Glasgow v Fife

Glasgow Clan 2-1 Fife Flyers
Elite Ice Hockey League Challenge Cup Group B
Braehead Arena
Friday 5th October 2018

It’s been a while since I’ve been to an ice hockey match, but after a season where the performances on the ice didn’t merit my hard earned cash, the Clan look like they are going to be at least competitive this year. A Friday night fixture against a bitter rival seems like the perfect time to get back.

The Venue

Braehead Arena was built in 1999 alongside the larger Braehead shopping centre onto which it is attached. It has a full capacity of 5,200, although this is reduced to around 4,000 for ice hockey. The arena is largely used for ice hockey, being home to both the Glasgow Clan and Paisley Pirates and being the former home of the now defunct Scottish Eagles.

Although the arena is primarily used for ice hockey, it is a fully multi-purpose venue that has also hosted professional basketball, professional wrestling, boxing, ice shows, curling and large scale concerts. It is also home to an annual comic book convention and is open to the public as a skating rink. Sightlines for hockey are excellent from just about everywhere, and it almost feels like a purpose built hockey arena.

The Competition

The Elite ice Hockey league is the highest level of ice hockey in the UK and is the only fully professional league in the country. It contains 11 teams, divided into three conferences, with a playoff tournament to crown a champion at the end of the season.

The Challenge Cup actually pre dates the EIHL, first being played in 1997 by the Ice Hockey Superleague teams. the competition currently sees teams play in a group of either 3 or 4 teams, playing each team home and away before successful clubs reach the knockout stage.

The Teams

Glasgow Clan (who were known as Braehead clan before a rebranding this summer in order to appeal to a wider demographic) were formed in 2010, as the EIHL looked to expand into the West of Scotland, who had been left without a professional team since the demise of the Scottish Eagles in 2002. The Clan began play in the 2010-11 season, and reached the playoffs, before being knocked out in the quarter finals. Since the league went to a conference format in 2012-13, the Clan have won the Gardiner Conference on four occasions, but have never gotten past the playoff semi-final stage, with a solitary third place finish in 2013-14. The team missed the playoffs for the first time last season, and a full scale clearout was undertaken.

Hugely successful Scottish coach Pete Russell was appointed as coach for the 2018-19 season, and began the rebuilding process by re-signing several fan favourites who had left under the previous regime. Their Challenge Cup campaign has begun on the road due to Disney on Ice taking over Braehead Areana and they have just a solitary point after a shootout loss away to Fife. Three home wins could still see qualification for the knockout phase depending on other results. They have four points from five league games so far, with all games once again having been played on the road.

Fife Flyers were formed in 1938 and are currently the oldest professional ice hockey club in the UK. They joined the EIHL in 2011 and have a long list of honours including two British National league titles and two Celtic League championships. They were also British Champions on five occasions in previous league setups. They have won an impressive array of trophies over their 80 year history (at least 50 going by Wikipedia) and are based out of the Fife Ice Arena in Kirkcaldy. They won the Gardiner Conference last season but lost in the League Play-off semi-finals.

Canadian Todd Dutiaume has been head coach since 2006, initially as player-coach. He first joined the club in 1999 and is celebrating his twentieth year in Kirkcaldy. They finish their Challenge Cup group campaign this evening and have five points from their five games thus far. Their league campaign has started well with seven points from four games played, and they sit in third place in the early table. The two sides tonight share what is known as the fiercest rivalry in Scottish hockey.

The Game

Clan started strongly and were the better team for the majority of the first period, save a two minute spell early on when Vaclav Stupka was sent to the penalty box for interference. The first Clan penalty kill of the game held strong, and they continued to dominate once they were back to full strength on the ice. Clan were dominating possession and looking the stronger side, but the Flyers were dangerous on the break, and Joel Rumpel in the Clan goal had some smart saves to make. With just 22 seconds remaining in the first, Clan took the lead. The puck broke to Gerard Hanson, who fumbled his fist effort but managed to poke the puck past Shane Owen at the second attempt to seal the lead at the first interval.

