Practice Makes Perfect

The Snooze Button Edition

Getting to Ballston by 11am on a Saturday morning may not seem like that much of an ordeal, but trust us, it was ball-buster.

We were dragging a little yesterday morning following Friday night’s festivities at Nellie’s which saw a nice contingent of Caps fans turn out to watch the Devils game.  The food, drinks and Caps performance was satisfying, though we were forced to stake out some real estate at the bar, competing with the many hoops fans.  We commandeered a small corner table upstairs and officially christened the cozy nook as the ‘Penalty Box.’  And thanks to a couple of sportswriter pals too, who came by.

We got up at the crack of 10am on Saturday and made it to Kettler in time for practice. Thanks to @Ikeastan, she showed us the one pane of clean glass that made for the best camera position.  Not that it helped our shooting all that much, as the following pictures will demonstrate a remarkable lack of photographic skill.

Compare and contrast Bridget’s great shots to our shoddy work.  We won’t blame the equipment however – the $10 Canon we used is forever known as the ‘Shaky-Cam,’ having been tested numerous times in the war-zone that is DC’s Moultrie Courthouse.

More blurry and poorly-framed shots follow.

 

And we saved the best for last.

About Craig

Proudly serving gay hockey fans and players since 2010
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5 Responses to Practice Makes Perfect

  1. Jeremy says:

    Had a blast meeting everyone. Great game, good conversations about Caps hockey. Enjoyed meeting you both. Thanks for organizing the Night Out and for creating this blog, guys.

    I do have to say Nellie’s was a disappointment of a place, though. Why run an ad as they did and make NO arrangements for Caps fans who show up? We had to fight for a spot once the game began and listen to audio from a basketball game while tables of cackling 20-something straight girls (wooooo! wooooooooo!) yelped and slurred their ways into Friday night. Then, once the babes left (perhaps they went to Applebee’s back home in the ‘burbs?), Nellie’s CRANKED UP THE AUDIO for a different basketball game! When we asked the bartender if he could adjust the audio, he looked as completely helpless and clueless as he turned out to be.

    I’d love to watch another game with Puck Buddys, you guys are great. Nellie’s? Not so much. Quite frankly, if I hadn’t been told Nellie’s was a gay bar, I’d never have guessed it. Just like Chi-Chi’s hangs up sombreros and calls itself “Mexican,” Nellie’s hangs up campy stuff and call itself gay. Pfffffffft.

    • Craig says:

      Jeremy – Thanks to you guys and all the others for turning out. A fun evening and a nice win.

      In defense of our hosts, we did try and shoehorn in a Caps game on what was expected to be a batshit busy night, the first Friday of the NCAA. We did this on the fly and Doug S. @ Nellie’s was very accomodating considering the multiple game strain the bar was operating under that night. And that was our ad we placed in MW. We thought it worth spending a couple of shekels to help get the word out. And if things go the Caps way, maybe a few more viewing parties through the spring.

      • Jeremy says:

        It was awesome meeting you guys.

        And, sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel the need to come to the defense of Nellie’s. I will say it’s a bar that needs to decide if it wants to be a gay sports bar or not. The truth is, last Friday night, in a room crowded with wooooooo! girls and a l—-o—-n—-g line for beer, NOBODY was watching the basketball games. (I doubt the woooooo! girls even knew games were on TVs.) The place was packed and Nellie’s ownership must like that; but I’ll just paraphrase what I said above: Chi-Chi’s is to Mexican as Nellie’s is to gay bar.

  2. Jim says:

    Nice meeting you guys. Thanks for putting this together. Nellie’s has it’s faults, but it’s a fun place to watch a game. Not surprising basketball took precedence that night wiht the tournament and all. The lines were much shorter at the outside bar. The woo-girls…well…they’re pretty common. But if you can get a table downstairs, it’s a great place to watch a game. It’s nice to be able to hang with a bunch of sports fans AND be able to kiss my bf when we get a goal. :-)

    If you try this again, we’ll definitely be back.

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