Okay... enough sightseeing around the beautiful city of Stockholm... it's time to get ready for what I flew 12 hours to Europe for...
Are you kidding me?!? The Roxette show isn't until next month?!?
Fine, I guess I'll check out that American ice hockey game in the meantime.
Game #2
LA Kings
(1-0-0, 1st in NHL)
vs
Buffalo Sabres
(1-0-0, 1st in NHL)
8pm, O2 World
Berlin, Germany
BEST PLAYER TO WEAR BOTH COLORS:
MOST GERMAN PLAYER TO WEAR BOTH COLORS:
Believe it or not, I couldn't find a photo of Jason Holland in his Sabres uniform.
WORST GERMAN PLAYER TO WEAR KINGS COLORS:
BEST OPPOSITION BLOG:
Die By The Blade
Top Shelf Blog
Wow, what a great night last night in Stockholm. An excellent opening to the season and so many great faces put to so many great internet names. I'll have all the amazing photos up soon, but I landed in Germany today and wanted to get some sightseeing in before the game tonight at 8pm. And by sightseeing... I mean hanging out with my new best friend...
No... not President of AEG, Tim Leiweke...
...Justin Williams' mother!
Not to say Tim Leiweke wasn't great to chat with... but come on... it's Justin Williams' mother. We all flew over together from Stockholm this afternoon and Tim guaranteed me that tonights game in Berlin would be 100% louder than last nights public library-esque victory in Sweden. Alright, gotta catch the U-Bahn... Justin's mom owes me 4 beers after I beat her in liar's dice on the plane ride.
Game #1
LA Kings vs NY Rangers
7pm, Ericsson Globe
Stockholm, Sweden
BEST PLAYER TO WEAR BOTH COLORS (SWEDISH EDITION):
MOST AWESOME PHOTO OF PLAYERS TO WEAR BOTH COLORS:
BEST OPPOSITION BLOG:
Scotty Hockey
(Follow him on Twitter since he's at the game as well)
OR
Well, here it is. The start of the Los Angeles Kings 2011-2012 season. It's time for the Kings to see if they will fulfill the predictions that they will be a dominate team in the West... or if this ends up being the worst family vacation ever. The posters all around Stockholm have been advertising the game tonight as a game between Henrik Lundqvist and Henrik Lundqvist. So last night... I decided to do some good old fashioned American Vandalism.
And after spending a few days in Stockholm... I think I have a clearer idea of what is next for former Ranger, Sean Avery.
Shopping at the Ikea in Stockholm for his new European apartment.
I am leaving for the game right now. I can't believe this is actually happening. No, you idiot... not me seeing a game in Sweden... but the NHL season starting. GO KINGS GO!!!!
Sure, it may be something that in Los Angeles we take for granted. Every single Los Angeles Kings practice is not only open to the public... but also free. But here in Stockholm, some 1/2 way around the world... apparently that business practice does not apply. Look... I have it easy. I'm a super rich, white male. So I can easily afford to take off at a moments notice and fly to Europe to follow my favorite hockey team through Stockholm and Berlin. But for the 5 people I met today... people who had actually paid for the AAA Los Angeles Kings Europe Tour... only to have every event that was Kings-related cancelled... they don't have it as easy as me. So when they wanted to go see the Los Angeles Kings practice in person at the Ericsson Globe... how were they met?
"Sorry, folks. Practice is closed to the public."
So 5 amazing and dedicated Kings fans (6 if you count myself) were turned away and told "no, we don't care if you traveled to the moon and back... practice is closed to the public." And they just left us outside in the cold... like we were animals.
So instead, we did what every other red-blooded American hockey fan who has been told they can't sit in the crowd and quietly watch their favorite hockey team practice does... we went on an amusement park ride!
Everywhere I look, something reminds me of her.
Sure, it wasn't watching practice... but apparently it was good enough for other high-ranking members of the Kings brass. So we rode in a giant clear sphere to the top of Ericsson Arena... and you know the most unbelievable thing we saw?!?
Kings fans from Italy!!!
That's right... these two young gentleman had made the trip from Italy to not only see the Los Angeles Kings play in person... but to specifically see Anze Kopitar in action. In fact, they told me that if it were not the Kings... they wouldn't have made the trip to Stockholm. We talked for a few minutes about hockey in his home country... how the Italian League is not very good... and how the most popular player in Italy is Roberto Luongo... but they weren't big fans of his. Here we were... 6 fans who had flown out from Los Angeles to Stockholm to see the 1st game of the NHL season... and yet WE were amazed that someone would fly 3 hours to see Anze Kopitar. Our Italian friends were very knowledgeable about the Kings and were very interested to hear our thoughts on the team for this season. They too had been denied entrance to practice... and boy did it ever look like we would have been interrupting something important! But the best part of all... 130 meters above Stockholm... we did get to see practice. Kinda.
