HOLI-DAZE

It's been a wild, woolly and very busy Christmas season with lots going on for our Men in Orange, Black & Gold. The team spent Christmas in a variety of ways. Some players went home for a few days, while a lot of them rented a couple cabins at Lake Tahoe, enjoying some great new snow. Coach Curcio and his family relaxed with some well-deserved downtime in Las Vegas.

With Christmas over, the team was back to work. SF Bulls Live took place this past Thursday with Taylor Nelson as Jason's guest. It was a nice big crowd at Pedro's for the lively interview.

Taylor Nelson & Jason Lockhart

The team handily beat the Las Vegas Wranglers 4-1 in Friday's game, the last Bulls' game of 2012. It was a packed house, as the team held a terrific promotion getting over 8,000 hockey fans into the seats. And what a great crowd! I hope lots of these new fans come back, because they were outstanding! Radio Disney was there before the show for the kids, and each child got a killer new t-shirt!

Coach Curcio at pre-game talk

Coach Curcio gave a pre-game talk as well. That was excellent, as it's always a treat hearing him speak about the team and take questions. He told the crowd when his idea of starting a new team here began (three years ago), how long the team plans on staying at the Cow Palace (at least 5 years or so) and what the team's biggest weakness is (having a large number of rookies without the experience to maintain leads in close games). If he holds another talk like this again, I highly suggest joining, because it is well worth your time!

Tuckerman, Crescenzi & Benson

The game was a great one, exciting and well-played. Great scores by Dean Ouellet, Rob Kwiet, Alex Tuckerman and Peter Sivak made for an excellent offensive effort. Hans Benson is back on the ice, which makes a huge difference. Another major effort Friday was by Kris Belan. One of the Wrangler players made a very dirty hit on our Captain Justin Bowers. Belan didn't hesitate to knock him with his stick in the next line. Don't you DARE mess with our captain!

One COMPLAINT I do have about last night....the glass was STILL fogged up when the first period started. I understand the Barn is old. I get it. However, the glass MUST be cleaned BEFORE the game. Having fogged up glass at gametime is clearly unacceptable. Please, Maintenance Folks, I beg you, take care of this ahead of time.

Me with Hans Benson & Danill Tarasov

Later today, the team will be at the San Francisco Zoo signing autographs at their light festival. So, stop by, check out the lights, the animals and say hi to the Bulls!

New Year's Day, the Bulls players will be at Union Square for the Polar Bear day at a special dunk tank where we can dunk the players! I am really looking forward to this. Check out the excellent Bulls website Community page for more information.

And FINALLY, the Bulls website will be linking up with THE BULLS SHEET! So we'll have lots more readers and more comments from you!

I'll be writing my final post of 2012 on New Years Eve and will give you my thoughts of this past year and what I look forward to in 2013.

GO BULLS!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Bulls Christmas logo (courtesy of SF Bulls Facebook fanpage)

It’s been one amazing and great FIRST SEASON with the Bulls! The San Francisco Bulls have the best fans there are!

It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been lots of fun!

I look forward to seeing a lot of you at upcoming games as well as SF BULLS LIVE broadcasts and public appearances.

Thank you to all of the players, trainers, coaches, staff, writers and most of all the FANS! You RULE!!!

Enjoy the Christmas season and I hope 2013 brings you everything your heart desires!

GO BULLS!

Martha 

ALex Tuckerman and Marek Viedensky 

THE END OF THE WORLD

or

Where Would YOU Rather Be When the World Ends?

December 22, 2012

Midnight

One of the many calendars the ancient Mayans kept ended on December 21, 2012. This led many conspiracy theorists and fringe denizens to believe that the world would end. This “theory” was picked up by many, if only as an excuse to throw a party. Most people didn’t take it seriously, of course, though there are those who use every bizarre clue they can as a guideline towards the apocalypse.

The Bulls held their own End of the World as We Know It game tonight. It was against the Ontario Reign. The Bulls lost 3-1, but it was a hard-fought game from beginning to end. Viedensky made the Bulls’ only goal. In the final seconds it appeared that Ouellet scored; the red light was lit, but no score was given, so he was robbed.  

The team looked better in many ways; they’re talking to one another more, moving around better, improving at working the ice. The passing was better tonight than in the last couple of games, but can still be improved upon. There was also good defense around Heemskerk, who did his usual great job at the net.

One moment that was scary was Viedensky getting hurt in the 3^rd Period. He skated off the ice into the dressing room, but I still don’t know how badly hurt he is.    

The Bulls have nothing to be ashamed of tonight; it was a good, close game.

Fans were encouraged to come in their best End of the World outfits, which some did, dressing as zombies and the like. 

