Author: SinghCity

Thunder down under

This last Saturday, I had the opportunity to check out the hottest ticket in Stockton – at least for Saturday. The Stockton Thunder, the city’s new ECHL hockey franchise (equivalent to AA baseball, I suppose), played their first game in their new arena, conveniently called the Stockton Arena.

As a hockey fan who has been to many an NHL arena, I must admit that this new venue proves itself to be a great place to watch a hockey game. And, aside from a couple of glitches during the night, the entertainment value is high. The 10,000 seat arena has great sight lines, and for $15, our seats were almost ice level. Being the home opener and first game in this building, the atmosphere was electric: the fans were LOUD, rabid and boisterous. The hockey is obviously not NHL or AHL level, but certainly very competitive. Hopefully, the city continues to support the pucking sport in their city the way they did on Saturday. It does make you wonder, though, why Sacramento never got in on this action – but that’s a post for another time.

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Everything was well done, save one item. The Stockton Thunder’s mascot, Thor, was a bit of a joke. The dude couldn’t skate, and came out in the second intermission wearing boots on the ice instead of skates. And he’s hokey too – looks like something some kids made during arts and crafts camp. ThunderPeople, please, do something with that thing.

All in all, it was great hockey to watch for a low price, with great fans too. If you’re ever looking for something to do, check out a Thunder game.

Head for the hills!

The Sac Bee has an interesting article today on projections by the City and County of Sacramento of potential floods that might occur given different scenarios of failing levees. This article comes complete with maps of how deep you can expect the flood waters to reach in your area, as well as evacuation routes.

Of particular interest was this bit in the article:

Generally, you will not need to drive for hours to be safe if a levee fails. You only need to get to high ground. Good areas to aim for: Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Folsom, Davis and cities along the I-80 corridor such as Rocklin and Auburn. In general, going north on I-5 or Highway 99 is not advised because of low spots. Heading south on Highway 99 is also iffy because it can flood.

So basically, if you live south of Highway 50, you’re screwed.

Tookie-watch

I’m not going to say much on the whole Stan “Tookie” Williams clemency issue, other than to comment on how silly the rap music they’re playing on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK sounds during their 48-hour continuous will-he-or-won’t-he-be-spared coverage.

It just don’t sound right on your station, man.

(Interestingly enough, as of this writing, no mention of this news story on their website despite the on-air coverage.)

Elk Grove does the gas flip.

Not so long ago, Elk Grove used to have cheaper gas prices than much of Sacramento. But, in the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that this has reversed, and now Elk Grove’s gas is more expensive than much of the rest of the area. This has COMPLETELY changed my weekly refueling strategy.

Just thought I’d share, because, you know, it’s important to ME.

By the way, has anyone noticed the super high gas prices these days? Yeesh…

Be good, it’s the holidays.

Has anyone heard that Arden Fair radio ad, that tells people to behave in the mall during the holidays? Like, no pushing, no shoving, no groping? That was the first time I heard a mall lecture people on holiday shopping etiquette. But, knowing Arden Fair, I can see why they’d do that.

Sacramento News & Review put out an article on how to protect yourself when shopping at the mall. Common sense, sure. But, these days, Christmas shopping is downright treacherous. And can you blame them? Check out the crime stats at Arden Fair during the last quarter of last year by clicking on the map. All kinds of gift giving, and gift taking, going on – in and outside of the mall.

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Thanks all you bastions of local news, for reminding us repeatedly today (like, every 15 minutes) that today is one of the busiest travel days of the year (I could have linked you to a story, but really, is it necessary?).

And, I’ll let you “news teams” in on something: Sunday will be another busy one. So you can continue to embed your reporters at the airport so we can continue to get minute-by-minute updates about how busy it is over there.

To tell you the truth, oh ones with bleached teeth and plastic hair, it’s not news to most of us who are alive. But hey, we know how isolated you get in your newsrooms, and we know how you love to report the obvious. So if it’s news to you, it must be worth reporting.

Church Wars

Check out the third story about the church wars going on in Auburn. As my man RonTopofIt likes to say, this stuff writes itself:

Leaders of New Life Christian Church offered discounts on gas purchases worth about 50 cents per gallon. New Life Pastor Bill Jenkins said the idea was to show that God is interested in issues that affect people’s everyday lives.

…because you know, the way gas prices are, it’s making people question what God is actually interested in. And then we get:

But members of the Church of the Divide in Grass Valley protested on Sunday outside New Life services with signs proclaiming, “Jesus cares more about your sin and burning in hell than gas prices.”

High gas prices and burning in hell? They may not be so unrelated. In any case, the behavior of these churches may just make Jesus have to come back again, just to straighten these yahoos out.

(Oh, and Mike Bibby apparently goes to clubs with a group called Team Dime. What kind of stupid name is that for a posse? No wonder you got dumped on, Mike.)