We had a busy weekend. Saturday night, we went with some friends to see the Baltimore Blast, the local MISL (indoor soccer) team. They were matched up against the Detroit Ignition. Having never watched professional indoor soccer before, we were surprised to find a weird mix of sports: soccer (of course), basketball, and hockey.
The resemblance to soccer is obvious and not worth elaborating, other than that they have corner kicks even though they play in an oblong arena. We didn't see the resemblance to basketball until the second quarter, when the first goal scored. Detroit got three points on a power play goal, taking us aback. We quickly learned there was a three-point line, just as in basketball.
Like hockey, MISL has two-minute penalties that result in power plays, and a three-line pass rule. Substitutions also occur freely throughout the game, just as in hockey, rather than only at clock stoppages, like basketball.
On the whole, it seems like a potentially exciting sport. But the game we saw was not terribly stimulating. The final score in Saturday's game was 10-6, Ignition. So, we didn't get to see how the fans react when the Blast win. Oh, well. We probably won't be back any time soon.
Last night, we had tickets for Wicked, a popular Broadway musical now on tour. One of Nicole's Dumbarton colleagues arranged a group rate way back in August, and since we had both read the book, Nicole decided we should go. (Tanya's friend Serra gave Nicole her copy of the book when we were in France for Tanya's wedding. Serra was trying to lighten her load for the travel home, if I remember correctly.)
The site of the performance was the Hippodrome theater, where we had never been. We were on a very steep balcony level, not too far from the stage. Except for the tall guy directly in front of me partially obscuring mine, the view was great, and so was the set, and the performance. The story was, not unexpectedly, a watered-down version of the novel, which, in turn, is an irreverent retelling of The Wizard of Oz. The musical has a happier ending than the novel, which, because from the perspective of the "Wicked" Witch of the West, ends without going to Kansas.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Blast and Wicked
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1 comments:
I went to a few indoor soccer games when I lived in Wichita (they had a professional team for a few years--don't remember the name). As sporting events go, it wasn't bad. I liked it better than the indoor hockey game or two I also attended at that time.
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