And the world did not end.

This leads to the first question I asked….

Where Would YOU Rather Be When the World Ends?

I’m sitting here, eating a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and almond milk at midnight thinking of all the games and fun times I’ve had watching the Bulls. I never realized how much FUN a hockey game could be until I went to see them play. Sure, there are fancier, shinier, much, much more expensive arenas. Ones that are gigantic, ones with lots of ushers in snazzy coats that nag at you if you lean too far forward. But most of the time, it’s impossible to relax in these enormities.  

It’s like a fancy, high-priced restaurant that’s nice once in a while compared to the neighborhood bar. I don’t mind eating fine dining on occasion, but not all the time. The Barn is like the Bulls’ fans neighborhood bar. So maybe it’s not good enough to those who would rather dine on caviar but for the rest of us, it’s perfect.  

Where else would I rather be when the world ends? If everything went away, I’d rather be watching my favorite sport with the greatest fans there are. Obviously!

The Bulls play rivals Ontario Reign again tomorrow night in Ontario. Listen online at www.knbr.com Let’s get a win!!!

GO BULLS!!!!

THURSDAY WITH THE BULLS

November 20, 2012

Thursday was a busy day for the team. First, the entire team participated in a candlelight vigil for the victims of Newtown. It was moving and emotional for everyone.

Newtown Memorial

A children's choir sang and the players took the ice as each victim's name was read. A good-sized crowd gathered, holding candles as the skaters help tribute to the children and adults lost.

Warming Up the Ice

Directly after the vigil was SF Bulls Live. Jason's guest was Alex Tuckerman. The crowd was the biggest yet at Pedro's Cantina. If you haven't joined us, Jason Lckhart, Voice of the SF Bulls, has an hour-long online show with one or two Bulls players, starting at 6pm, either on a Wednesday or Thursday. There are food and drink specials. It's a lot of fun to hang out with Jason and the players and your fellow Bulls fans.

Alex Tuckerman & Jason Lockhart

Great Crowd at Pedro's 

We had a great time with Alex, Jason and the Coach was there as well. I hope you can make it next week!



I'm very happy to announce that the Bulls FINALLY have their Upcoming Events Calendar up under the Community portion of their website. This is something I've been bugging them about for months. Now you can scan the area for public appearances and special events. There's a couple things coming up for help out the SF Zoo which I'll talk about in a future blog.


I hope to see you Friday night at the End of the World As We Know It Game. Come in your BEST End of the World Costume and you'll get two FREE tickets to the December 28th game against the Las Vegas Wranglers.

GO BULLS!!!

BULLS GAME AT HP PAVILION - Part 2

December 18, 2012

Continuing from today's earlier blog....

Yes, the Bulls lost 6-4. Stockton overpowered us on nearly every level. The Bulls tried to pull it out at the end, but ran out of time. The Bulls' weaknesses were in communication, passing, basic stuff really. The team needs to talk to one another. Time to hit the drills again, Guys.

Peter Sivak

The game was exciting and there were some good fights. Sharks fans aren't used to the hard-hitting style of the Bulls. I prefer this East-Coast style over the passive McLellan school of hockey. I like challenging, in your face ice. So, stop thinking the Bulls are Sharks Jr. Far from it. I think some of the Sharks fans were shocked and delighted by their aggressive playing as well, having put up with the passiveness of TMc for so long, maybe this was a nice change for them.

It was great to see so the Bulls Faithful at HP last night. That made me very happy. But during one moment last night I was extremely not happy. One Sharks fan decided he thought it would be funny to make fun of the Bulls. Here he and his friends went to a game FOR FREE. A Bulls game. FOR FREE. And what did he do afterwards, he made fun of the Bulls. As soon as I heard him, I told him to shut the f**k up. He did. Lucky for him. I will not put up with anyone badmouthing my Bulls.

Daniil Tarasov

I don't understand how any fan of a league who is NOT even playing this season (and who probably will NOT play at all this season) can have an attitude about a league who's working hard to give their fans great entertainment.

So, if you are not yet a Bulls fan, join us at a couple games. No, the Cow Palace is not all shiny and pretty. It's all fancy and the seats aren't all perfect. But, the fans are friendly, and we have a great time!

Rob Kwiet

SF Bulls Live happens this Thursday at Pedros Cantina at 6pm, just across the street from AT&T Park.

Friday, December 21st, the Bulls play the Ontario Reign in the End of the World Game. Where would YOU rather be when the world ends?

GO BULLS!

