by glaherty » Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:24 pm
I am certainly not blow dried, but I have never entirely gotten the "jersey
wearing" thing, it seems a little wannabe and fraternal to me. Growing up as
a Very staunch hockey fan in the 60's, I listened intently to Canucks Western
League games with Jim Robson at the mike, I followed the team, enjoyed hockey,
went to quite a few games, but never, ever felt like I was "part of the team". They
were the players, I was a guy who watched the games, it never occured to fans
in those days, to wear the jersey of the team. That was reserved for the guys
actually PLAYING. Like so many things that have changed about the game,
most of them courtesy of the Americanization, now it's not only common, it's
almost mandatory. Same with painting your face, it's like the Seinfeld episode,
where Puddy says "gotta support the team babe". That just seems goofy to me.
Cheer when they score, sure. Honk your horn for hours when they win
a first round game, well I dunno about that. Other than a Leafs jersey I got
one Christmas when I was about 7, (in the days of the 6 team league), I have
NEVER worn a hockey jersey, without also having pads and skates on. That's
just me though, serve it up. It could also come from having watched, covered,
and played in several thousand hockey games at various levels. Some of the
newbie fans of this era, I have trouble getting,(is there more of a juvenile blackhole than parts of the Canucks.com forum???) but they'd just tell
me to hop on my dinosaur, and go watch vintage games. Go Canucks go, though,
it has been a magical year in terms of winning the close ones, Luongo has them
up 3-1, and looking like they're ready for a run. Anybody got his jersey?
Lp