The Fan (part 1)

So there I was sitting in my seat at the Jobing.com arena in Glendale, AZ. The Chicago Blackhawks were in town and the arena was at least half full. The tickets cost me $30 each, and on Thursday home games that includes all you can eat (hotdogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and soda), so I was very excited.

You don't have any control over who you sit beside, so it is always interesting to see what type of fan you will get. The fans (about 4 of them) possibly season ticket holders, who clearly knew everything about hockey... well at least they thought they did, were to my right. I actually asked my wife to switch me seats after the first so I could hear them better. Now, I am not claiming to be a hockey expert, but I grew up in Canada and played for over 20 years at decent levels throughout my career. That being said I know my way around the game.

This type of fan, which is highlighted in part one of The Fan, is... (run on sentence time, take a breath) the fan who comments on every play, loud enough so everyone around them can hear their "expertise", complain about every penalty deserved or not when it is call on "their" team, think that every time a player on "their" team gets touched it should be a penalty on the other team, complain about every player on "their" own team until he does something good, and then still complains about that player a little more, mentions every few minutes what the team needs to do to succeed, yell's "why didn't he shoot" when he passed and "why didn't he pass" when he shot and proceeds to give a standing cheer when "their" team, who was leading by at least 2 goals the whole game, played well (but apparently couldn't do anything right all game, when the refs weren't screwing it up for them) and walk away saying "well we got the win, good game tonight". (and breathe)

No exageration, these guys commented on every play, I heard a few "great pass" when a D to D pass was made with no one near them (not sure it was "great"). My point is useless comments that don't really reflect on the game and are plays that you forget 5 seconds later, don't need to be commented on every few seconds. They were all complaining and talking which enable the buddy's to feed off of it and get a little louder to get his point across to his pals and 3 sections around them. The ironic thing is they looked like unknowing hockey guys, at least to those of us who know a little. They group into another category as well, which was I know every transaction "my" team has made and know who playes in the minors, so therefore I know everything about the game play on the ice, shift to shift.
I don't get it, but I sat there enjoyed the game with my four hotdogs, tray of nachos, peanuts, and 4 sodas with my wife (she had her own food), because after all it was my night to cook, so an "all you can eat" hockey game was my special treat.

Big Z