BULLS GAME AT HP PAVILION

PART 1:

December 18, 2012

When I first heard the news that the Bulls/Thunder game from January 16^th to HP Pavilion last night, I had mixed feelings. First and the very most important thing, I was happy for the Bulls players. This was an extremely rare and unique opportunity for these minor league athletes to get ice time on an NHL rink in a huge arena. There were over 12,000 people gathered, watching, most were watching anyway. More on that in a bit. So, for the players’ sakes, it was great.

As I have written previously, this was not the Bulls’ idea. Nope. This came from the Sharks management, and it certainly showed. Most people attending were Sharks fans, who would have probably been just as happy if two teams from Who Cares Where had been playing, to be honest. When the players were announced, more applause arose for Ryane Clowe than anyone else. To be expected, 80-90% Sharks fans, this was not a Bulls crowd.

When I got inside, I noticed just how few Bulls fans there were. A very small amount of hockey lovers percentage were dressed in orange, black and gold. This made me a little sad. Perhaps I was hoping for too much. I know that only a small percentage of tickets were given to Bulls fans after the majority of Sharks fans had their fill. What was left went to Ticketmaster. So, that’s my mistake for thinking otherwise.

I was seated at the Bulls end of the rink Goal side and up a ways. Disappointed in my seats, I looked around to see I was the only one in rows of people dressed in Bulls gear. However, Hans Benson was sitting behind me for two of the periods so I got the chance to chat with him a little bit. That was cool.

The lack of interest in the game by so many people in my area was really surprising to me. In fact, a couple sitting in front of me didn’t like that I shouted during the game and cheered and called out player’s names. Isn’t that what REAL fans do? If you don’t care about the game, or want something quiet to go to, I’m sure there’s a low cost ballet performance you can attend.

This was Bulls hockey!!! It wasn’t a Sharks game, but you could hardly convince the majority of people attending. Ask them the name of our mascot and I bet 90% of them couldn’t tell you. Fortunately, a few of them got into the game after a bit in my section. I talked with a nice group of Sharks fans who hopefully will go see a Bulls game or two.

I do hope even a handful of Sharks fans will become Bulls followers. I’m not saying to become fanatical like many of us Bulls Faithful, but give them a chance in their own house. Move out of your comfort zone. The NHL isn’t here for you, are they?

I want to thank the Bulls management and staff for working so hard putting this together at the last minute. You all have been working nonstop for days and it’s truly appreciated. I also really want to thank the Bulls for providing AMAZING transportation to each and every Bulls game. Caltrain SUCKS! The train back home was 30 minutes late and I did not even step through the door to my apartment until 1:15am. So the very fact that the Bulls have a FREE SHUTTLE to and from BART is awesome!

  

I’ll post pictures later today and do a follow up with things to come for the Bulls this week.

GO BULLS!

BULLS PULL OUT VICTORY THEIR WAY

November 14, 2012

Last night's Bulls win against the Stockton Thunder was a stunner and something the Bulls have done a few times in their short history. The game bounced back between the two teams with Peter Sivak slipping in a quick goal to win the game in Overtime 4-3.

Andrew Crescenzi 

If you've been paying attention all season, however, this come-from-behind win is nothing new. They've been doing it again and again. Sometimes, like last night, the Bulls can come back and rule the roost, while at other times, they fall short. But they never give up.

It's one of the things I love so much about this team. NEVER SAY DIE. I was reading a couple writers who expressed dismay that towards the end of the game, they thought the Bulls had lost the game, and then came back to win. Huh? Perhaps they don't know Our Beloved San Francisco Bulls. The Bulls Faithful have already seen them come back from a 4-1 deficit early in the year, as well as closer scores. It's that fighting spirit that's respected so much in the SF Bay Area. We're home to the original Forty-Niners, who came to California searching for wealth, as well as pioneers, immigrants and all who are looking for a better life. So a team with grit and fire that does not give up is well-respected quickly here.

The Bulls beat the Thunder in Overtime, and it was a nail-biter for most of the three periods. This is not to say there weren't mistakes. Lack of rebounds were costly to San Francisco. But Stockton's inadequate puck handling made up for a lot of it.

Dylan King, Peter Sivak & Rob Kwiet 

It was also the Bulls' first 50% off beers night, or 2-for-1. They're not allowed to say that though, because they can't advertise free beer, hence the 50% off advertising, but free beer is always a good and popular thing. The crowd got into the cheaper beers big time.

Tonight the Bulls play the Ontario Reign and tomorrow night the Bakersfield Condors. Then on Monday they once again play Stockton at HP Pavilion. Please, WEAR BULLS GEAR! This will NOT be a Sharks game, so leave your Sharks clothing at home. Be Bulls Proud and show off you Orange, Black & Gold!!!

GO BULLS!