The second period was a spicy affair with end to end action broken up by several penalties, mostly to Clan players. The Flyers, despite still looking dangerous on the break couldn’t find a way past Rumpel, and the Clan’s penalty kill unit was on top form throughout as it remained 1-0.

The third period continued in much the same vein, with the Flyers pushing for the equaliser, the Clan having plenty of chances, and some penalty minutes for the hosts as tempers flared. Victory looked to have been sealed with a little over nine minutes left when Craig Peackock released Josh Gratton who struck a fantastic shot past Owen to make it 2-0. Less than three minutes later, Paul Crowder had pulled one back for the visitors in the aftermath of what looked like a clear missed holding call on the Fife forward. The goal set up a frantic finish, with Flyers goalie Owen being pulled for the final 90 seconds to give a man advantage on the ice. Despite this, Clan held firm for their first Challenge Cup win of the season.

The Pies

It’s quite expensive to eat at Braehead Arena, although it doesn’t seem to stop people, given the amount of time that hot dogs can be smelled during any given game. We didn’t partake in food at the arena, so I’m going to talk about “Chuck-A-Puck.” During the second interval, the crowd are invited to throw pucks that they have purchased for £1 a pop at Clangus, the Clan’s hard dancing anthropomorphic Highland Cow mascot. The closest puck to Clangus wins a £50 merchandise voucher. It’s quite a spectacle, and one of Kaitlin’s favourite things about a hockey game!

Admission: £20
Programme: None
Pie: Hot Dog £4
Bovril: Coffee/tea: £2. Soft Drink: £2. Beer: £4 can, £4.50 draft pint
Attendance: 3,365

Seattle v San Francisco

Seattle Mariners 3-4 San Francisco Giants
Major League Baseball Interleague Play
Safeco Field
Tuesday 24th July 2018

The final sporting excursion of our trip is the big one. I adopted the Mariners as “my” baseball team about six or seven years ago, long before I even knew of Kaitlin’s existence! As luck would have it, they’re both her “local” major league team and at home while we’re in town. Kaitlin’s dad threw me a surprise by buying us tickets to this game and I’m really quite looking forward to this one.

The Venue

Safeco Field is incredible. It really is a fantastic stadium that is impressive almost every way you look at it. After five years of planning, the stadium opened in 1999 and seats 47,715 in a baseball configuration. The seating is over five levels, and was designed to give the best possible sightlines for baseball in all areas of the field. The main feature of the stadium is the retractable roof, which for a sport that can and often is rained off, seems like a fantastic idea.

The roof doesn’t form a fully climate controlled indoor arena, and has been designed to act as more of an umbrella for the stands and playing field. It is often closed on colder dry nights as well in order to conserve heat inside the stadium. The stadium is also used once per season by the Washington Huskies college football team, with capacity reduced to 30,144 for football. It was also host to Wrestlemania XIX in March 2003, which still holds the stadium’s attendance record of 54,097.

I’m so glad I’ve managed to visit this fantastic facility, as it is genuinely impressive to see. I’m a big fan of the “retro-modern” trend in American stadiums, where elements from days gone by are incorporated with state of the art facilities. Walking up to the stadium to see it’s brick façade, you’re immediately taken in, and once inside are treated to a first class experience.

The Teams

Baseball’s structure is even more complicated than the usual conference and division structure prevalent in North American sports. Major League Baseball teams play in either the National League (formed in 1876) or the American League (formed in 1901). There are fifteen teams in each league. From 1903 until 2000, the two leagues existed entirely separately, but worked in co-operation with each other. Since 2000, they have technically been one organisation, but retain some individualities such as the designated hitter rule, used in the American League, but not the National League. The two league champions come together at the end of the season to play the World Series, to declare an overall MLB Champion.

