Iowa Chops

AHL hockey has a new name in Des Moines, and it's a cut of meat. The Iowa Chop is both a thick, center cut pork chop and a player for the NHL Anaheim Ducks' AAA-affiliate. Saturday night, Mrs. Nation and I attended our first Chops game of the season. I mentioned my plans on Facebook and Twitter, and Puck Daddy contributor Sean "Going Five Hole" Leahy asked for a report. And pictures of the Iowa Chops' dance squad, the Baby Backs. Sean, your wish is my command.



First, some context. The Wells Fargo Arena, located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, opened in July 2005. Their first tenant was the Iowa Stars, an AHL affiliate of the NHL's Dallas Stars. However, the Stars were a bust. Besides playing a boring style of hockey, the games lacked energy from the stands. It didn't help that tickets were overpriced and the team did little to kindle traditions or rivalries. Meanwhile, the crosstown Des Moines Buccaneers, a USHL team of high school amateurs competing for scholarships and NHL draft selections, regularly filled their barn to capacity with 3,250 gregarious souls.

Last February, Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks announced that Austin, Texas would be building an arena and the Stars AHL affiliation would move there. Some in Des Moines wondered if the city would lose its team, but the ownership group remained committed. Anaheim sought a new affiliation closer than their current team in Portland, Maine. The short courtship ended in June 2008 with announcements about the new Iowa-Anaheim affiliation.

The team took the opportunity to perform a much needed rebranding effort, which resulted in the Iowa Chops. For the record, I love it. It's clever and memorable, which minor league sports need to remain in the public eye. It also evokes strong reactions, including lucrative partnerships with the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

The team has gone whole hog with the porcine theme. (Sorry.) Saturday's game featured the Baby Backs, a ham and bean eating contest, a performance by the Pork Bellys (sic), a portly man-dance troupe (video here), and Pitch a Pig, a variation of Chuck a Puck that uses baseball sized foam pigs. It was also Guns and Hoses night, which meant special jerseys, and a teddy bear toss after the first goal.
The Baby Backs helped collect the bears while the scoreboard suggested that people "Toss Your Teddys" (sic). It was also the Chops' only goal; they lost 3-1 to the San Antonio Rampage.

With an arena capacity of 15,181, the team still suffers from playing in a barn bigger than their popularity demands. They curtain most of the upper deck for games. While game operations has improved, in game emcee Samantha Knight remains a lowlight. In the words of Mrs. Nation, "Uckgh. She's very...grating. She talks too loud and too fast all at once. She does not have an arena voice." I'll add that her contributions do little to spark the crowd to life, which is the one thing she should get right. Ms. Knight notwithstanding, it was a good hockey crowd Saturday night, with an announced attendance of 7,167. I'd say 5,500-6,000 showed -- not bad for a 5 degree Fahrenheit night that ended with flurries.

Mrs. Nation and I will return to a game next month before the arrival of BabyCue. We'll offer another report of the Iowa Chops, the least kosher team in all of hockey.

Fire and Rain

The airline industry has not cut piped in pre- and post-flight music. Yet. However, some song selections are curious. For example, "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor. This is a song written after his girlfriend perished in a plane crash believed to be written after his girlfriend died in a plane crash*. This is a song that I heard as my American Airlines flight taxied from the runway to the gate. Surely, there are better songs for a flight than one with a line about "Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground."

If not, can Airplane! be the in-flight movie**?

Dan


*: Once again, Snopes reveals the truth. Suzanne died by her own hand, not a plane crash. The flying machines was a band, not an object. The full story behind the lyrics is rather interesting and worth a read.

**: In the DVD audio commentary for Airplane!, directors Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker said a Mexican airline was the only one to show Airplane! as an in-flight movie.

Book offer

I'm twittering now. (You can follow me @ danmcq13.) The twitterers I'm following fall into one of three groups - Iowans (like U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley or television anchor Beth Malicki), hockey fans (umassdilo or motherpucker), and social media professionals (like shannonpaul or davefleet). Also, following Shaq is a must.

About an hour ago, Dave Fleet tweeted, "So Andy Nulman is giving away copies of his book if you blog that you want one. Sorry, I'm not begging for it. http://is.gd/gEgv."

I was intrigued, I clicked on the link. Now, I am following Andy's instructions. Andy Nulman, please send me a copy of your book Pow! Right Between The Eyes! - How To Profit From The Power of Surprise. I've linked to your blog. In lieu of broadcasting my address to the world, please email me for my address.

I'll post a review and reaction to the book in a future post.

The Hope-Calvin game

Hope College and Calvin College engaged in their annual basketball rivalry game. For the third year, we co-hosted a viewing party in Des Moines. This year, Hope played a flat game and came up short, losing 66-64 to Calvin.

Here are some pictures from the party:



Hope still leads the series 86-85 and has outscored Calvin by 87 points.

Sketch-a-riffic!

Wow.

George Vlosich III took 100 hours to create this etching of the Chicago Cubs. Words Fail.



(h/t to UniWatch for the tip.)