Support your local team

Alright, time for another cliche. Support your local team. Not the big ones...the little ones. The minor-league teams. You'll be glad you did, if only for the entertainment-to-dollar value.

Consider this evening, for example. I attended a University of Alberta hockey game with a friend. Total cost for me for the evening, including game ticket ($4), three beers ($12, 4 per can), 3 50-50 Tickets ($3, 1 each), and bus fare home ($2.25) cost me just over $20...$21.25 to be precise. And I got to see a heckuva good hockey game, in which the Golden Bears beat the University of Saskatchewan Huskies by a score of 7-5.

For the same amount of money, I could have remained outside of Rexall Place, not watching the Oilers get thrashed 4-0 by the Flames. Which probably would have been more enjoyable than spending the $40+ for a ticket (not including costs of beer or 50-50).

Is the quality of sport as good as that as the top league? Heck no! But it's at least 3/4 of the way there....which, when you look at the costs, is a pretty good value for the money.

Giant Robots, still smiling after that game. Which is a lot more than the Oilers fans on the train were doing. Except for the really drunk ones.