The Seattle Mariners were founded as an American League expansion team in 1977. They in effect replaced the Seattle Pilots, who had controversially been relocated to Milwaukee in 1970. A lawsuit by the city, county and even state eventually led to the formation of the Mariners. The team have played in the AL West Division since their inception. The team did not have a winning season until 1991, when club legend Ken Griffey Jr. was in his third year with the team. The Mariners are one of seven current MLB sides never to have won the World Series, and one of just two sides (along with the Washington Nationals) never to have even played in the World Series.

They have won their Division three times, most recently in 2001. That 2001 season saw the Mariners win 116 games and set the AL record for most wins in a season and is ties with the 1906 Chicago Cubs as the most regular season wins in MLB history. The Mariners have not reached the playoffs since, and with the Buffalo Bills reaching the 2017 NFL playoffs, the Mariners hold the unenviable title of the longest playoff drought in the four major North American sports leagues. This season has started well for them though, as they sit second in the AL West 5 games behind the Houston Astros, and 2 games ahead of their nearest wild card challengers.

You could easily write a book on the history of the San Francisco Giants, and in fact many already have, so I’ll summarise it as briefly as I can. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, they became the New York Giants three years later, and have always played as members of the National League. Playing out of the legendary Polo Grounds, they were one of the most successful teams in the early years of professional baseball. In 1957, the Giants’ crosstown rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers were in advanced negotiations to move to Los Angeles, but were told by the NL that unless a second Californian team was found, the move would be blocked on travel cost grounds. More negotiations followed, and the Giants controversially moved to San Francisco for the 1958 season. The Giants struggled on the West Coast with only sporadic playoff appearances in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, but memorably won three World Series titles in the space of five seasons in the early 2010’s to return the team to the upper echelons.

The Giants won five World Series titles in their time in New York in addition to seventeen National League Pennants. After moving to the west coast, they won only three more NL Pennants in their first 52 years in San Francisco. In 2010, the Giants won their first World Series since 1954, and followed it up with further triumphs in 2012 and 2014. Their eight World Series titles trail only the New York Yankees, St Louis Cardinals and Oakland Athletics. They are tied with the Boston Red Sox for fourth most championships. They are involved in a very tight NL West Division this season, with four of the five teams vying for the division title. They are currently 5.5 games back on division leaders the Los Angeles Dodgers. They also sit just 4.5 games back in the Wild Card race.

The Game

This was a game where neither side were able to take command. Three times the Giants took the lead in the top of an inning only to to be pegged back by the Mariners immediately in the bottom of the same inning.

The first scoring came in the third when Giants second baseman Chase d’Arnaud hit an infield single allowing Kelby Tomlinson to run in for the score. In the bottom of the third, the Mariners levelled things up when center fielder Guillermo Heredia smacked a 397 foot home run just over the center field barrier. I was hoping to see a home run tonight and it was a particularly satisfying hit.

The Giants once again took the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Tomlinson reached base with a single to center field, which allowed Brandon Crawford to score, with Austin Slater also managing to reach third base. The Mariners reacted by pulling starting pitcher Roenis Elias, replacing him with Chasen Bradford, who saw out the remainder of the inning. The Mariners were back on level terms at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth, when a sacrifice fly from Denard Span allowed Nelson Cruz to run in the tying run.

There was no scoring in the fifth, but the sixth inning started in spectacular fashion with an incredible 445 foot solo home run from Hunter Pence. The Giants were unable to add to their lead though, and once again saw the Mariners level the game after going behind earlier in the inning. A base hit single from Ben Gamel, who had been brought into the game to replace Heredia allowed Span to run in to tie the game.

With no runs scored in the seventh or eighth, the game entered the ninth inning finely poised. Mariners closer Edwin Diaz was brought in to pitch with much fanfare and looked to have put the game into his batters’ hands. But a hit from Pablo Sandoval with two outs caused confusion for the Mariners, and an errant throw from Dee Gordon allowed Steven Duggar in to score the go ahead run. The Mariners were unable to level one last time, and it was the sizeable visiting support who went home happy.

