Later on in the evening after our trip to IKEA, Ryan and I attended the 2011 Monster Jam at Raymond James Stadium. I was prepared to be enthusiastic about something that I felt unenthusiastic about, but I truly enjoyed our time there. The only things I didn't like were the frigid temperature and the fact that Ryan was only wearing a thin jacket. He assured me at first that he was fine and that this was how it was at his work in the winter, but as the trucks kept performing and the wind picked up intermittently, he finally admitted that he was practically frozen to the seat.
Knowing that the slightly cold, windy day would lead to an even colder night, I brought 5 various jackets and sweaters with which to bundle up before the event. I told Ryan that he could wear my sweater under his thin Ford jacket so that no one would see the David Bowie lyrics and emblems that I painted on it, while I wore my hoodie underneath my Mickey Mouse jacket; he refused, saying that he would be fine. I wore the sweater and my Mickey Mouse fleece jacket and the only things that froze for me were my legs in my jeans and my fingers and face. Ryan, on the other hand, was shaking so violently after drinking some awful hot cocoa that he bought that I mentioned either leaving or going to stand in the enclosed bathrooms with a hot tap running. Despite the cold, we made it through the night and thawed in my parents' car when they picked us up (parking at the stadium was not a viable option for me as I HATE driving in traffic like that).
As for the vehicles in the Monster Jam, they were just phenomenal. Well...some were phenomenal, some were good and others were just plain mediocre, but I was most surprised to see the level of skill exhibited by all of the drivers. Ok...maybe not all of the drivers. (I'm looking at you, War Wizard...) (Ok. I'm sorry. I take it back. You ARE skilled, but were just having a really off night. I understand. Please forgive my snarkiness. You did end up killing your monster truck, which was awesome to witness, but was probably not unexpected and yet still an unpleasant let-down experience for you. The cheering in the stands was purely for the thrill of seeing destruction, not because you broke your axle and lost your giant tire after bouncing like a monster truck-shaped rubber ball. I'm sure you understand that.)
I went in knowing the name of only two monster trucks, Bigfoot and Grave Digger, the latter of which I had actually seen. That thing's been around since forever (1981, to be exact...my idea of "forever" is apparently a bit limited), and I've seen it parked at various events and doing donuts in front of stadiums since I was a morbid little kid (I rather dig the hearse-like look). After last night, I'm officially aware of at least 16 trucks and the fact that a couple of the better drivers are from Tampa, Florida.
I thought I was only going to cheer for Grave Digger, but I became enamored of the Iron Man truck, which even had red LEDs on the side and a bright white 2nd edition arc reactor on the hood - a very nice looking truck that evoked images of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark in my head, which led me to call the truck "sexy"... Um...Iron Man actually had a great driver, too. Quite fast and not bad at free style driving, either.
The other ones I particularly enjoyed for the talent of the drivers were the U.S. Air Force Afterburner, Gunslinger, Nitro Circus, Grave Digger and Madusa.
Grave Digger, of course, goes without saying. Dennis Anderson, who originated the truck and was racing it last night, is a real professional. He's all for giving the people a thrill and a few frights, but he's great at straight racing, too. During the free style section, he had 90 seconds to gain points from the judges and, once started, almost instantly flipped the truck into a dip created by a few close dirt jump hills and some cars with crushed roofs. He came out fine and out of the free style competition, but he still wanted to give the fans something to see, so he proclaimed that once the truck was righted, if it fired up, he would still free style for the crowds, despite being disqualified for the crash. Sure enough, it fired and he didn't disappoint. Granted, after some massive jumps and quick turns, Grave Digger died, but it died in style - right on the top of a crushed car. Even then I had to wonder if it was a masterful stunt, but I enjoyed it regardless. What panache!
