What I Did For (Sports) Love

[CUlater 89]

ESPN.com's Daily Quickie is looking for "What I Did For (Sports) Love"-type stories.   I'm sure some of the eLF members could contribute something interesting:

From The Daily Quickie page: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/quickie

[Q]Quickie: Your Turn
Ever done anything crazy/stupid/intense for sports love? Camped out, freaked out, flipped out in support of your favorite team?

I'm looking for your best stories for a Page 2 column I'm running tomorrow. A selection will be featured, alongside your favorite Page 2 writers.

Keep responses to 50 words or less, and use the e-mail link below to respond.
(Or just click here.)  http://sports.espn.go.com/page2/s/QuickieFeedback.html [/Q]

[Lauren '06]

Oh man, can one person enter multiple stories?  I think I'm going to win this.

[Jerseygirl]

Why don't we share here what we've done? I mean besides the "flying into Ithaca from [insert faraway place here] for a playoff game."

Ok, ok, I'll go first. At the 2003 Frozen Four, my friends and I were on the first stop of an all night drinking extravaganza, and some jerk was triumphantly waving one of those "UNH Hockey/Cornell Big Red Blows!" shirts around in what was apparently a UNH-infested bar. He asked for a Cornell girl to pose with the shirt for a picture. I agreed, then when they were setting up the shot, I wrested the shirt from his clutches and escaped with it. Details are hazy from there, but I am pretty sure I was pursued and was able to outrun them. So basically, I risked life and limb to ruin the party, and I think I succeeded, if but for one fleeting moment.  Was it out of love for my team or hatred for their enemy? I'm not sure, but I still have the shirt. Which in and of itself is a pretty mean feat, considering the copious amount of alcohol I consumed that night and the ground I covered, and all the places I could have lost it.

I know there are better stories out there, let's hear 'em.

[Jordan 04]

[Q]Section A Banshee Wrote:

 I think I'm going to win this.[/q]

....exclaims every sports fan across America.

[jtwcornell91]

Damn, I was expecting that story to involve a sports bra somewhere. :-D

[Tub(a)]

[Q]Jordan 04 Wrote:

 [Q2]Section A Banshee Wrote:

 I think I'm going to win this.[/Q]
....exclaims every sports fan across America.

[/q]


I really doubt every sports fan in America made a one-day international and intercoastal trip to see a random-ass hockey team play a normal regular season game that aroused the suspicion of Border Police.

And I really doubt that every sports fan was kicked out of a McDonald's and slept on a bench and/or airport to make the sporting event.


Just a hunch.

[ajec1]

Yeah, Lauren definitely deserves what we in MN refer to as RUBE CRED.

[Josh '99]

Nobody on this board has ever done anything crazy in the name of Cornell Hockey.

[Jordan 04]

[Q]Tub(a) Wrote:

 [Q2]Jordan 04 Wrote:

 [Q2]Section A Banshee Wrote:

 I think I'm going to win this.[/Q]
....exclaims every sports fan across America.

[/Q]
I really doubt every sports fan in America made a one-day international and intercoastal trip to see a random-ass hockey team play a normal regular season game that aroused the suspicion of Border Police.

And I really doubt that every sports fan was kicked out of a McDonald's and slept on a bench and/or airport to make the sporting event.


Just a hunch.
[/q]

No, not everyone has.  But I'm sure many have done a lot more.

And I didn't say everyone in America had done something specific.  Just that nearly every die-hard sports fan has done something extreme.

[Lauren '06]

[Q]Jordan 04 Wrote:

 [Q2]Section A Banshee Wrote:

 I think I'm going to win this.[/Q]
....exclaims every sports fan across America.
[/q]Thanks for surfacing the joke. :-D  Captain Obvious thanks you, good citizen, but he's got it covered from here.

[Lauren '06]

Since Jerseygirl asked, here's my story.  Long.  The version I posted to Quickie was significantly shortened.  Tub(a) gave a pretty good abstract.

I accidentally became a Vancouver Canucks fan sometime during the 03-04 season.  After the success of my sojourn to the Meadowlands in February that year (4-0 stomping of the Devils in their own barn kicked off by a Sedin/Sedin goal on the first shot, after an hour of sitting in the parking lot listening to yanndanis.com-esque clips of Brodeur saves), I emptied my bank account to fly from New York to Vancouver and back for one day over spring break.  One-day only because at the time I was booking it, I was planning for Cornell hockey occupying my weekends with playoffs. :-/

I had never been to Vancouver before, nor had I flown anywhere by myself before except between home and school.  To save money I flew red eyes in Wednesday morning and out Thursday morning and didn't bother to get a hotel.  This created a significant hold-up at customs, since I had no luggage and no real destination other than the rink on Wednesday night.  The flight arrived at about 11pm pacific and I was let go at 4am, after they went down the list of everybody on my mobile phone calling to verify my story.  Thankfully Grant was awake to answer, otherwise I'm sure they would have shipped me back to the states like they threatened to.

