I wrote about how I love going to baseball games in my last post, so this time I'll focus on hockey. I've started to rekindle my childhood adoration for the Red Wings as of late (thanks mostly to aforementioned significant other), and I was fortunate enough to go to two of their away games this year, both in Chicago against the BlackHawks (who do not warrant getting a link to their homepage, take that!). I'm a huge fan of seeing your home team in an away game. Some of you might be wondering if I enjoy getting boo-ed at and harrassed; I definitely don't, but I feel like a pretty legitmate fan for following my team into enemy territory and cheering for them despite the malevolent crowd of the opposing team's fans. I know that since I live in Chicago I didn't technically have to travel to see the Wings play the Hawks, but I had never experienced a game at the United Center, so I still felt like a newcomer to the Windy City's hockey scene.
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| United Center, 12/17/11 |
I went to one game in December and another in April to see these two Original 6 teams duke it out, and I have to recommend that if you're thinking of going to just one game all season, go to one closer to the playoffs. That's probably obvious, given that the stakes are higher closer to the postseason, but it's not just the teams who get much more aggressive as the playoffs approach. Fans in the United Center were going absolutely insane with their Detroit-hating during that April game! The Blackhawks' spot in the playoffs was hanging in the balance, and the "DETROIT SUCKS" cheers were echoing through the arena louder than thunder. Eric and I sat in Club-level seats (though we did not quite pay the club-level price, muahaha) and found ourselves surrounded by extremely ornery Blackhawks fans. To our delight, the place was also speckled with Red Wings loyals who had traveled the 5 hours to cheer on their team, and there were definitely enough of us to add insult to injury to Hawks' fans' egos whenever the Wings scored that day. Ultimately, the Wings won that game, and Chicago fans' menacing anti-Detroit cheers were made irrelevant. It was a really exciting game, made even more exciting because the battle was fought (and won) far from friendly Joe Louis Arena.
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| Red Wings Victory! 4/10/11 |
Although it's nifty to be able to take public transportation to and from sporting events in Chicago, if you do that and you happen to be wearing even the tiniest emblem of "the other team", you have to endure lots of heckling. This is true despite the season, time of day, outcome of the game, or which team is actually better. Detroit fans, take heed: Chicago sports fans hate. your. guts. So even if you're planning to watch the game at a bar, make sure you go to a Red Wings bar (the Tin Lizzie is awesome). If you go to an establishment that does not specifically support your team, you'll probably be harassed to no end, or worse, they might turn off the game halfway through!
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| showing my sports allegiance at work |
I'm hoping to follow the Red Wings to other parts of the country as well in upcoming seasons. Hockey games are the perfect things to get excited about in the dreadful middle of winter, and if I combine them with the chance to travel somewhere new, that's even better! So the joke's on you, January, February and March 2012: despite your best efforts to crush my soul with your frigid weather and lack of daylight, I'll actually have something really exciting to look forward to - Go Wings!
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