Things I Love About Kings Games: Stretching, McFlurry Minute, Second Period Break

There are many moments that I love about a live hockey game at the Staples Center.

I usually try to arrive early enough to see the warm-ups. First of all, I love watching them stretch. Tell me that this isn't sexy.

(Thoroughly awesome photo is courtesy of Paul Bissonnette from the Coyotes, which he tweeted with the caption "Just leading bobby through some yoga poses during warm ups."- http://yfrog.com/h8llqdaj). Follow him here: http://twitter.com/#!/biznasty2point0. You won't regret it.

Matt Greene also has some wise words about stretching (see around 1:35 in the video below). Matt Greene is so awesome that he deserves his own blog entry, which will come later this month. This video really shows his sense of humor. I love this guy. (And not just because I dated a nice guy in high school named Matt Greene, who, btw, was also great.)

I also love the McFlurry Minute. It's the last minute of the second period of a Kings game where the announcer promises that if the Kings score, everyone will receive a free McFlurry.

How do I even describe how much I love McFlurries. So, so much. They get me through long road trips. In fact, I am pretty sure that I ate a McFlurry each day during our recent road trip around the Southwest. I also depend upon them to keep me cool during trips north to SF when we have to go through the Central Valley. Somehow the hours of staring at absolutely nothing in the Central Valley don't seem so bad when I am clutching a light fluffy cold Oreo McFlurry. Mmmm.

Anyway, usually the crowd goes wild. Maybe they all love McFlurries as much as I do. Maybe they just love free stuff. Maybe they just want to show support for the Kings during that last minute. Who knows. I wonder if the Kings ever hear the crowd go wild and think "god dammit, we've been skating our asses off for 40 minutes and they are cheering for a god damned Mcflurry? Just buy one for $1!!!"

Note: sometimes the McFlurry "Minute" is flexible- we recently attended a game where the Kings did not score during that minute, but they did so well in the third period (including an empty net goal) that they handed out McFlurry coupons as we all left the Staples Center. SWEET.

I also REALLY LOVE the last few minutes of the second period break because they play this awesome video of the Kings kicking ass and taking names. The video mostly plays on the Jumbotron but I think they also project some video onto the ice, which makes me wildly excited. It's set to You're Gonna Go Far, Kid by the Offspring. I always try to make it back to my seat for this video. Then I dance around wildly and generally embarrass the shit out of my husband by grabbing his shoulders and jumping up and down. (This image is probably funnier if you know that he is over 6 feet tall and I am just barely 5'3".) Just hearing the song when I'm driving makes me rocket around wildly in my car like a crazy person.

I can't find the video online (if anyone can, I will be forever grateful.) So here is just the song:

I think that's enough for this post. The next post will probably be about Zebra Corn, which I love nearly as much as the things that I've listed in this post already. I also need to do an entry about the things that I hate, which include the laser show (WHY ARE THE LASERS GREEN? WHY???) and obnoxious Red Wings fans.