Worlds Most Expensive Towel

Ladies and gentlemen, here it is, the worlds most expensive towel...
Okay, maybe it's not the most expensive towel, I did find this one online, and $150 is a lot to pay for a towel. But that one is a bath towel and the one pictured above is about the size of a dish towel. So in terms of square footage, this one is more expensive.

And why was this towel $100? Because that's what the ticket cost to see game 4 of the National Hockey League playoff game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks. The towel was the give away item everyone received. We were sitting in the nose bleed seats with a face value of the ticket at $65. Yes our tickets were more or less scalped. We sat with the guys who bought them. They had 4 tickets and only 2 people, so my friend Root and I were the other two to complete the quartet.

Thinking about it, this probably wasn't the most expensive towel there. Considering people sitting much closer to the ice probably paid several hundred dollars for those seats. There towels, although the same, were much more expensive.

I think I was probably the only one in my immediate area to save my towel. My friend Root, along with the other two guys, and about 5 rows of people around me were Detroit Red Wing fans. So I was seated in enemy territory so to speak. I don't think any of those guys took home their towels.

This blog isn't really about the towels. It's more to ponder what is a fan. I'd like to think I'm a fan of hockey. I like the sport, I know the rules and object of the game. I'm familiar with it's players, both good and bad. I know a certain amount of stats and hockey history. Heck, I used to play goalie on my roller hockey teams both in Hawai'i and in California.

I like to sit at a game and watch the action. See a play unfold, a goal scored or an amazing stop by an acrobatic goalie. I can turn to my friends and comment on the game and have a discussion about tactics.

I think I'm a good fan.

And that's it. I'm a fan. What I'm not is a fanatic. Those are the fans that really make the live game suck for me.

Fanatics are people who scream until they are hoarse. The people who start or lead cheers. They are the ones that talk about the players like they are best buddies, knowing, and screaming, each player's nickname(even from the cheap seats), as if the guy will turn around and say, "Thanks Steve, for knowing that I'm called 'Nicky Lidstrom'."

Fanatics are the ones who scream (ESPECIALLY from the cheap seats) at the players when they make mistakes, or miss a pass, or don't see the open player. I'm not sure what they expect. Does it make them feel better to scream at people and point out their mistakes. On the flip side they scream loudest when the player does something right.

Fanatics also spend the better part of the game getting up and sitting down, thus blocking the people behind them from seeing the action. The stand to lead cheers, they stand when to point out mistakes. They sit when the other team scores.

But what fanatics do that I dislike the most, is they taunt and anger the people around them who are for the other team. What does this prove? Why do you feel the need to yell at someone, a regular guy like you and me, and berate them because they don't share your love for... a sports team. Because that's all it really is. It's a bunch of guys who are physically fit and super talented at a game. And if you think about it, the people who cheer for the other team have just as much a right to be there as you, because they team is also physically fit and super talented at a game.

Why do people feel the need to live and die at the hands of a sports team? The team wins, they live. The team loses they die. It's just a game.

Don't get me wrong, I love sports. I love hockey, I love football, I'm fond of baseball, and I can take or leave basketball. Oh, and cycling.... LOVE cycling. But I'm not screaming at the TV when a rider I like is falling behind. I'm not telling him to, "Make your move!" and then get mad when he doesn't. As a matter of fact, when I saw the Tour of California back in February, I felt a little strange (and slightly hypocritical) when I yelled at the peloton. That's not me.

What ever, I've ranted enough. I'm going to make it a point to start watching more sports on TV with Sean Patrick and take him to games when he's old enough. I'm going to teach him to be a fan and not a fanatic. Because sports, is just for enjoyment purposes, not for living and dying.

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