Let me set the scene first. A young Express fan was pretty verbal in his support for the team, shouting out cheers and DANCING crazily when songs were played in the venue. Most of us in the stands were absolutely entertained by this young man...except for the Wings fan mentioned above. This turned her into an absolute - for lack of a better word without being too graphic - IDIOT. She and other Wings fans starting shouting things out like, "Express sucks!" OK, I could handle that one. I've heard worse. But it continued. One Wings fan began assaulting Chicago - yelling out something about how wonderful Kalamazoo is, and how we all live in the Murder Capital of the Country. Yes, Hoffman Estates is a hotbed of crime and murder! Well, at this point my competitive side began to get a bit riled up. I turned around and just sort of gave them my "teacher eye" but didn't say anything. The woman (aka IDIOT) now began her verbal assault on this teenager. The kid just laughed it off for the most part. The Sears Centre became an arena of aggression and hostility. Season ticket holders began letting this woman know how rude she was - let's leave the verbiage shared to your own imaginations. Suffice it to say it wasn't pretty!
Security was then involved and spoke to the female (?) fan and warned her about her behavior. The teen was also spoken to. While the young man tamed down his cheers, the female fan took unsportsmanlike behavior to a whole new level. It's funny how physically ugly someone becomes when their words are so filled with ignorance. This brazen beast now decided to get up and walk over to the area where the players leave the ice to return to the locker room. She unfurled a huge Wings flag, draped it over the railing, and proceeded to taunt the Express players with "You suck!" hurled at each player as they walked through. Shamefully, my Guagenti competitiveness began bubbling over. But, I maintained some semblance of civility and said nothing - Artie already sensed my angst and sort of corralled me and my mouth (he did however once encourage me to "go get her").
I drew upon what I knew was best. Be the adult. Be a role model for the kids witnessing this debacle - who, by the way were very interested in all of the actions in the stands because at this point it was certainly better than the game being played. The Wings went up 4-1 and stayed that way up until the 3rd period, but that can wait for a bit.
I immediately had flashbacks of some of the obnoxious/verbally abusive parents I've seen along the way through my own kids' days of youth sports. I was always amazed at how some parents could behave in the stands. As an educator and wife of a man who coached youth sports throughout our son's youth, I was appalled at what I saw and heard in the stands. It became clear to me that the IDIOT was a big bully - the villain all kids fear - in an adult's body. Judging from her appearance, I am surmising that she was the victim of bullying as a child and was getting even.
At this point in the evening, Express fans were frustrated with the scoreboard and overall play of their team. I recalled the one and only time I ever saw my own sweet father lose his cool at a youth indoor soccer game. Danny and his team were playing a ragtag group of deviate soccer players, obviously thrown together to wreak havoc in this indoor soccer league - they were untalented, unskilled brutes who had probably never played a day of soccer in their teenage lives. A wimpy official had let the game get completely out of hand. He refused to call penalties and our kids were being assaulted on the indoor soccer field - concrete covered by fake grass. Things got particularly ugly for us when a despicable brute literally picked up my son and threw him headfirst into the boards. I jumped up and demanded a penalty, which never came. I saw my father, who always sat as close to the glass as possible, stand up, and he looked angry. The game progressed in its ugly state, and honestly, I don't know what the final score was, but I know our team (comprised of skilled Wheaton North and Glenbard North soccer players) won.
As we hooked up with my mild-mannered father again, he had a strange look in his eyes and seemed to be on a mission. He walked quickly ahead of us and was headed towards the ref, who as I see it, put our kids' safety at risk for an entire game. He walked up to the ref and exclaimed, "You don't deserve to wear a jockstrap!" which I guess in his day was a really bad thing to say to a ref. Lex Luther had taken over my Superman/Clark Kent dad. My father was quite the all-around athlete, even playing in the Cubs farm system in his younger days, and he always maintained the most appropriate decorum at sporting events. He always talked up good sportsmanship. But that afternoon he had lost it. I still smile whenever I think of it. But his meek display of frustration paled in comparison to the actions of the Wings fans.
Getting back to IDIOT's actions with the Wings flag - when the second period was about to end, a coalition of loyal Express fans took matters into their own hands...and it was a thing of sporting events beauty. They mobilized by lining the sides of the "tunnel" as well as the railing from where IDIOT hung her flag previously. Essentially, they blocked her from doing her heinous deed. IDIOT didn't let that faze her much. She stuffed herself between some fans and attempted to drape the flag again. What happened next will stay with me for a long time. A senior citizen Express fan positioned herself next to IDIOT and each time the ugly Wings fan tried to unfurl the flag, the senior blocked this from happening! I sort of drew in a breath and hoped this wouldn't elevate to fisticuffs, because this would have been ugly in all sense of the word! I think IDIOT must have sensed the feelings in the crowd and eventually slithered back to her seat.
Now to the good part of the evening... the Express entered the ice for the third period facing a three goal deficit. They had done nothing right up to this point. It seemed to me that it was the very atmosphere in the Sears Centre that changed them. They must have been picking up the vibes of hostility in the stands...and that "devil music" sure didn't help any to calm things down! They began the period with a two-player advantage and scored a goal pretty quickly. The fans loved it. But they loved it even more when the Express scored a total of 4 unanswered goals to win the game. Suddenly IDIOT was silenced, as were the other Kalamazoo fans who had earlier tried to flaunt the lead their team had. It was a thing of sporting beauty. The Express won the game.
It turned out to actually be a fun evening. Lots of laughter (thanks, crazy dancing kid), some arousal of my competitive side (thanks, IDIOT), and the miracle of a come-from-behind victory. This is always fun, in any event or phase of life.
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