FUUFNF

the ponda is just a crappy arena no matter how you slice it.

yeah, had a business trip to detroit over a year ago and i went to both hockeytown authentics and hockeytown cafe. although hockeytown authentics did have some really cool stuff, overall it wasn't what i imagined the place to be like. first off, it was much smaller than it looks on the commercials. and second, the prices on the really good stuff are very high. third, i thought the service was pretty poor. i spent well over an hour in the place and didn't have one person ask me if i needed any help. it's a good place to by t-shirts, hats, and game worn items, but you definitely pay a premium for the "hockeytown authentics" bag. hockeytown cafe just had bad, bad food. the service was good and the decor is pretty cool, but the food was terrible. i ordered the steak sandwich and got something i wouldn't even classify as beef, let alone steak. also, i had a security guard threaten to take away my camera for taking a picture of the joint. he claimed some bs about trademark something or the other. pretty lame if you ask me.

overpriced and overhyped, but a must see (at least once) if you're a red wing fan. same goes for hockeytown cafe too.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...5/70514102/1053

i'm okay with that.

the same reasons the sharks were favored against the wings... size, speed, grit, youth, etc.

seedings and analyst predictions are totally different things. :rotflmao:

an iq test during registration... i like it.

everyone should just keep in mind that we looked out of sorts in the first three games versus the sharks too. babs will make some adjustments and we'll be fine. both the games so far have been very competitive, what else could you ask for?

way to go boys!

congrats. make sure you make some noise!

now if i could find a $30 flight to detroit, and a $30 room, i'd be set!

i'll be there for game 3, but a 6pm game is too early to tailgate on a work day.

game 3, section 413, row u.

and obviously condos are much cheaper than actual SFRs. i believe the median house price in HB is still in the high 500k range.

properties for 220k in huntington beach are few and far between. probably a 1br condo, or a distressed sale, or a forclosure? is it possible to find a cheap place in a decent area? sure, but unlikely.

on the flip side, don't assume that just because people out here on the left coast can make a $5,000 mortgage that they have big fat salaries and/or living way above their means. for most people a $3,500 - $4,000 mortgage only buys them a decent 3-4 bedroom house in a decent neighborhood. a $450,000 house out here will put you in compton, and who in their right mind would want to raise a family out there? they pay this exorbanant amount of money for housing because they have to, not because they want to. what i think it all boils down to is how much disposable income you have. and unforunately a high cost of living index doesn't leave much of it. naturally if your income is zero, there's no comparison. but, i would bet that those of you fortunate enough to be working in michigan probably have more disposable income than a lot of folks out here. that being said, i do understand where you're coming from and the reality is that the michigan economy is really much worse than the rest of the nation is led to believe. and to factor that in with the success of the other detroit sports franchises, and the consequential erosion into the red wing fan base, it is the perfect catalyst for low attendence at the joe.

you ain't lyin'... they should stick to covering the lakers.

well, i wasn't aware that it's gotten that much worse within the last year. that's terrible to hear. it's funny that i heard more in the media about michigan's economic woes two years ago, than the last 12 months. and also, the 2006 forclosure statistics has michigan ranked as only 4th worse in the nation. i guess the rest of the nation is under the assumption that things in michigan are about the same as it was 2-3 years ago.

i don't think a lot of out of state red wing fans could afford to travel to detroit, pay for a place to stay, and buy hockey tickets.

ha! well, i didn't even consider the added markup of being in deeper rounds of the playoffs this year. i was only using the location of the seats as a reference. nevertheless, if ticket prices are about on par with last year, and last year still had sell out crowds in the playoffs, did the michigan economy dip that badly in one year? i know i've been hearing that the michigan economy has been in decline for some time now, but obviously i don't keep up with it on a day to day basis. honestly, sub $300 for good seats like those doesn't seem too outrageous to me. i could actually afford those seats if i really wanted to (albeit i would be blowing my wad on a single game). if i recall correctly, "the west wing" spent about $500 each for a pair of tickets on the glass at a wings/kings non-playoff game last season. i was actually quite surprised that seats at that level were still available at jla. to me that says two things, (1) either the michigan economy is so bad that they practically need to have their own exchange rate, or (2) the demand just isn't there.

no self respecting kings fan would openly root for the ducks (or vice versa). i'm not sure if the same is true with the sharks, but every kings fan i know absolutely hate the ducks and every ducks fan i know absoultely hate the kings. that said, san diego might not be the best place to get accurate information about la/oc hockey. eh, i'm not crazy about sd. the gaslamp district is cool and the weather is nice, but that's just about it. unless you're on the beach, the scenery sucks. all the freeways down there suck. tj sucks. and sd sports absolutely sucks.

that's interesting. i dunno what the face value for similar tickets at the honda center are (because i can't find any tickets at that level anymore on ticketmaster), but the difference in price for similar tickets on stubhub is at least $100 (approx $450 at jla, and approx $550 each at honda). just out of curiosity, how much did those tickets cost last year?