I don’t care if they were giving away free Powerball tickets, pizzas and handjobs. 17,826 is a ridiculously big crowd for a CHL hockey game.

Closer to home, where four figure attendences (if lucky) prevail, the Austin Ice Bats won their season finale, 2-0 over Tulsa, with goalie Miguel Beaudry collecting his 3rd shutout of the year. Victories later in the day by Rio Grande Valley and Amarillo eliminated the Ice Bats from playoff contention, a development that should barely register on the local richter scale compared to UT’s loss to LSU, Vince Young’s time in the 40, or the growing outrage over the illegality of being drunk in a bar.