ДИ-НА-МО! ДИ-НА-МО!

I love sports. I really do. Anyone that knows me at all knows that I am absolutely obsessed with the NFL and MLB and really, to a far lesser extent, most sports in general. However, I don't like to watch games with other people so much (beyond a couple of friends or family). This is because I am prone to extreme emotional outbursts when it comes to competition. So,, naturally, as great as the atmosphere may be, I don't go to games much. I just don't like being around so many people yelling. Maybe I get self-conscious about my screaming? Who knows?

Anyway, as for the relevance of this explanation - yesterday we had an excursion to a game between the Moscow Dynamo and some really crappy team in red and white.

We needed to meet at Спортивная (sportivnaya) station at 6:30 before we were to set off. Naturally, J (my Korean roommate), Nathan (big guy from Missouri - I feel like I've explained who these people are before...but maybe not...), and I were fashionably late. Once we got there, Lena handed out our tickets and we were off.

We could see the stadium in the distance, but it was a good 10-minute walk before we got to the actual building.

The stadium, with a nice view of J's head.

Additionally, there happened to be a Russian soccer team practicing outside the stadium (I imagine that they could very well have been the Moscow Dynamo soccer team). Mind you, it was probably around 5 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take a degree or two. Crazy Rooskies.

It's tough to tell from here, but I'm pretty sure I could some of their asses in the snow, freshly frozen off.

We went inside and, after getting through security, went to find our seats. A couple of thoughts floated through my mind:

1) There are a crapton (it's a metric unit) cops here.

Just a few guys taking in the atmosphere...right? Thank God they didn't see me take this picture.

2) This stadium is pretty big (not that I've been in many).

You can kind of see the dance platform where the cheerleaders stand during the game...on the visitor's side...

3) There is, in contrast, a dearth of fans in the stands - the majority are concentrated in one section at the end of the ice.

With no one in them, you can really appreciate the wonderful (read: horrible) variety seat colors.

Eventually, the game got underway and I quickly that I was not watching the cream of the crop when it comes to professional hockey players. I'm sure good hockey is enjoyable (I was expecting to see guys like Ovechkin or something), but these guys sucked. The Динамо (in blue) were pretty darn bad, but the red guys just sucked completely. I counted three or four instances where the red guy would have a decent shot at the net, and would just whiff on the shot itself, launching a flaccid puck at the goalies (who actually didn't play that horribly...I think). In fact, one guy actually hit the ice and broke his stick (the pieces of which stayed on the ice until the next timeout), and another lost his stick, which flew up in the air, spinning and spinning.

Unfortunately I didn't capture any of the moments of great failure on camera.

Though the game itself may not have been all that great, the atmosphere really was great. I'm sure in full stadiums the sound is far more imposing, but for a first-timer, the thunder when the 12 fans started yelling "ДИ НА МО" was awesome. Right in the middle of all of that were the mascots - two like...Raggedy Andy looking dudes and a...wolf? I guess? They were pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Footage of some loudness.

Me with one of the mascots.

Overall it wasn't too bad. Though the level of play was certainly lacking, it was hilarious to watch the crappy play of the teams (the red team in particular).

Footage of the awesomeness.

The dynamo won 7-3, and I bought a Динамо scarf to commemorate the event (though apparently I should not wear it around Moscow in general, because there is the possibility of getting beaten up if you run into a fan off those assy red (I hope they don't read this blog...).

Nathan and I showing our Динамо pride.

My conclusion from the night - hockey is much cooler than I used to think, but stick to watching NHL. Though, one plus for Russian League hockey is this innovation when it comes to penalty minutes:

What time is it?! PENALTY O'CLOCK BITCH!