[DavefromSt.Vital]

A question for the people in Ottawa - Has the Canadian Tire Centre always been this bad? My question is not meant to troll, I am just trying to understand if I had a "normal" experience.

Like many others in town for the Grey Cup, we decided to check out the Islanders/Senators game on the Saturday. Despite the increased interest I still found resale tickets for $25 below cost near the tunnel where the Senators exit the bench.

Things did not start well with the first OC Transpo shuttle showing up almost 10 minutes late to the stop on Rideau. Then the driver refused to believe that Grey Cup ticketholders could ride for free, despite an ad saying just that, right outside the bus. He eventually gave in when his dispatcher told him what the promotion was. Near the end of the long ride to Kanata he cheerfully warned everyone that shuttles would only wait until 20 minutes after the game ended. After much delay, arrived at the CTC and trudged through crazily parked buses in the dark.

Finally arrived at the main gate and despite there being dozens of doors open, there were thousands of people in line waiting to go through security. Couldn't figure out why there was such a wait until about 10 of us were waved over to a door to an interior sports bar. It took about 10 minutes for the 10 people to go through. My wife was one of the offenders in that she brought a small purse. The security person made her dump out the entire contents, pocket by pocket. Every item was prodded and scrutinized. Small cellophane pack of Kleenex? Open it! Chapstick? Take the cap off! Airports are less secure.

Eventually walked through a huge sports bar to find a tiny, claustrophobic concourse. One of the few beer locations had a line of five guys in front of it. That five person line actually hit the far side of the councourse it was so narrow. Noting that large restuarants and bars filled in the space between the tiny concourse and the outer wall most of the way around the arena we wondered if they had been dropped in at some point.

Tried to walk all the way around but found the way blocked by a private Bell area.

Eventually got to our area and were pleasantly surprised to find there was no line-up for pizza. Then took a few bites. One slice was rock hard and another had rancid bacon.

Eventually got to our seats in section 105, Row H. Initially thought that we were in a baseball stadium as the rows were raked so low I had memories of the 100 level of Skydome/Rogers Centre. It was difficult seeing over people.

The game was "meh", with the Islanders winning. After a bathroom break frantically ran for one of the last shuttles and the long ride back downtown.

Is this experience typical? If so, I can see why there are attendance issues. We found it night and day compared to a 67's game we went to on a previous trip.