Current mood:
sleepy
sleepy
I'm not a sports fan, I've never been one. I was forced into baseball as a youth for reasons I don't look back kindly on.
That didn't stop me from wearing sports paraphernalia as a teenager though. One day I saved up enough money to buy myself something and I wanted a sports jersey. I refused to follow the heard and get Dodger's or White Sox or whatever was the current fad.
Enter the Mighty Ducks. The initial enthusiasm for the new team had already died down so I found an actual jersey for very cheap. It was cool but since I wasn't a sports fan I felt stupid every time I would wear it or when people would talk to me about the sport and I knew nothing about it. So it remained in my closet for a very long time.
My father works for a company that used to give their employees tickets to many sporting events such as Baseball, Hockey and even racing events. One day he gets a pair of tickets to see the Mighty Ducks at the Pond in Anaheim. He tells me to find someone to take but I insist it be he and I.
I figured what safer place to wear my Mighty Ducks jersey than at a Mighty Ducks home game, right?
So I pulled out my dusty Mighty Ducks jersey and wore it proudly. They just so happened to be playing the Redwings. I admittedly don't know anything about sports but I do know that the Redwings were a big deal. We didn't even make it to our parking spot before heckler's started yelling out rude comments.
We were walking to the stadium and drunken tailgaters menacingly approached us with glass beer bottles in hand.
So we go up to our seats and I'm immediately amazed at the difference between your average baseball seat and the smaller, more intimate Hockey viewpoint. We had average seats but they were great in comparison to your average binocular necessary Baseball ticket.
I'm feeling embarrassed and I could tell my father was feeling embarrassed for me. I looked around the stadium and it was a sea of red jerseys in the audience. Even my father's co-workers which were sitting right next to us started blabbing and even suggested my father disown me.
I felt stupid.
Not even 3 minutes into the game the Duck's score. The big horn goes off and my father and I both jump out of our seats in excitement and relief. Neither of us Hockey fans but we sure looked the part. We were laughing out loud at the irony of it all and slowly returned to our seats as we noticed the glares of everyone in the audience.
The Ducks were on a losing streak but they did go on to win it. The red jerseys were gone. I guess the "fans" had taken them off in their embarrassing loss.
I wore mine proudly. Not proud because I was a devout sports fan or even because the Mighty Ducks won an upset.
I wore my jersey proudly because even in the face of adversity, even when I felt embarrassed and humiliated, I kept that jersey on. Even when I thought they would lose, I kept that jersey on. I was not as cowardly as all those other "fans" and I was not even a fan to begin with. Standing my ground and holding strong to my opinion and decisions, a trait I believe I learned from my father.
The Mighty Ducks didn't play all that well that year but have since gone on to win the Stanley Cup which is the biggest thing a Hockey Team could win. I saw this on the news and it reminded me of this story.
This blog is not meant to be a bash against sports fans which I don't understand but a great memory I have of my father. I just thought I would share.
Comments:
Rahcool: If anything, I would have been embarrassed to wear the jersey not cuz of the team or cuz I know nothing about hockey but cuz of the awful piece of crap Mighty Ducks movies.
Wife: That was not the point of the blog but ok.
Wife: By the way, as always; good job on the mighty ducks logo! That's awesome!
Apple Something: Whoa, that is brave. I don't have the balls to do that.
Thanks for sharing this story. :)
Thanks for sharing this story. :)
HektikLyfe: You really think so? I've always thought it was cowardice. To be unable to say "you know what, I was wrong."
Wife: I love this story too. You still have that jersey. They are no longer called the Mighty Ducks though right? But they sure are still mighty. Yes, your trait is to stick to your decisions. Awww I thought it was so cute that you didn't want to take anyone else but your dad. I wonder what your dad's co workers said to him the next day.
Molly: lol this is a great story!
HektikLyfe: Thanks. I originally wanted to write a small book full of stories like this that I remember. But I know it would never get published and no one would ever buy it so fork it. On to MySpace.
HektikLyfe: Ignore the Smart Tags, MySpace's fucked up filters won't let me remove them. :S
(Blogger's text editor did allow me to remove the smart tags.)