Highlights of my interrogation include accusing me of being a runaway (I was 20), punctuating real customs questions with Canucks trivia, asking if I kept documentation with me proving I was registered to return to Cornell the next fall, asking about my classes and upon learning I was an English major demanding to know why I was carrying a foreign-language textbook, and so on.  Without my precious ticketmaster printout I think I'd have been booted.  They then informed me that I couldn't stay in the airport after normal business hours, despite the numerous other people visibly sleeping in terminals waiting for their early morning flights.  Jerks.

A few hours later the first shuttle to downtown arrived.  I made friends with a backpacker from Australia who seemed to be in the same boat of hopelessly lost as I was.  He knew the name of a youth hostel downtown.  As it turned out the shuttle passed our stop, so they dropped us off on some residential street to wait for the next shuttle.  Minor.

Once downtown I peered in and out of hotels looking for visitor brochures.  I walked up and down taking pictures while it was still sunny out.  Went to Stanley Park, frightened myself out of venturing too far into it lest I never be heard from again.  Still had hours to kill and then it was raining.  Fled to Subway, quickly running out of money.  Wandered down to the historic district and then to the library, which had its own interior mall.  Then I went to the rink when I saw an entry line had begun to form.

(begin sentimental crappy stuff) As soon as I lined up I knew it was worth it.  The rapture hit me.  Here was a whole city that loved their hockey team and everybody.  I bought a hat and they gave me a free poster.  I went down to my seat (7th row up from ice level, man) and the regulars who didn't recognize me were really friendly, asked me questions, loved my story, complimented my hat because it had the vintage logo.  Good, good times.  A winning game after a month of post-Bertuzzi doldrums didn't hurt either.

Of course after that was the rough part.  I was in and out of hotel lobbies trying to look as inconspicuous as possible but eventually got kicked out, and then I was sleeping on a park bench in the rain, and then I was wandering around to see what parts of downtown were open.  Hallelujah, 24-hour McDonalds (across from the sketchy sex clubs)!  Got kicked out of that after 20 minutes too, even though I ordered something.  They are very anti-transient in Vancouver.  Guardrails splitting up the benches and everything, almost no awnings on the sides of buildings.  I saw only two other homeless people in my entire time wandering downtown.  I gave all the rest of my cash to the homeless lady, who then cursed me out for not giving her more.

Eventually I walked around looking for where I had seen the Australian guy go into the hostel but got myself lost, so I went back to the first hotel where the airport shuttle stop was.  Made friends with the SkyTrain janitor after 2am, he was from India and hated living in North America having to work two jobs.  He asked me creepy questions like whether or not I was married or had a boyfriend, but given his limited English capabilities I think that was all the small talk he knew how to make.  I had the same experience with a French exchange student in middle school.  Then the first shuttle to the airport came just before 6am and I was off.  I took the risk of getting fresh with the border patrol when I was back at the airport because they were asking me the same questions again, but blessedly they left me alone.  $10 mandatory airport maintenance fee later, and my adventure was over.  I'd do it again, I think, though with a B&B reservation for sure.  My parents still have no idea I did this, and I think it's better that way.

[French Rage]

Wow, after hearing that, accusing an opposing player of having VD doesnt seem that extreme.

[Josh '99]

I think it's safe to say that 95% of us have better stories than the stuff that ESPN decided to publish, but since they aren't about the Yankees or Red Sox or college basketball or football, there wasn't much chance of any of them getting used.  (And, after all, there's really no such thing as college hockey.)

By the way, my submission was about scheduling and taking the LSAT at Western Michigan in December of 2002 so I could go to every game in the 02-03 season.  Maybe not as crazy as Lauren's story, but I'm proud of it in my own way.  :-)

[KeithK]

Oh, the stories they posted are pretty good.  I especially liked the one where the guy broke up with the girl he was about to propose to because she kept asking why he cared that the Vikings had lost a playoff game.  Though you're right that college hockey was never likely to break into that column.

Lauren's story is pretty crazy.  Way too long for the column unfortunately.

[Josh '99]

[Q]KeithK Wrote:
Oh, the stories they posted are pretty good.[/q]Sure, some of them are good, but some of them are terribly generic.