This was my first taste of Major League Baseball and I had a fantastic night even despite the score. I can see it becoming a fixture of our trips to the States.

The Pies

The food, the food, the food. We were absolute gluttons and had quite a lot to eat and drink. I started with a classic Mariner Dog, which was the best hot dog I’ve ever eaten in a stadium. Kaitlin started with pulled pork mac n cheese, which got a great review from her. We then each had a fantastic slice of pepperoni pizza, which went down a treat. We finished with the famous Grounder’s Garlic Fries. They are everything they promise to be and more. The food selection at Safeco is really outstanding, and if I ever return, I look forward to sampling even more.

Admission: $78 (approx £59)
Programme: $3 (approx £2.25)
Pie: Hot Dog, pulled pork mac n cheese, pizza, garlic fries, all $8 (approx £6)
Bovril: Beer $11 (approx £8.40) Unlimited soft drink £12 (approx £9)
Attendance: 40,276

Tacoma v Salt Lake

Tacoma Rainiers 2-3 Salt Lake Bees
Pacific Coast League Pacific Conference
Cheney Stadium
Sunday July 22nd 2018

Our American adventure continues with something a little different. Widely referred to as America’s National Pastime, this is my first experience of a live baseball game. Just fourteen miles from my in-laws’ house, it seems like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The Venue

Cheney Stadium was first constructed in 1960, and was built in just 42 days. The speed of the project was necessitated by the proclamation by the San Francisco Giants that they would move their AAA class affiliate to Tacoma if the town had a stadium ready for the start of the 1960 season. The stadium has hosted AAA teams in the PCL continuously since 1960, with the Rainiers becoming the tenants back in 1995. The stadium is also home to the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders reserve team, playing in the USL.

The stadium was fully renovated in 2011 and currently has a seated capacity for 6,500 spectators, with unreserved standing areas taking the capacity to well over 7,000. Most spectators are housed in banked seating concentrated around the diamond, while there are luxury suites that offer spectacular views over the ballpark. There are also party decks and a large grassed area for spectators located in the outfield. It’s a pretty excellent ground, and boasts some of the closest seats to the action at any baseball stadium in the country.

Ticket prices do vary, but for every Sunday game during the Rainiers’ season, the club implements the Chick-fil-A Bring the Herd promotion, which means our tickets today were $11 each, and included a meal at the stadium, a voucher for a Chick-fil-A meal and a hat. It’s great to see local clubs partnering with sponsors in this way to try and connect with the locals.

The Teams

Minor League baseball is played in several classes, and works as an organised farm system, theoretically giving a player pathway from the lowest level all the way up to Major League. Triple-A is the highest class, with Double-A, Class A-Advanced and Class A below. There are also short season leagues and designated rookie leagues, but I don’t want to muddy the waters too much with all that information. The Pacific Coast League is one of the two official Triple-A leagues (the International League being the other.) The Mexican League also plays at a Triple-A Standard. Since 2006, the PCL and IL champions play in a one-off Triple-A Championship game. Triple-A teams are affiliated to Major League teams, and can have up to 15 players on their roster who are signed to the MLB team at any time.

The Tacoma Triple-A baseball team originated in 1960, when the San Francisco Giants moved their Phoenix affiliate to the town. They have also been affiliated to the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics before their current affiliation with the Seattle Mariners began in 1995. The 26 miles between Tacoma and Seattle is the shortest distance between any major league team and their Triple-A affiliate. The Rainiers name was adapted in 1995, taking inspiration from the defunct PCL side the Seattle Rainiers and the imposing nearby Mount Rainier.

