Wednesday, February 09, 2011

PITB & The Canucks California Road Trip, Vol. I

Have you seen the Canucks' schedule in March? They're away quite a bit. They play 15 times in 31 days, with 9 of those contests in other people's buildings, as part of two lengthy road trips. The first will be five games, and the second will be four.

That first road trip is the annual California road trip, a rite of passage for Canucks fans. It's a jaunt that takes them through all three of California's hockey cities--Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jose--as well as the nearest out-of-state hockey town, Phoenix (if you can call it a hockey town when the team plays somewhere else and no one cares). If you're a Vancouver resident, you know that California is about a day's drive away, but when you factor in the sunshine and the cheap hockey tickets, it often seems closer than Chilliwack. You can take a week off work, see the Canucks play a handful of games for the price of one good ticket in Rogers Arena, and you can go to California. It's a triple win.

This year, Pass it to Bulis is making the journey. Four games. Four people. 8 crazy nights. It's like hockey Hannukah. Skeeter and I will be loading up the car with our luggage and our wives, and chasing our favourite hockey team around the Southwest United States in a Nissan Versa. We'll be listening to Sufjan Stevens, eating at In n' Out Burger, meeting up with Qris (our mysterious third contributor) in Anaheim, and blogging every minuscule detail, like when we get a piece of toast that looks like Batman while eating breakfast at a Perkins.

Also, we accidentally bought an extra ticket for the San Jose game. Do you want it? Simply tweet this:

RT & follow @passittobulis for chance to win ticket to #Canucks game in San Jose, March 10! #worstcontestever http://bit.ly/gkw5lI

Note: this contest is now closed. Congratulations to @indelibleline on winning the Worst Contest Ever!

It's our worst contest ever! The winner will be randomly selected from all entrants, but I like your chances. Seriously, how many Canucks fans are there in San Jose that also read this blog. It's just you. That said, a drive to San Jose is a paltry 16 hours, but how many Canucks fans want to drive 16 hours for one ticket? Did I mention this was our worst contest ever? If you're a Vancouver resident and you come all that way just to sit with us, we promise to share our popcorn, but that's all. That's how bad this contest is. That said, maybe you're a weird San Jose fan who like to consort with the enemy. We promise not to leer at you.



We have to imagine there will be more than a few Canucks fans--maybe even a few Bulies--who are already planning to make the trip. Are you going? Let us know in the comments.

12 comments:

  1. First of all, that piece of toast doesn't look like Batman - it looks like his logo. Second of all - I don't believe it looked like that when you got it... I think there may have been some alterations done to that toast to make it looke like that. Liars.

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  2. How dare you question us, Anonymous. YOU ARE HERETOFORE BANNED FROM THE BLOG FOR LIFE

    Anyway, just give us your name so we can uphold the ban.

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  3. I WILL NOT BE LOADED INTO A CAR LIKE A PIECE OF LUGGAGE!

    Mostly because I'm not Marge Simpson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyMWgv8bA9E

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  4. Since we're complaining in this thread...

    Why can't Canucks fans get the plural and possessive of their cherished team correct? I mean, the team is called the "Canucks", a proper noun that ends with an "s". So, the possessive is either Canucks' or the more controversial Canucks's. (But don't go there. English editors across the world have slap fights over that issue.) And the plural... Well, honestly, did no one pay attention to that rule in elementary school, then high school, and then likely college/university?

    Canucks Punctuation 101: Plural means more than one. There is more than one Canuck, and a few Yanks, and a number of Europeans on the team that is the Canucks. You do not need an apostrophe to make a noun (whether common or proper) plural. So, if one were to write, "Let's all jump on the Canuck's bandwagon," one would essentially be saying: "Let's all jump on Luongo. He's a Canuck." Now if we're going to jump on the Canucks' bandwagon, the Canucks then would have a great big limousine out back, with "Bandwagon" painted on the side, that we could all jump on. What we really want to write, folks, is "Let's all jump on the Canucks bandwagon." No possessive necessary here.

    So please, I beg of all self-respecting Canucks fans, from here to CDC: All other punctuation be damned (or hey, be creative, I've no problem with conscious creative punctuation) but do get the punctuation correct for your favourite team, or heretofore be banished from (and here's a test):

    a) Canucks fan-world
    b) Canucks' fan-world
    c) Canuck's fan-world

    Maybe the first with the correct answer can get a free ticket to a San Jose game?

    Okay. Peace, out.

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  5. Oh and while I'm at it. Madwag is that you?

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  6. Anonymous 11:54 I do not take lightly to grammar Nazism so you best be treading carefully.

    But I do support Sunshine so good luck guys

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  7. I'm a S.bay Canuck Fan! But I already got tix :D

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  8. I did this trip last year. Great fun! Wish I could go again this time.

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  9. I did this trip last year and will do it again this year but Vegas instead of Phoenix. You should give me the ticket.

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  10. Hey now tickets to a game in San Jose are legitmately priced, not like the giveaways needed to get people to watch this "Hockey" business in PHX, LA and ANA.

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  11. Where do the canucks stay in San Jose? I will be going to that game and I'm curios if there staying in the same hotel.

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