A month after vowing not Joey Felix Hernandez Jersey Votto Red Jersey to attend the NHL All-Star Game, mainly because I didn't have a gig, I’d "been there and done that" a heap, and because in this case the action at the rink is so far from the “action” in downtown Ottawa, I changed my mind at the last minute and attended as a guest. Although I spent close to an hour visiting on the radio with the XM Home Ice lads at the Fanfest Friday , I was for the first time in 15 years, not really a member of the working media.It made the experience fresh and memorable. First of all, the rink really isn’t THAT far from downtown. People love to exaggerate. Depending on how fast you drive, you can get from downtown Ottawa to Scotia Authentic Lebron James Jersey Bank in Kanata in 25 to 35 minutes. It’s the postgame traffic jam, which adds twenty minutes to the process just getting out of the parking lot at the rink, which brings maddening frustration. But to just drive there and back, it’s not as far as many say.Plus, in this case, since I skipped playing in the media game at 7 am Sunday morning and the actual All-Star Game, I only had to ride out there once, to attend the Patrick Kane jersey Skills Competition and the post-Skills League party.Aside from that, for three nights, the atmosphere, the proximity of the players’ hotel to the League hotel to the media hotel to our hotel, to the closeness of most of the bars and restaurants, was delightful. Make no mistake about it, All-Star weekend is all about the schmooze; for the League to service clients and sponsors, for the Governors to meet, and for the media to drink and speculate, in no particular order.It’s also absolutely fantastic for the fans in the host market to enjoy a very rare spectacle. I viewed this one from their perspective. I wandered around Fanfest a little bit, watching the wonder and awe on the children’s faces. I wound my way through the crowds along the Rideau Canal and in Ottawa’s market section. I ran into, less so the dozens of media Marc Andre Fleury jersey friends which is normally the case, but more so the executives and League people and old associates from all over the place I normally don’t get into run into. I had been in Scotia Bank place as a broadcaster a dozen times, but until Saturday, I’d only been in the concourse and seating area once before. They were alive and well with enthusiastic energy.So although only one city gets to enjoy this spectacle at a time, and the game itself is something for which I give away my tickets, the two-year old player draft is a great new angle, the Skills is still fun (quite frankly better in the seats with the beer than in the media room with a computer), and the whole thing seems to make sense again.Apparently it’s all about perspective. Gradually over the years I was becoming one of those curmudgeonly NHL media types, “bah humbug to the All-Star Game”. Familiarity was breeding contempt. Forget that, and TV ratings-schmatings. PC9527531mms2016.com