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The last time I covered a playoff hockey game, I ended up calling the game while sitting inside a Zamboni tire.  That one was an opening round matchup in Class A hockey…last Friday, I decided to take in the Section 4AA championship from the Warner Coliseum between Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake.  I posted the game recap on Examiner.com and it was a fun game to watch, but what really blew me away was the crowd.

I always figured that section final hockey would be a big deal, but I was completely unprepared for just how big of a deal this game was.  At 6pm, when the puck was scheduled to drop, there were two big lines outside the gates to get into the Coliseum.  The parking lots were absolutely jammed.  People dressed in green for Hill-Murray and orange for White Bear Lake were trying everything to get into the arena quickly.  Luckily for me, I got to sneak in through the press gate and set up shop down in the front row behind the benches- that’s right, no sitting in a tire this time.

The Warner Coliseum holds 5,250 people, and by the end of the first period, there were only a handful of open seats remaining.  Students from Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake were trading chants back and forth and every big hit and shot on goal got the sellout crowd rocking.  The players certainly brought the intensity, as it seems liked each goalie got sprayed by snow every time he held the puck (and a teammate of that goalie gave the snower a little bit of shot after said snowing).

As Hill-Murray pulled away, their fans kept the chanting going, using a lot of the chants Gophers students use (the cleaner ones, anyway).  In response, White Bear’s students launched into a rollicking version of “Sweet Caroline” that would’ve met the standard of Red Sox fans out in Fenway Park.  It really was a great experience to be on hand for a game like that- really, 5,000 people on hand for a non-state high school hockey game!- and I’ll be looking forward to catching a few more of those in years to come.

Broadcasting sports for a small radio station in East Central Minnesota has led me into some pretty interesting places.  I’ve called games sitting in the middle of the bleachers, right next to loud fans who seem to only get into the game when they feel the refs wronged their team.  I’ve sat outside on a hill in the wind, trying everything possible to keep my material from blowing around while keeping stats and calling the game at the same time.  I’ve strung phone cords from the locker room to the broadcast table and have had to count on people not yanking the cord out of the wall.  Tuesday night, however, might’ve taken the cake.

I was covering a hockey game from the St. Michael/Albertville ice arena, and I was really late getting to the rink.  Once there, the Zamboni was taking one of its final laps around the ice, meaning I had about 7 minutes until the puck dropped.  I looked around for the press box…nothing.  I asked a person if he knew where the press box was…he looked at me like I was some kind of nuisance and gruffly said “NO”. (I love that- random people that might be decent individuals otherwise, but once they see you’re a member of the press, they treat you with the same amount of respect they’d show a gnat.  Pro athletes are one thing- fans at a high school hockey game are another.  I bet that was the same guy who almost sideswiped me on 694 on my way to the game.)  Finally, I spotted another radio guy sitting on the end of the rink, on some plywood platform up above all the video games.

Problem was, there was no way to get up there…so I found one of the guys who helped with the Zamboni to ask him how to get up there.  He didn’t show me to a stairway…nope, he busted out a ladder and propped it up for me to climb up to the platform. (I gotta give him props though- that other guy probably would’ve told me to climb the wall.)  No big deal though…the vantage point was nice.

Problem was, there was no table to set my stuff nor a chair for me to sit in.  It looked like a night on the plywood for me…until I spotted an old studded Zamboni tire!  Perfect!  I hauled that baby over to the edge of the platform, sat in the middle of that thing, and called the game.  To be totally honest…I’ve sat in a lot worse chairs that that tire.

That said…the sectional and state tournaments are coming up, which means I’ll be able to trade in tires and bleachers for courtside seats and big press boxes.  And there’s nothing like calling a game from the inside of a tire to make you really appreciate things like in-game stats and comfy chairs.  I’ve gotta wonder, though, if Al Michaels, Jim Nantz or Joe Buck have ever called a game from a Zamboni tire…

February in Minnesota offers quite a variety of sports for the fan, the casual observer, and in my case, the sports broadcaster.  The last week was a pretty exciting one- hockey from Pine City on Tuesday night, basketball from Columbia Heights on Friday, and then the Mora Vasaloppet ski race today.

I’ve been covering the Vasaloppet for a few years now, and every year presents a wildly different race.  Some years, the temperature’s been so cold the length of the longer races had to be shortened.  Other years, there’s been so little snow that the race had to be held on a frozen lake instead of on trails through the woods.  This year, however, was one of those years where everything worked out beautifully- the temperatures were nice, the snow was plentiful, and the speeds were really fast.

Now, I’m not a skier.  I’m not much for any winter sports, actually (and those who have seen me skate can attest to that).  But covering the Vasaloppet has always been one of my favorite events to cover.  It’s just so different than any other broadcast I do- there’s thousands of athletes participating, there’s people from all over the world, and there’s a lot of down time waiting for the racers to hit the finish line.

When they do, however, it’s crazy.  I just watched the finish of the Nordic Combined from Vancouver and the wild sprint to the end…and it’s the same way at the end of the Vasaloppet.  Many times there are 2, 3, or more racers coming down Main Street in Mora, and how they’re able to keep from stepping on each other’s skis or whacking each other with their ski poles is beyond me (although at the beginning, a skier took out a fellow competitor, causing them both to take a spill and to elict some choice language from the one that got ran into).

