(Originally published June 29, 2008) So the weekend of April 18, 2008, marked my third trip to Montreal in the past 19 months (Leafs game in December and Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in October 2006). This time, it was for another event at the Bell Centre....UFC’s Canadian debut! Unfortunately they wouldn’t let me get into the ring however, for fear of the fighter’s being injured by my devastating knock-out power.
So Friday I decided to be a hero and go to work until 1:00 pm, which turned out to be a rather chaotic decision, as I had to jet home from downtown Toronto, pack my bags, and then turn around and get to the airport for my 5:00 pm flight. All told, I made it on the plane and was touching down in Montreal an hour later. My friend Black Adam and his two buddies Track Star 1 and Track Star 2 were scheduled to meet me there a bit later in the evening as they were taking the train in from Toronto. They won their free train tickets in a running race apparently. Who needs trophies when they’re handing out round-trip train tickets to Montreal!? Upon my arrival at the Travel Lodge hotel, I was quite perturbed to discover that we in fact had a room with only one double bed. Good thing my floor sleeping skills are legendary, albeit alcohol usually plays a big factor in helping me to get into comfortable floor sleeping mode. So after the amigos arrived, we cranked up the cheap hotel room drinking in preparation to hit the town for some more expensive establishment drinking. Adam, Track Star 2, and I then hit up Rue Ste Catherine for some drinks, followed by an always necessary visit to McDonalds in the wee hours of the morning. During my visit to McDonalds, Black Adam and I found it necessary to call my girlfriend back home and inform her that there was a wealth of Chinese people inside the restaurant. Why this was necessary, I will never know.
Saturday morning I awoke from my floor sleep and promptly got cleaned up to make my way to the casino, solo style. I took a cab out to Casino Montreal, which cost me a solid 20 bones. Once inside I B-lined it for the poker room, which was a totally different animal than anything I had ever seen here in Ontario, or abroad for that matter. All of the tables were electronic, thus eliminating the need for poker chips or dealers. Quite interesting to say the least. Anyways, I hung out there for the afternoon, playing a couple of $115 tournaments and some $1-2 NL Hold’Em as those were basically the only games they were spreading. I broke out even for the afternoon and cabbed it back into Downtown Montreal to get ready for the UFC. Back at the hotel my other roomies insisted I had to go and eat some “steamies”, which are basically just the most disgusting yet delicious little hot dogs in the world. Knew I was gonna be feeling that in the morning. Soon after, it was time to head to the Bell Centre. Track Star 2 and I went earlier with his other friend Greasy Greek who had just gotten in from Toronto and was going to the event with some broad he met the night before! Haha. We watched all of the preliminary fights, before Black Adam and Track Star 1 showed up for the later fights. Black Adam showed up in good spirits to say the least and the rest of us weren’t far behind. Molson Export= even when grossly overpriced, still delicious. The fights were pretty solid all around, with George St. Pierre pulling a hometown hero move and pummelling Matt Serra in the main event. I’ve been to a lot of different sporting events in my life, but this was by far the craziest crowd I have ever seen. After we hit up some bar that I don’t really remember and I then proceeded to go back to the hotel and party with some other randoms before security whisked us all off to our own rooms. Sweet dreams indeed.
The next morning I awoke to discover that there were six people sleeping in a room that couldn’t even fit two people comfortably. I was wedged between the wall and the bed on the floor. Definitely not what I remembered signing up for, but you win some, you lose some. That afternoon, we went to the pub to catch the Raptors playoff game before jetting/training it home. Montreal defeated me yet again, but I’m sure I’ll be back for more!
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