Pressbox living

Last Friday, the name of my blog was especially fitting.

I was sitting " in the pressbox" at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa  as the Generals played host to the Sarnia Sting in Ontario Hockey League action. Former Port Hope Predator Jesse Stoughton came through town with the Sting and I took the opportunity to write a feature about his experiences in the O, and to cross another press box off my list. So far I've been to the Air Canada Centre, the Skydome, and now the GM Centre!

The pressbox experience is always cool. Free food, great seat, and a piece of paper that gives you the run of the building. Shooing a security guard aside with a quick flash of THE PASS is a heady experience and probably the closest I'll ever get to that elusive backstage pass.

The GM Centre itself is also of interest to me. In my final year of college, I covered the "town meeting" on the subject of the incoming rink. It was a controversial project (if I recall, the controversy surrounded public funding) and a lot of people showed up to voice their displeasure. So many, in fact, that some were literally left out in the cold when the Tosca Dining Hall reached capacity. I grabbed a seat at the press table and watched as representatives of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (who were going to manage the building) talked up the project. Among them were Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler and then Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. I resisted the urge to boo the latter.

So anyway, it's always cool to go there because I was present when the building's future was decided. And it's even cooler to add another press pass to my collection.