I am embarrassed to admit that I was once the girl who didn’t know how many periods were in a standard hockey game. I didn’t have the slightest clue where the penalty box was, and I definitely thought a power play involved something ?technological.
Going along with this, I’m no stranger to the reoccurring disappointment of having my favorite sports team lose — alongside all other Chicago Bears fans in the world.
Though I’ve been a football fan for the entirety of my life, after a while it gets hard to support a dead-last team when some other city out there is having the best football season of its life.
Having best friends who live and breathe hockey, though, has helped me to become the world’s ?biggest bandwagon hockey fan, which paid off after the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup victory Monday.
When I think of Blackhawks games, I think of an overly packed Buffalo Wild Wings, swarming with drunken younger adults in red and white jerseys, while “Chelsea Dagger” plays on repeat in the background. This scene was new to me this season, but it became a scene I came to know quite well. This was also where I learned all I know about hockey.
Admitting you know nothing about a sport is the first step to accepting the bandwagoner status. Seriously, have you ever tried to follow the puck around the ice? Honestly, there is nothing wrong with not understanding a sport, hockey or otherwise — sports have so many intricate rules it’s easy to mix them up and get caught up in logistics.
People tend to make a habit of claiming different sports they’re passionate about. It’s almost as if no one else can like a certain team if they’re already adored by someone else. In reality, there’s no difference between following a team for 10 days or 10 years.
In the end, all that matters is if a fan gives his or her undivided devotion to the team he or she is ?supporting.
Someone who has been following a team for 10 days may not know all the backstories of the players or what happened on a specific game seven years ago, but as long as they stay loyal to their new team, the specifics shouldn’t matter.
Some can see ?bandwagoning as negative, but instead it should be praised.
Someone is uniting to support a city and their sports team, whether they took a conscious effort in doing so beforehand or not. Sure, joining the masses can be seen as weak or unfulfilling, but there’s nothing more unfulfilling than having to sit at home on a Saturday night when all your friends are out watching the Blackhawks game together.
So, hockey fans, instead of bashing the bandwagoners celebrating the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup victory, join in on the celebration and be thankful for the overwhelming positive spirit.
snvanden@indiana.edu
