Tripping to Pensacola November, 1996

by Tammy Mainer

A few loyal fans attended the game on Friday, October 25th in Pensacola. It was not only our first time playing in this arena but it was also Pensacola's inaugural season opener. We ended up getting some of the last tickets (yes, it was a sell-out) which were "non-adjacent, obstructed-view" seats.

The evening started with us arriving in Pensacola 45 minutes before the game started. As we exited off 1-10 by the arena we could see the lines wrapped around the arena and were soon to find out that fans were trying to enter with the wrong tickets. The person taking tickets was thoroughly inspecting bags and purses which caused more of a delay. When we got to our seats we found that they were next to a wall making it impossible to see behind one net.

The game started 30 minutes late due to on ice events of the game. When the game finally started it didn't go as well as we hoped, but we remembered what it was like our first year and just laughed if off when a fan came up to one of us stating that a former Tiger Shark "didn't play well during the game."

When we walked out to the parking lot (which was in a field across the street from a graveyard) we noticed that there was a sidewalk running through the field for no apparent reason. Carefully picking our way around the sidewalk to nowhere and through tiger traps wide enough to park a car in, we found our way back to our car by pushing the button on the key chain that turned on the lights. After wandering aimlessly through the field, we finally found the only car with the lights on.

What a trip.