The Vasaloppet’s even more fun during Olympic years, mainly because I can go home and see the same event on TV that I just covered.  Does anyone from the Vasaloppet ever ski in the Olympics?  Well, we were close this year- Matt Liebsch narrowly missed making the Vancouver 2010 team in the 15k, so Matt came back to Mora to defend his 58k title.  He was successful as well, as he blew out the rest of the field…which illustrated the gap between the best of the Mora Vasaloppet and the field competing in Vancouver.

It’s back to Mora next week…I’ll be on the hardwood instead of the ski trails, however.  The #1 New London-Spicer Wildcats will be in town to take on the Mustangs, and it’s always a treat to see a #1 in action.

A college roommate of mine, still full of schadenfreude after seeing the Packers lose that exhausting 51-45 game on Sunday, told me about a poll a Madison radio station was running today. They listed three infamous Packers playoff losses- Sunday’s, the 2007 NFC Championship and the 2003 NFC Divisional game vs. the Eagles (the “4th and 26) game- and asked listeners which one was the most painful.

Well, I can’t let something like that go lightly…and it got me to thinking, “were those three really the worst three?” Here’s the reply I came up with:

Remember in Rounders when Mike McD says something like this- "Amazing as this sounds, poker players have a tough time remembering big hands they’ve won. But they can remember with incredible accuracy the outstanding tough beats of their career." It’s appropriate here because it’s so much easier to think of the tough losses the Packers have taken in the playoffs since they emerged from mediocrity back in the early 90s. While it’s better to have been in the playoffs and lost than to never have made it at all, it still sucks when your squad gets bounced. So, without any further adieu, here’s the top 5 crushing playoff defeats of my Packer fan career:

Honorable mention- 2004 Wild Card round, Vikings d. Packers @ Lambeau in the Moon Game. Yes, it sucks that the arch-rivals waltzed into Lambeau and knocked out the Pack and that Moss had to do his despicable, deplorable touchdown celebration (sorry, Joe Buck took control of my keyboard for a minute there). However, when I think of the 2004 season, I think of the Christmas Eve game two weeks prior where the Pack clinched the division by beating the Vikes. It’s memorable for me because I had to go to Christmas Eve Mass at 5pm that night (which doubled as the dedication of our remodeled church), which was right around when the game was getting over. Thankfully, I had Internet on my phone, and just as I was processing into the building, the last refresh showed that Ryan Longwell nailed the game-winning kick. Sing it with me…"Joy to the world, the kick was good." So when I think 2004, I think of that game, the game my dad minted “The Year B**tt F**re saved Christmas”. (Funny to think that F**re and Longwell were instrumental in that win…)

5th (tie)- 2009 loss to Cards, 1998 loss to 49ers. Both games ended on ridiculous last plays- the kick in the air pick this year, the TO catch in quadruple coverage in ’98. Deep down, though, the losses weren’t as horrible because in both years, there were buzzsaws waiting for them in Round 2. If you have to lose, better to lose a game like that rather than suffer a humiliating, demoralizing loss the next week (and yes, I think the Saints win big this weekend).

4th- 1997 Super Bowl loss to Broncos. Tough to rank this one as that painful when the Pack had won it all the year before. Still, every time NFL Films drags up that footage of Elway pinwheeling through the air for a first down ("WHAT A WARRIOR! There’s a guy who’s playing like he really wants that elusive championship!!") I want to puke. It’s like seeing those "Rebirth of a Legend" signs commemorating the remodeled Lambeau…and in that Rebirth of a Legend game, the Vikings hammered the Pack. Not a good association with those signs, nor that Elway video clip.

3rd- 2007 NFC Championship loss to the Giants. It was close between this one and the Super Bowl loss. It seemed like everything was breaking the Pack’s way…they get home field for the championship game, they had just annihilated the Seahawks in the Snow Bowl…and then cold-weather F**re napalms the season. No need to go into any more detail.

2nd- 2003 NFC Divisional Game vs. Eagles (the "4th and 26" game). The gap between 2nd and 3rd on this list is as big as the gap between Michael Strahan’s teeth. If things were going the Packers’ way in 2007, they were really going their way in 2003. Let’s not forget how they got into the playoffs that year (McCown…rolling out…fires it into the end zone…CAUGHT!!! TOUCHDOWN!!! NO!!!!!! THE CARDINALS HAVE KNOCKED THE VIKINGS OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS!!!), nor forget their wild-card game (Matt Hasselbeck’s infamous "we want the ball and we’re gonna score" call). I was convinced the Pack was going to the Super Bowl that year, and up until that freaking 4th and 26 play, they had been working over the Eagles all game. Then, if that wasn’t enough, F**re has to go and throw one of the most idiotic passes in playoff history to stick a fork in that season and a knife in my heart. Man, did that loss hurt.

