A Petersburg Tragedy

This post is brought to you by the word скандал (skan-DAHL), meaning “scandal.”

On Tuesday, I went to a СКА game (aka SKA – Piter’s local hockey team). It was a big rivalry match between glorious Piter and crummy old Moscow. If you’re the discerning type, you’ve figured out by now that СКА didn’t do so well. Lost, in fact. 5-4, Moscow. Though a disappointing end, it was an exciting game, since СКА came back from behind to tie the game in the 3^rd period, surviving overtime but eventually losing in a shoot-out. Hence, the tragedy.

However, several cool things happened to me before and during the game that were good enough to be blog fodder. The first involves dinner. Deciding to eat out before the match, I figured a suitable restaurant was Papa John’s. (In case I haven’t mentioned about the ambience of pizza joints here in Piter, please take note that places like Papa John’s and Pizza Hut are sit-down restaurants that play soft jazz, have coat trees and serve wine.) The pizza I had was called a “Mexican Pizza,” which only deserved its title thanks to its stingy sprinkling of jalapenos. The waitress, hearing the order, looked moderately worried and said, “It’s very spicy.” To which I wanted to say, “That’s kinda the point.” Instead, I grinned behind her back and decided that Russians are wimps when it comes to spiciness. And, indeed, I don’t think they had a single packet of crushed red pepper in the entire restaurant. It would probably burn the Russians’ tongues out of their faces…

After pizza, I decided to order dessert and bought a carrot cake. Yes, at the same Papa John’s. I thought it funny to be eating carrot cake at a Papa John’s in Russia, so I took this picture:

After dinner, I went to the game and sat in beside the СКА cheering section. Indeed, at both СКА games I’ve been to, there has been an entire portion of the stands devoted to a mass of well-organized СКА fans. I’m pretty sure you have to audition and prove your loyalty to СКА by getting a tattoo or a brand to be able to sit there. They have two gigantic flags in bold СКА colors (white, blue and red), they cheer in perfect unison and they even have a marching band drummer. It’s intense. It was fun sitting next to them, but I think I had more fun last time, when I was sitting beside the Moscow cheering section. (A section, by the way, thronged with militsia men and security officers. In my assessment, they’re there to prevent СКА fans from committing murder.)

The beginning of the game was awful. I was about 70% convinced that the СКА players had shown up drunk, because they kept missing passes, slipping and generally reacting really slowly. They managed to clean up their skating in the 2^nd and 3^rd periods, but Moscow already had momentum. Before the game ended, I went out and bought an official СКА baseball cap (in Russian, бэйсболный кап, which is hilarious if you read Cyrillic) partially because I didn’t feel like enough of a fan without brandishing their colors and partially because I hoped my purchase would magically help them play better, which I like to think it did. They scored three times after I started wearing my hat. Maybe if I had also bought a scarf or something, they would have won.

My hat is more than just a fan item – it’s a St. Petersburg icon. Indeed, on the brim is the St. Petersburg skyline, with the most famous landmarks in the city center. I have been to every location pictured. Here is the glory that is my СКА cap:

From left to right: The Admiralty, The Bronze Horseman, an opening bridge, Peter and Paul Fortress in the middle of the bridge, the Horse Tamers of the Anichkov Bridge on the Fontanka River and St. Isaac’s Cathedral.