Seriously... that's the NHL Premiere logo from the top of the Ericsson Globe.
So after getting breathtaking views of Stockholm from high up above...
... we all headed our separate ways. And all that was left until 7pm Friday, Stockholm time, was people on the street talking about the Kings - Rangers game.
"Can you believe Penner is out with a groin pull?"
"Of course I can... he's Dustin Fuckin' Penner."
Sure, hockey may be starting RIGHT NOW for you people in North America... but it doesn't start until tomorrow night for me. Everything else is just practice.
If you are in the general Stockholm area for the game Friday night... we are trying to get some Kings and Rangers fans together for a pre-game at The Falcon bar, located just outside the Skyview entrance at the Ericsson Globe. Come one, come all!
So guess what? The Royal Half made its national television debut today... on the internet! The Los Angeles Kings video site, Kingsvision, posted a video showing fans hanging out and drinking before the game against the Avalanche in Las Vegas. Sure, you have to sit through an awful Aziz Ansari impression to get to it... but one of the Royal Half t-shirts is featured just over 1 minute into the video. And I'm pretty sure that is loyal TRH fan, BajaChasr, wearing the t-shirt proudly.
Sure, maybe they didn't win in Vegas... but the Kings can still go 82-0.
And if that's not enough... have we mentioned how big we are in Sweden?!?
Loosely... or rather exactly translated... it says "Entertaining reading!"
After spending 2 full days in this wonderful European city... what is the craziest thing I've seen?
Mr. Bean is still making movies.
Well, I'm getting on a plane in a couple hours to head to Stockholm to follow my favorite ice hockey team as they battle the two good New York based teams in Sweden and Berlin, Germany. If you don't follow me on Twitter by now... you are a damn fool as I'll be live tweeting from all over Europe. It will look something like this.
In other news, this happened over the weekend...
Boy that young, millionaire stud is looking pretty, pretty thin.
Drew Doughty looks good too.
As they say in Sweden.... Gå Kingston Gå!!!
You would think with the recent verbal racial and homophobic attacks that have been occurring in the NHL that the Pun Headline writers at NHL.com would be a little bit more sensitive when it comes to making fun of someone...
The Midwest accent is one of the last things in America you can still make fun of.
Click here to check out the best and worst NHL.com pun headlines from the last week of Pre-Season!!!
no commentsSo far, in our Los Angeles Kings season previews we've taken an in-depth look at Team Communication and Team Responsibility. But now it's time to delve deeper into the upcoming season and find out who the winners and losers will be... what the biggest addition and worst subtraction was... and who is primed for the biggest breakout. They say that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In professional ice hockey, a franchise is only as interesting to follow as its bloggers are. So we here at The Royal Half present the 1st Annual Los Angeles Kings Bloggers Season Preview.
I don't know about you guys... but I'll take these nerd hockey bloggers
matched up against Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan any day of the week.
Click Here to Read The Royal Half's 1st Annual Los Angeles Kings Bloggers Season Preview!!!
Pre-season Game #7
LA Kings vs Colorado Avalanche
6pm, MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas, Nevada
BEST PLAYER TO WEAR BOTH COLORS:
BEST OPPOSITION BLOG:
OR
So what is the 2nd best thing to actually being at Frozen Fury in Las Vegas??? Having Los Angeles Kings fans wearing your t-shirts at Frozen Fury!!!
@BajaChasr rocking the Kings new motto. (Photo via @kids2kings)
@TheMouthLAKings takes a break from drinking to wear
his favorite shirt that is a conversation starter with the ladies.
And what's the only thing better than awesome LA Kings fans wearing your t-shirts at Frozen Fury??? The LA Kings tweeting out a photo of one of your t-shirts at Frozen Fury, that's what!!!
And what's the only thing better than the LA Kings tweeting out a photo of Indiana Matt in one of our t-shirts at Frozen Fury? A loyal Colorado Avalanche fan wearing one of our Drew Doughty t-shirts at a Colorado Rockies game on July 15th.
Some Av's fan, huh?
What does it all mean? Well, if you are reading this now... you aren't shit-faced-drunk at the MGM gauntlet screaming "GO KINGS GO" from the top of your lungs. So who cares what you think? I just wish there was a visual way to represent my decision to stay at home for Frozen Fury.
