Re-posted from my own blog.

The Jack-in-the-Box Taco Minute has become the Jack-in-the-Box Taco Minutes! I made it clear at the beginning of the season how I felt about the promotion as it was first presented. Now, there is something to add: The crowd took to booing the announcement of the Taco Minute, which was announced during the last TV time-out of the second period of each game. People of the Arena, I thank you for booing this awful promotion and our voices, apparently, have been heard!

Yes, two games ago (LA @ SJ), there was no announcement of the promotion, although the Taco Minute icon still appeared on the gondola screen during the final minute of the second period. This last game vs. the Minnesota Wild, I noticed that the promotion, although unannounced, had been changed to the Jack-in-the-Box Taco Minutes, plural. Now, the promotion is for the final two minutes of the second period.

And it immediately paid dividends! Torrey Mitchell scored a one-timer directly off of Michal Handzus' face-off win with only 1:21 left in the second, giving each person watching the game a chance to win two free Jack-in-the-Box tacos. This, and the fact that I got a free slice of Amici's pizza in a commercial break give-away (Amici's, you may remember, is the reason the Round Table Four-in-the-Net promotion is gone), has temporarily softened my opinion. But, while these turns of events have made me slightly less eager to get my hate on regarding the subject, this promotion still has its problems. Namely, 1) that you are required to send a text message before the end of the game to claim your free taco coupon, which means that anyone without a cell phone at the game cannot claim them; 2) the thing being given away is regularly priced at $1, only slightly more than the cost of sending a text message; 3) there is nothing to keep people watching the game at home from texting "TACO" to 74499 for their own chance to win, possibly depriving someone at the game from getting theirs;* and 4) Jack-in-the-Box tacos are nasty. While I'm at it: for all I've heard from people saying how much they like Amici's pizza, it was remarkably average. Sure, the crust was a little thinner, which some people consider the litmus test for "good" pizza, but it didn't taste any better. I was underwhelmed. So, even though I ended up getting a slice for free at the game, I would like to take this opportunity to send out a big "FUCK YOU" to Amici's East Coast Pizzeria. You have already deprived the fans of at least three (3) personal pizzas with choice of toppings from Round Table, this season, and the Sharks have only played seven of 41 home games!  FUCK YOU, AMICI'S! FUCK YOU!

I guess it's not that hard to hate on them, after all.

* Text "TACO" to 74499 whenever the Sharks score in the final two minutes of the second period of a home game!  Anybody can do this!  But remember: You have to do it before the game ends.