4 sports.

I can remember specifically January 20th, 2007. Leafs at the Pens. The Pens won 8-2 with Malkin collecting 5 assists. The third period, when the game was out of hand, was a fight fest. McCabe vs. Thorburn, Gill vs. Thorburn, Green vs. Talbot. Lots of fighting. For whatever reason the fans fought a lot in that 3rd period too. I had a perfect view behind the net on the upper bowl at the Igloo. During the game, during a stoppage, whatever, there was someone in a Leafs jersey slugging it out with someone else. We honestly watched the stands more than we did the ice in the 3rd period. It was a hostile game, but boy was that not as fun of an experience as I've ever had at a game.

So yeah, as long as there is alcohol in the world there will be fan fights. I don't think that will ever go away, there are always drunk idiots.

When was the last time you saw something like this? You didn’t f with the orange (later yellow) jackets

 

[Big Phil]

The closet thing I have seen that almost turned into a fan fight was 2 guys arguing in the concourse in Tampa Bay during the 1st intermission when I saw the Leafs play down there in December 2007. I can't remember exactly what happened but I think one guy must have bumped into someone and both of them yelling, so I decided to walk away before anything else happened.

Now I do remember being at a Leafs-Canadiens game in October 2007 and I had rail seats inside the Air Canada Club restaurant. Anyway prior to the game this Leafs fan who might have been drunk prior to the game was very friendly with everyone around him and he must have had at least 3 Beers during the game itself and he was sitting in the last row of the Red sears. What I remember is some Montreal fan must have accused him poring Beer on her. I honestly don't remember seeing that happen because I was paying attention to the game. One of the ushers tells him he's cut off from drinking and he tells him ok. I would say no more than 1-2 minutes later this much bigger usher physical removes the guy from his seat and says your gone. It was too bad because he missed a Leafs overtime win that night.

A friend of ours was at the ACC last year and he was sitting in the nose bleeds. He had beer poured all the way down his back by some rowdy college aged kids. I have no idea why, but he said he never turned around to confront them because he knew there would be a fight. How he had that much restraint is something I know I'd never have.

 

[Big Phil]

When was the last time you saw something like this? You didn’t f with the orange (later yellow) jackets

I can see that happening. That's a little extreme because they just topple over a few rows of seats. But yeah with alcohol and unruly fans I can see it. I just can't see the security beating them up that badly today because this isn't 1982 anymore, everyone has their phone recording it and the ushers/cops/security will be on their best behaviour. But yeah, I can see fights like that happening. In the NFL that probably happens on a weekly basis. I'd like to see some of that anger on the ice.