Still, it doesn’t hold a candle to this one:

1st- 1995 NFC Championship Game loss to Cowboys. This was the perfect storm for a devastating loss- the Pack had never been that far in the playoffs during my life. They had just gone out to SF the week before and absolutely crushed the Niners (right up there with the Super Bowl win on my list of favorite Packers wins ever). The Cowboys had (briefly) passed the Vikings as my most despised team. Everyone in the universe was all about the Cowboys the week before the game (sound familiar?) but I was 100% convinced the Packers were winning that game. I think Erik Williams was convinced the Packers were going to win too, and since he couldn’t handle John Jurkovic on the line, he decided to destroy Jurko’s knee. After that, the game completely turned, the Pokes won 38-28 and then beat down Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. 15 years later I’m still pissed about that. After driving back to SJU that night, I fired off a Ray Barbone-like e-mail featuring 43 f-bombs to a high school friend…man, I wish he would’ve kept that one.

I don’t think that game will ever be topped as far as painful losses go, mainly because a) since that point they did win a title, crossing off “seeing the Packers win a Super Bowl” on my Sports Bucket List, and b) I don’t think I’m capable of that level of anger anymore. It’s easy to get waaaaay too fired up about a football game when you’re 19 years old; you mellow out quite a bit by the time you’re pushing your mid-30s.

So, now that I’ve gone over 7 killer playoff losses in the last 15 years (wow…never thought of it like that before), I want your thoughts. What are the most killer losses your teams have put you through? I’m pretty sure I know what the Vikings fans will say, so if there are any fans of other teams that are reading this, comment away.

I’m spent.  That Pack/Cards game that turned from NFL playoff football into Tecmo Bowl took every last bit of energy out of me.  I’m still at a loss.  But, it’s only fair after predicting months ago that the Pack would go 12-4 (didn’t miss that one by much) and win the division by 3 games (oops on that one) that I download everything that’s running through my head after that loss.

I must’ve stared at the TV for about 10 minutes after that strange “would’ve been the tuck rule except for the fact Rodgers kicked the ball in the air and into the arms of a defender” interception that ended that wild game.  Finally, with the talking heads continuing to fawn all over Dallas (more on that later), I came to the realization I had to do something.  The choices?

• Raid the liquor cabinet and wreak havoc on every bottle in there.
• Sit and wait for the taunting texts and phone calls to come in (amazingly, it’s 90 minutes after the game and not a one has come in)
• Go for a jog in the 10-degree weather and hope that clears my head.

I know most Vikings fans would assume that since I’m a Pack fan, that I would’ve hit the bottle hard (or would’ve been hitting it already) but no.  Not tonight.  And since I really didn’t want to deal with any potential taunts, I bundled up and went for a nice little jog.  While out there freezing, all I could think about was coming up with the best way to express my thoughts about the game.  Do I go Simmons style and call this a Stomach Punch loss?  Sure, that’s an easy one…but upon further review, I think the scene in Rounders where Worm’s cheering up Mike McD after his girlfriend moved out is more apropo.  In case you forget, Worm drops this line- “you know what cheers me up when I’m feeeling s**tty?  Rolled up aces over kings!  Stacks and towers of checks so high you can barely see over them.  Playing all night, high limit at the Taj…”  The itch to hop in the car and make the quick trip up to Running Aces was there, but since a) I suck at poker and b) losing a couple Benjamins right after this Packers game would’ve really set me off, I decided against it.  Plus, I wasn’t anywhere near my car- I was running outside on a January night in Minnesota.  Obviously, I wasn’t thinking too straight.

So no Taj Mahal of the metro.  Instead, I started thinking about the rest of the playoffs, specifically how the NFC might play out.  I thought about how everyone with a microphone and a studio show is fawning all over Dallas and bringing up the fact that Minnesota sucked down the stretch (but conveniently forgetting the Vikings are 8-0 at home and have outscored their opponents 794-10 under the teflon sky).  You better believe they’ll be playing the “nobody thinks we’re going to win this game” card all week long.  That got me to thinking…is this the first time in playoff history that the top two seeds will be playing that card?  Everyone’s been saying that New Orleans is in big trouble and now everyone’s saying Dallas is going to roll to the Super Bowl…I mean, this whole “disrespect from everyone” phenomenon is reaching new heights.  Crazy thing is, it always seems to work!  In other words…put me down for the NO/MIN parlay next week and set up that NFC title game that everyone thought was inevitable two months ago.

One final thought…you know that little bit Jimmy Fallon does on his show with the thank-you notes?  Well, here’s one that Vikings fans should write up:

“Thank you, remaining NFC playoff kickers, for showing that you all turn to Jell-O under pressure.  Not only did one of you duck-hook a 34-yard game-winner this weekend and another shank a 37-yard home field advantage clincher a few weeks ago, but the other one of you was so horrible you got cut from the freaking Redskins after blowing a 24-yard kick.  We know that in any pressure situation down the stretch we have nothing to worry about if any of you come on to make a kick longer than 30 yards.”

With all the talk about B**tt F**re, who would’ve thought the most important ex-Packer this postseason would be Ryan Longwell? (And yes, that’s a prophecy.  Mark my words- the Vikings will win a game they shouldn’t thanks to the other team’s kicker blowing an easy kick.)