Good day, Good day fellow Yinzers!
My what a fine morning it was to wake up and realize that your Pittsburgh Penguins are well on there way to the 2nd round of the playoffs. I would first off like to thank the 3rd line: Cooke, Staal, and Dupuis for a monstrous overtime victory last night and an excellent goal by "Super Duper" to put us in the conference semi's!!!
Now, because we still have games to be played in the 1st round, I cannot offer a playoff preview (considering we could play 1 of four teams: Habs, Flyers, Bruins, and Sabres). Therefore I would like to propose a little academic theory about the phenomena known as fan superstition.
Superstition is not an uncommon routine for athletes in the wide world of sports. Shaquille O' Neal used to paint his toenails before every playoff game. In hockey, goaltender Patrick Roy used to dress his pads from left to right, and then hop over all the lines while skating to his crease. To a certain extent, superstitions can affect the outcome of a game. Players depend on it and they believe if they break the superstition, the good luck will end. As put so eloquently by Crash in the movie Bull Durham, "Don't f*** with a winning streak", and it is as simple as that.
That being said, I cannot always help but notice this time of year that fans begin to embark on the same traditions that the athletes do. Some fans take it a few steps further. In my experience as a Penguins fan I have seen a great deal of interesting pre game rituals. Here are some phenomena's that I have discovered:
Theory 1: The Magnitude of a Loss can drastically change a Superstition
The best example I can use for this is game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals last year against the Detroit Red Wings. If you don't remember this nightmare game, we lost, we lost 5-0. My friend and fellow Pens fan Brandon and I decided before that game that we should embark on a quest to find some Iron City beer and drink one before the game. We found the only 2 bottles in Blacksburg, VA at the time. We drank, we lost, and I have not touched Iron City since that day. We thought that drinking Pittsburgh beer would somehow create a "chi" with the Pens (don't laugh, I know you've done something like that, too). Nevertheless, because of that day, Brandon and I are deathly afraid to go anywhere near an Iron City beer before a game because of that loss.
Theory 2: Deeper in the Playoffs, Deeper Superstition
It truly doesn't take a Rhode Scholar to crack this case. However, if you are a true Pens fan, every round that they advance becomes almost a ritual. You will not shave, you will not wash that putrid jersey for 2 1/2 months, you will alienate friends because they mess with the inner workings of your playoff routine. Perhaps most notably, when you look back at what you did to prepare for a game (or ignored basic hygiene) you may look back and say, "What was I thinking?" However, as the band Asia once wrote, "It was the heat of the moment". You will ignore all the normal patterns of your daily life and devote them to the Pens.
If you haven't done it yet, wait a week...
Theory 3: Any Break of Superstition and "The Cosmic alignment breaks into oblivion"
Noted words after the same game 5 I had mentioned previously. Why? May I present a story...
After game 5, I was devastated. I was not sure if we even had a prayer to win the Stanley Cup at that point. Now, I have 2 jerseys in my repertoire at that point: a black Sergei Gonchar jersey, and a white Gary Roberts jersey. All throughout the playoffs I had worn the same Gonchar jersey night in and night out. Then i conducted a bold but reluctant move, I took theory 1 into play and i tossed on my white Gary Roberts jersey and hit the bar. The response that ensued, I will never forget...
Shock. Disgust. Anger. Panic. (No, I am not joking)
I had broken a cardinal sin, as if I shaved off my playoff beard. My friends were going to make sure that I was aware of it. However, we won game 6, and it was later that night where my friend, Ryan stated to me, "You had better wear that jersey for game 7". I did, and the rest was history...
Theory Four: Superstition is all about control and communion
So what it all boils down to is this... Why do we practice the same superstitions as the players we watch? What I drink, what I wear, where I sit in a particular place will not effect the outcome of a game. Tyler Kennedy does not become cognizant of what I am wearing in the middle of a game. So why do we believe in superstition (and neglect basic hygiene) and here are the two main things I have come up with...
I like to think of myself as Mario Lemieux in the box when I watch the Pens. Mario has a playoff beard, but Mario doesn't play anymore. As fans, we want to pretend that we have some kind of minute control over a game. Even if it is small. If we believe that wearing a jersey, sitting down, standing up, drinking a certain beer, or congregating at a certain spot gives us any power over the game, then that's what we'll believe, and we desperately want to believe it.
Additionally, let's be honest, anyone who is a true hockey fan will appreciate a fan playoff beard, no matter how bad it looks. We talk to those people that we see every night and may not sit next to. Anyone we see that shows they are in this playoff series for the long haul night after night, we will tip our sweat drenched hat off to them. Additionally, when the Stanley Cup is won, I guarantee you hugged a complete stranger in overwhelming elation.
So, Superstitions may be stupid, potentially wreck-less, and potentially hazardous to our health. We do it for one reason and one reason only... To show how much we love the Pens. If the players don't see it and appreciate it, maybe some friends that are Pens fans will...
Sidenote before I go:
Before the playoffs:
After the 1st round:
Go Beard. Go Pens.
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