Subject: Cap Center                                               Monday, 12/16/2002

Steven Vore wrote to Bob Kuhns:

 

Goodbye Cap Center  Washington Post: "The hours and then minutes that led up to yesterday morning's implosion became a vigil for their youth, a farewell to times spent inside the shrine they still call the Cap Centre." I remember when it was built ~ we lived just a few miles away, just across the beltway ~ and somewhere around here still have pictures of a tightrope walker atop the Cap Center's tension wires (after construction but before opening). I spent lots of nights at Capitals games, concerts by The Police, Styx, even (I can't believe I'm admitting this) Prince! I certainly never called it by that awful "US Air Arena" name, either.

 

Did you at least get to bid on your seat, to mount in the family room in front of the TV for Caps games?

 

Steven Vore  - steven.vore@hp.com

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Bob responded to all family:                              Monday, 12/16/2002

 

 As I watched the live TV coverage of the implosion of the "Cap Center" at 8AM the other morning, I had tears in my eyes.  I wished I had tried to get our old seats,  Section 123, Row F, Seats 3 and 7.  It was  originally Seats 3 and 4, until during one game, Marie stood on the seat 4 to see over the standing crowd, then jumped up and down to cheer the Caps goal.  Broke the beejeebers out of the seat pivots.  So the staff got a spare seat from somewhere and replaced it with one labeled with a 7 instead of a 4. They meant it to be a temporary fix to get us through the evening.  But they never got another seat # 4.

 

It was the only Row with the seats numbered 1 2 3 7 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14.

Marie was proud.  She always likes things around her to be unique.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Kuhns

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Marie responded with her feelings...

                                                                                                Tuesday, 17 Dec 2002

Thanks, Dad,

 

What a memory... I missed watching the demolition on TV, but the photo on the front of the Post choked me up, too.  I remember...

...counting all the American flags around the beltway on the way to Landover

...syrupy Cokes and the special-occasion Dove bars

...the parking lot guys who'd stomp out cheers on the metal bleachers (until the last 10 minutes when they left to do their job)

...figuring out all the cheers (like "Maruuuuk") when we first started going in the early '80s

...'taking a lap' during period breaks

...parking in the 'boonies' gravel lot when we got there late

...why we still root for 'pizza' when the Caps get up to 5 goals (admit it!)

...making it to the Caps Center for Jan 1 Stick Day in the Subaru through the awful ice & snow, and coming home to watch the plow finally get to our street

...Mom's Capitals mug and pom-poms and buttons and shirt and hat and...

...the days when Washington was probably the only town whose hockey fans would clap along to "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" or "Dueling Banjos"

...our section 123 neighbors:  the guy with the pipe and his Canadian friend, the yuppies, the guy with the shaky hair (who got kicked out on occasion,) and whoever shouted "Bush League" from somewhere behind us

...MY seat in section 123....and as I recall, Mike Gartner's game-winning PENALTY shot IN OVERTIME that I HAD to stand on the seat to see, and HAD to celebrate on the chair too...but maybe my memory exaggerates!

...oh, yeah, and the hockey, that reliably nail-biting style of hockey that only the Capitals can play!

 

Marie

 

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Will chimed in with his observations:

    From: Will Kuhns                                                     Wednesday, 12/18/02

Thanks guys. I sort of shrugged off the implosion news -- I was flying back from Dallas that day and all I saw were the pictures in The Post. I'm sort of jaded to the rapid turnover of everything in sports: players, uniforms, teams, arenas ... so I didn't think too much of it -- until I read these e-mails. THEN my eyes welled up. Thanks for cutting through my jade.

            --Will

P.S. - Believe it or not, the man with the pipe was the one who yelled "Bush League!" And he did it every time the guy with the megaphone on the other side led the cheer: "1-2-3-4-5-6-7 ... WE WANT EIGHT!"

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Then Brennan contributed:                                            Wednesday, 12/18/02

 

so much said, i wanted to throw my 2c (canadian) in....

...why we still root for 'pizza' when the Caps get up to 5 goals (admit it!)

...the caps get up to 5 goals?

....the change from being the one who could go with mom when the other kids were busy, to wanting to come along to run around the concourse, to being an active participant in cheering, i think the progrssion went

1)brennan reads for 3 hours in seat 4/7.

2)brennan reads and jogs around the concourse, spending lots of time by portal 5, where HTS set up. if a music group plays, he is hyperattentive.

3)brennan reads and cheers for goals, and watches the scoreboards to see how they work. he notices birds live happily amongst the curved ceiling's rafters.

4)brennan stops reading books, makes sarcastic comments about players.  his favorites are Names like scott stevens and Al Iafrate.

5)brennan cheers for good things and boos bad things.  his favorite players are joe juneau and craig berube. they both have long hair, but one's finesse, and the other is thug.

6)brennan and a mob of boy scouts joke about playing a florida hockey team.. every time they fall down: "awww, poor surfer dude."

7)brennan and his freshman year roommate dave shay accompany mom (and dad? sorry bad memory in some spots) to a special St. Bernadette's section.  Dave and Brennan lead the crowd. Mom gets asked about her rowdy "sons."

 ..wow that was long.

but still my favorite memory of the capital centre is my first major concert.... proudly, Phil Collins.  Will took me to the Both Sides tour, and it was glorious.  seats on the floor to one side of the audio booth so i could watch the guys running sound.... i wore my brand new metallica t-shirt.  i confronted a lady who said we should sit down. During SUSSUDIO? please.  my memories of that concert are countless and wonderful.  Sure it was in a swamp (pronounce it my way), it was a freaky potato chip, it was too cold, but i KNOW they don't make them like that any more.

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~~~brennan.~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~kuhns~~~~~~

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~~themovieintheaterssoon~

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 From Pat McCallion:                                                   Wednesday, 12/18/02

I think a caps game was Judy and I's first date! We also saw Hall & Oates, Def Leppard and Judas Priest there. thanks for all your memories. It's hard to believe we are all OLD enough to have memories now Isn't It?

Pat

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