For some reason, Americans love to append the words "on ice" to certain cultural phenomena. Flintstones? Put them on ice. Riunite? On ice, so nice. Monster trucks? Wait a minute… Monster trucks on ice? Perhaps that's the logical next step for this form of extreme entertainment, sort of like taking away the poles from slalom skiers, or the bikinis from mud-wrestlers. Imagine the scent of oil on ice, frozen chips a-flying, trucks a-skidding, cars a-being crushed. Putting the motorized behemoths on a near-frictionless surface to romp, stomp and race makes for a true wing-ding-dandy evening with the kids.The Rolling Thunder Monster Truck Challenge on Ice offers fans famous trucks (Big Foot, Kongo Kong), the car-devouring Transaurus, mini-monster truck racing and Fast Trax "pro modified" lawn mower racing, something parents and children can practice themselves after the Sunday grass cutting. But just because it's on ice, don't expect a fancy-pants announcer to praise the difficulty of a triple lutz followed by a triple axel. Unless that ends in something getting crushed. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, November 14 and 15. Ford Arena, 5115 I-10 South in Beaumont. For information and tickets, call 409-833-7747 or visit www.ticketmaster.com. $13.50 to $25. -- Eric Norvell
Mad Bad Plaid
Golf apparel and runway glamour have never exactly gone hand in hand. After all, this is a sport whose top prize in a major tourney is a kelly-green blazer. The Bad Pants Open, a charity event benefiting the Texas Children's Hospital's Newborn Center, takes the tradition of retina-searing attire one step further. Prize categories for the tournament include Worst Individual Attire, Worst Team Attire and Most Original Attire. Duffer's trophies will go to the teams in first, second, third and last place. The entry fee includes a Becks Prime lunch and a Truluck's Steak and Stone Crab dinner, so you might want to make sure those bad pants have an elastic waistband. 9 a.m. Monday, November 17. Black Horse Golf Club, 12205 Fry Road. For information, call 832-824-2117 or visit www.badpantsopen.com. $300 entry; free for spectators. -- Lisa Simon