The side have won the PCL Championship five times (being declared co-champions twice, in 1978 when the playoff with Albuquerque was rained out, and in 2001 when the championship series was cancelled in the wake of 9/11.) Their most recent championship came in 2010, when despite having to play all of their playoff games away from Cheney Stadium due to renovations, they swept Memphis 3-0 in the Championship Series. This season, the Rainiers are in playoff contention, but have lost their last five games and are 6 games back on division leaders Fresno, and will need a strong second half of the season.

The Salt Lake Bees were founded in 1994 as the Salt Lake Buzz, and were originally affiliates on the Minnesota Twins. In 2001, the team changed affiliations to the Los Angeles Angels and their nickname to the Stingers. They became the Salt Lake Bees at the start of the 2006 season, and remain the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate. The Bee related names come from the bee being a long standing symbol of the state of Utah.

The Bees have never won the PCL Championship, but have won the Pacific Conference on four occasions, most recently in 2013. In 2002, Los Angeles’ Angels World Series clinching pitcher John Lackey had played the first few months of the season in Salt Lake before being called up. The Bees have had a fairly good start to the season, and are also in second place in their division, just 1 game back on El Paso. This is the third game of a three game stand between these two teams, with the Bees winning the first two.

The Game

Today’s game has been designated as the annual Pink at the Park day at Cheney Stadium. Tacoma’s players and coaches are wearing special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off following the game to raise funds for the Carol Milgard Breast Center, whose aim is to subsidise mammogram screenings for medically under served women in the South Sound region.

The Rainiers got off to a great start, taking a lead in the first inning, when Ian Miller ran in a run off a single hit from Cameron Rupp. The home side kept the lead until teh fourth inning when Salt lake tied things up. Eric Young Jr’s ground ball to right field allowed Jose Fernandez to get home for the score. In the bottom of the same inning, the home side retook the lead when Seth Majias-Brean’s sacrifice fly allowed Kirk Nieuwenhuis to score.

The Rainiers were looking good but suffered an almost total meltdown in the seventh inning. Starting pitcher Bryan Evans was relieved after six solid innings, but Tacoma’s pitching fell completely by the wayside in his absence. Three separate Tacoma pitchers completed the seventh inning which saw Salt Lake turn in two runs to take their first lead of the game, a lead they would not relinquish. Singles from Joe Hudson and Michael Hermosillo allowed Eric Young Jr. and Ben Revere to score. Tacoma brought in Ryan Garton to pitch the eighth inning, and he had an extremely successful go of it, pitching only 15 times to put three Bees players out.

Despite Garton’s impressive eighth inning, Tyler Higgins replaced him for the ninth. Salt Lake failed to add to their lead and gave Tacoma the chance to try and get something from the game. With runners on first and second with two outs, catcher Cameron Rupp had the chance to be the hero for the home side, but he was unable to muster anything, and was struck out in an anti-climactic finish.

This was my first experience of live baseball, and I really enjoyed myself. Kaitlin’s friend had brought her dad to the game, and he was sitting next to me today. As a relative novice to the game, having a man who has been watching and playing the game for sixty-plus years to tell me what was going on was absolutely wonderful. I had a great day, and I’ll definitely be back to see the Rainiers the next time I’m back in the area.

The Pies

Ok, so no pies, but as part of our ticket package, we got what is known as a “Group Express Meal”. This meal contained the ballpark staples of a hot dog and a bag of Tim’s Cascade “Chips” aka a really fantastic bag of crisps, plus a bottle of water. The hot dog in the meal deal was definitely smaller than the $8 dog that was on offer, but what I’m going to assume was no less tasty. There were so many food options around the concourse areas, and while again it was pretty expensive, it was a really impressive array. A beer at the ballpark is an American institution, and various beers were available for $8. I naturally tried a couple!