Although Dennis Anderson was the veteran pro and his driving was rash and expert, I was actually most in awe of the driver of the U.S. Air Force Afterburner. The announcer kept calling him a "hot shot driver" and other cliched things, but they all suited. He was quick, intense and very skilled. The turns he took were so precise for such a large automobile! He raced very well and I was positive he was going to show us some outstanding precision jumps during the freestyle, but when War Wizard (my least favorite) buckled and lost its tire, the giant thing rolled out and smacked the Afterburner that was parked, waiting for his turn. When Afterburner's turn at free styling arrived, he zoomed over to the start position and the truck cut off and the driver drove it off because its suspension was messed up. BOO!!! I was quite angry, much to my surprise, and I just knew it was because of that dumb War Wizard.
Gunslinger and Madusa were great, and were the two drivers from Tampa, so the crowd really rooted for them. Gunslinger was quite a good racer and I think his car ran the loudest and at the highest octave(?). Madusa, though she had won 2 championships in the past, wasn't really at top performance, racing-wise, but her free style skills were really impressive. She timed the jumps very well and the variety of things she did was outstanding. Her free style technique seemed very organized and stylish and I was cheering for her the most until Nitro Circus came up to the plate. This car is in the "stable" with the "Nuclear Cowboyz" motocross show that Ryan and I went to last year that I enjoyed whole-heartedly. (Now THEY are EXTREMELY talented; the "Nuclear Cowboyz" show was fantabulous in every regard except for cliched plot, which I don't think they really could help, given the nature of what they were trying to do. If you get even the slightest hint of a thrill from seeing motorcycles do stunts, I highly recommend you attend one of their performances; VERY worth it.)
The monster truck Nitro Circus, however, was nothing really remarkable UNTIL the free style event. That driver is very skilled with staying upright and/or he has the best luck in the world when it comes to near-crashes. I know that the audience loved seeing the crashes and flips, but the multiple very near-misses that Nitro Circus had while freestyling were either highly calculated crowdpleasers, or they were the luckiest close calls...probably both, now that I think about it. The people were oooh-ing and you could literally hear the collective gasp of the crowd just before they burst into stadium-wide applause when Nitro Circus righted itself at the last second from what everyone was sure was going to be a spectacular flip into the tire-churned dirt.
It was nothing short of wonderful the entire evening.
Before going last night, I was prejudiced against these monster truck events. I had attended one before at Raymond James, but I was manning a Charley's Steakery booth with my NJROTC unit as a fundraiser for our Orientation trip and only ventured out to get something to eat (and watch a just a little bit of the car-crushing action), so my interaction with the people in attendance was limited to the drunks who only wanted yet another $10 beer after they'd already well passed their 2 or 3 drink minimum and the people who were angry about the sky-high prices of stadium food.
Last night, however, was undeniably fun. The cajoling drunks were there, of course, but so were plenty of families with kids, rowdy college people and folks of all sorts. I wasn't accosted, like I had been when I attended with my NJROTC unit, and I wasn't surrounded by unpleasant over-rowdiness. I think my prejudicial attitude in this area has been vanquished!
To top it all off, I really loved sharing something with Ryan that he has enjoyed since childhood. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but he's such a little kid when it comes to this sort of thing. I love it.
Oh, and while walking from the stadium to the car, we had a nice discussion about the nature of the monster trucks in the show. I told him that the name "monster truck" must just be a tradition to honor the origins of the sport, because not a single monster truck out there fit the definition of a 'truck.' He disagreed and we argued companionably for a while as our blood began to recirculate.
My argument was that the definition of a 'truck' was something that pulls or carries things...heavy things. He then suggested that they were designed to pull or carry things, but that trucks didn't have to do that; they could just look nice, never do a day of work and still be a 'truck.' He sees that all the time at work (he's a mechanic). We went back and forth with my noting that some of the monster trucks (e.g. Monster Mutt Dalmatian, Avenger, the despised War Wizard, Maximum Destruction, etc.) had body styles that were clearly based on cars and not trucks, and he went on to tell me about the construction of the actual vehicles themselves and not the flimsy bodies set precariously on top. Most fun, but I still don't know who is right. I tend to think I am...just because.
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