Burns event fail

[ASinclair]

I don't follow hockey, but I have to say that a few years ago when our Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup I did get caught up in the excitement that season.

[TheOfficialBren]

Your understanding of hockey is fatally flawed.

Aparently so is my sense of humour.

[OC Richard]

That was playing on the tv at my Burns Pub gig... that game was the strangest thing I've ever seen.

Yes indeed it was! I just don't understand the reasoning or logic behind taking a sport out of its ordinary proper venue and putting it in a place where it doesn't fit.

A baseball stadium is a great place to watch baseball, but horrible for watching anything else. The (NFL) Rams used to play in Anaheim Stadium. It was awful.

Recently there was a big soccer match with famous international teams visiting SoCal. Did they have it at our purpose-built soccer stadium, where the Galaxy and Chivas play? No, they had it at Dodger Stadium! Just as in that hockey game, the problem was that the seats are so far away from the game, due to the different proportions of a baseball stadium.

All week, though, here in SoCal all the local sports broadcasters were making a big deal out of that Kings/Ducks game, like it was the best thing in the history of the world, that it would 'put hockey on the map' in SoCal. How pandering, how condescending! Hockey doesn't need a gimmick like that. Bottom line, it's all about money, and I guess they made a pile of money with that game. They knew they would get good ratings, which explains all the hoopla and showbiz stuff.

Also, keep in mind is that the Ducks were started by Disney. Ever go to a Ducks game? It's like you're at a Disney event, and at some point a hockey game breaks out. Wild Wing flies through the air shooting t-shirts wadded into balls from a bazooka thing at the fans below. Bands play. All sorts of peripheral nonsense goes on. Can you blame Disney though? They were introducing NHL into a place which had never had NHL, Orange County (no it's not Los Angeles) and they knew the 'fan base' of hardcore hockey fans was very small.

Here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNPTrpjpW-k

That first year was wildly successful. Every Ducks game was a sellout, and you had to buy your tickets months in advance.

In the end however it's the quality of the 'product' on the ice that matters most, and when the Ducks play poorly attendance shrinks and when they play well the 'bandwagon' fans jump on and hockey gets very popular around here. Currently the Ducks are fantastic and it's amazing how many Ducks fans there are!

[Hopper250]

The Ducks were also tied directly to the movies "The Mighty Ducks." I believe there was also a cartoon about alien hockey playing ducks at one point.

[biblemonkey]

We had a scaled down Burns Night at a local pub, but this pub is specifically designed for this kind of thing. No TVs, open floor layout, live Celtic folk band, and only good beer and scotch as far as the eye can see. It's designed with social interaction in mind and the owners are kilties all year round. Ours went OK. I wish yours had.

[cessna152towser]

The difficulty with holding your Burns Night in a busy venue shared with other groups is that your group gets overwhelmed and lost among the noise and activities of the other groups, best to revert to a selective venue next year.
At least you managed to do something to mark the Bard's birthday. One by one the local Burns suppers around here have stopped being held. An outbreak of E-coli infection after a village hall Burns supper a few years ago didn't help. I used to have a choice of Burns Suppers and would attend three or four, this year there were none. I considered going over to Dumfries where they were holding a "Big Burns Weekend" to mark the start of the 2014 Year of the Homecoming, but the programme did not look very interesting. A few catering establishments were offering ten minute Burns Suppers mid morning. The traditional Burns Supper at Ferintosh Guest House did not take place. Even the Globe Inn was holding a music event instead of the traditional Burns Supper. The Friday night theatre show got panned by the critics in today's local press as apart from raunchy women whom Burns would have appreciated, the script bore little relevance to Burns life and works.
Wife and I settled for Haggis, Neeps and Tatties at home for Sunday lunch.

[Tobus]

I've never understood why some groups choose a pub as the location to hold a Burns Supper. It makes about as much sense to me as holding a business meeting in the middle of a rock concert.

I mean, I get the idea of wanting to hold it in some sort of UK-themed place, but that's as far as my brain can take the logic. To me, a Burns Supper is a bit of a dressy affair (or at least something above the level of dress you'd find in a typical pub) where poetry is read, an address is made, traditional food is eaten, and it's a generally high-class event that's held amongst a group of people who share an affinity for that subject. Trying to do that in the middle of a noisy pub, surrounded by strangers who aren't there for that purpose, seems like it would be set up to fail from the very start.

[OC Richard]

Tobus you perfectly describe what these people's Burns Suppers have been like in the past. The bonus has been the opportunity to chat with an interesting assortment of people: at my table this year was a Hollywood TV Art Director, a retired Film Critic from the Los Angeles Times, and a retired librarian who is passionate about 'the movies' and sees around 150 films a year. Too bad talking was so difficult due to the rock band and other racket.

Bible Monkey that sounds fantastic! I wish we had a place like that around here. Interesting side note: the English pub the event was held in is the main gathering place for ex-pat English football supporters, and the place is packed at 7am every Saturday, with three or four matches being shown simultaneously on the dozens of huge TVs, the groups of supporters chanting their football songs, etc. However when the pub first opened the owners' original plan was to have a true pub, no TVs, where people could gather and socialize. That plan didn't last long! Because Americans want their TVs and want to watch sports while having a pint. Then they started having live bands on Saturday nights.

Cessna sorry to hear that Burns suppers are disappearing in your area!

Here they tend to be fairly large affairs, with a ballroom or dining room at a golf course rented out, everyone in evening finery, a pipe band playing, perhaps highland dancing, in addition to the poetry.

I hope this small local group has learned something from this year's experience and will go back to its former format.