'Nucks IceMan

Canadian fans after Gold Medal game in downtown Vancouver

Written by: Larry “The IceMan” Johnson

I thought I would write something a little different than the normal hockey article because this theme could apply to any sports type of fan.

What is this common purpose that brings fans together on a united front besides the game?

There seems to be a distinct feeling and look of a fan that permeates throughout this gathering.

As age or gender goes there is no qualifier, as you will see men, women, small children and great grandparents, which transcend generations.

They seem to speak in a tongue that is recognized by all in attendance, one that is known as “sports jargon”. They’re all knowledgeable and some articulate like an encyclopedia, with facts and figures that fly out of their mouths as quickly as a computer.

They like to dress up the same and don garments that are similar, with their favourite jerseys and hats or better yet, paint their faces with a number of scenes and colours.

Brazilian Soccer Fan

How come when they get together with complete strangers they converse with them, like they’ve know them for years? Before the end of the game they’re high fiving and clinking glasses together like they’ve just found lost members of their family or they’ve just won the lotto.

By the way, what was that lady’s name again in case I run into her next time?

How does all that energy in your favourite drinking establishment or home arena, get so charged? It’s like lighting crackling on a still, dry summer night? The teams have expressed it as a “buzz” in the crowd and for some unknown reason it becomes a “special night”, one that you can refer to in a New York minute.

Even the team feels it and it’s been called “the extra player”, depending on which sport you’re watching.

This energy that is so enormous seems to be able to be transferred from the arena, your home or in a pub, then gathered together in a huge wave within the country, province or state, and transferred down a line as an electric bolt that charges the team to greater heights.

It can happen at any time. At the beginning, middle, or end of the season and most definitely all through the playoffs.

The roar from the conversations going on wherever they are located, is about a constant 100db reading and when the home team scores, it’s like you’re standing beside a jet at the airport waiting to take off. It’s that deafening.

There’s people jumping up and down, back slapping, hugging, pounding the bar, clapping and oh yes, “how about another round”!

The bigger the game, the more intense it gets. The nervousness is very evident and in full bloom. There are people chewing on their swizzle stick, walking back and forth like they’re in the maternity ward, eyes fixated on the action, while some are covering their eyes. “I can’t watch” they say”.

Disappointed fan Jet-Chargers football

Ah ha, but the other side can be downright dark. The collective feeling when the home team loses is like the air being sucked out of the whole place. There’s the cursing and wringing of hands, blank looks, some tears actually shed. The silence is eerie.

 You’d swear you’re at a wake and the world has come to an end.

Going home is a silent walk or ride and the replay of the game in your mind never seems to turn off, but the reality is that game has come to an end.

No matter which way it turned out you’ll be back, because when you think really hard about it, who didn’t enjoy themselves!

But the most important part….. is that it felt so good to be a part of it all and one big raucous family.

Until we meet again,

A fan – Nucks IceMan.

To catch all the news, updates and new articles as they occur, along with the Canucks farm team the Manitoba Moose, you can follow me @twitter.com/nucksiceman.com and @communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/fanattic/default.aspx

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Filed under: NHL