Admission: $11 (part of the Chick-fil-A Bring the Herd promotion) (approx. £8.30)
Programme: Free
Pie: Hot Dog: $8 (approx. £6)
Bovril: Soft drink: $4.50 (approx. £3.40) Beer $8 (approx £6)
Attendance: 7,003

East Kilbride Pirates v Edinburgh Wolves

East Kilbride Pirates 27-28 Edinburgh Wolves
BAFA Premier Division North
Braidholm
Sunday 6th May 2018

And now for something completely different. As a long term fan of the NFL and American College Football, I felt it was time to finally go and watch a domestic game. While studying a few years back, I attended the Varsity match between Edinburgh and Napier Universities, my first taste of British American Football. With long term Premier Division team East Kilbride moving to Giffnock for this season, and this game taking place against their Scottish rivals, there seemed like no better time to attend my first senior game in the British National Leagues.

The Venue

Braidholm, located in Giffnock is the home of Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians Rugby Club, and from this season, also the home of East Kilbride Pirates. It has a capacity of 1,250, with a mixture of grass flat standing and a large wooden grandstand consisting of bench seating. With one of the sides backing onto another pitch, I assume the capacity could be much higher than listed if required.

The modern club buildings are situated behind one of the endzones where the changing and toilet facilities are housed. There is a large indoor bar with full length windows looking out over the pitch. For Pirates games the PA is used to give game commentary For the uninitiated to the game. A nice touch. On a day like today with the sun shining (on a bank holiday weekend no less) this is an excellent place to watch a game.

The Teams

East Kilbride Pirates were formed in 1985, and were named by a competition in the local newspaper. They began competition in 1986. The club have played in several iterations of both the British and Scottish leagues since formation, and have in the past ten years formed a reputation as one of the top clubs in British American Football. They won the overall British Division One title in 2011, which promoted them back to the Premier Division, where they had previously played two seasons, and have remained ever since. The Pirates also won the Scottish Championship twice in the late 90s. Their season got off to a rough start two weeks ago, when they lost 22-0 at home to the Sheffield Giants.

The Edinburgh Wolves were formed in 2002, following in the footsteps of multiple previous teams in the capital. This is the Wolves second season in the Premier Division, having won the Division 1 North title in 2015. They started their season with a fantastic 30-10 win over the Sheffield Giants last weekend.

The Game

It turns out that it’s really difficult to write a match report on American Football without it just becoming a list of play by play action. So I’m going to summarise very succinctly and then list the scoring plays. East Kilbride dominated the first quarter defensively, with two interceptions returned for touchdowns, and stopping Edinburgh from getting any sort of offence. They continued this in the second quarter but Edinburgh managed to start to find a way through. The second half went completely differently, with the visitors really finding their groove and coming back to win in spectacular fashion. It’s a long game, that can drift in and out of action depending on what’s happening, but I’d definitely recommend going along to a game and checking it out.

1st Quarter

6-0. EKP. Craig Sanders 32 yard interception return. PAT no good
13-0. EKP. James Lightbody 10 yard pass from Neil Baptie. PAT good.
20-0. EKP. Ryan Miller 45 yard interception return. PAT good.

2nd Quarter

20-8. EdW. Calum Davidson 1 yard run. 2 point conversion good, run by Jamie Morrison

3rd Quarter

27-8. EKP. Scott Widdowson 40 yard run. PAT good
27-15. EdW. George Fell pass from Jamie Morrison. PAT good.
27-21. EdW. George Fell 8 yard pass from Jamie Morrison. PAT no good

4th Quarter

27-28. EdW. Jamie Morrison 3 yard run. PAT good

The Pies

The pies at Braidholm are a pretty standard, but very tasty Scotch pie. The crust is especially good. They also serve a variety of other food including hot rolls, hot dogs and chips, in the clubhouse upstairs. The real winner though is the ability to have a pint and sit and drink it in the stand. For just £3 a pint as well, it will be tempting to take the train out here for a future game.

Admission: £3
Programme: None
Pie: £1.50
Bovril: £1 (Beer £3)
Attendance: 300 (approx)