Hey Wild fans!
In this edition of "The 5-Hole" we'll sound off about...sounding off!
First let me say that I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Years.
Speaking of New Years, I must confess that I had originally planned to chuck the ever-predictable "resolution" blog at you all for our latest installment.
But alas, I am once again several weeks tardy in finally working up a fresh blog for the web site, thus it seems that by default there is no way such a topic would suffice. We're simply too far into 2011 now to be thinking about what we might do differently this year than in the ones previous.
Besides, I've always wondered about the timing of the whole "New Years resolution" thing anyway. I mean, I fully understand the concept of starting over with a reset of 365 days to work with (366 every four years).
But seriously, doesn't it seem as if everyone is just too dang hung over from an entire month (or "season") of shopping, trimming, baking and/or cooking/roasting (as in chestnuts for the latter...we hope!), decorating, caroling, charging, paying off and charging again, wrapping, unwrapping, returning, flying, driving, riding the rails, and drinking all of that egg nog to really make any coherent sense out of a commitment of any serious variety to ones own self or to anyone or anything else for that matter?
No!
Nonetheless, if you've made a resolution or two for the coming weeks and months ahead, I wish you all the best with it ;-)
So, rather than taking a head first plunge into that unchlorinated county pool, we will instead be delving into a completely different subject that was strangely inspired just the same by the celebration of New Years.
It was actually my reference to broadcast cohorts Pat Norlin and Rich Haney as "party favors" when on air during the pre-game warm for the December 31st contest with Fresno that gave me the idea for us to chat about "sounding off"!
Now, I'm sure that when you were all younger (or maybe even to this day for some of you), you probably had some raging parties for various occasions like a birthday for example?
And I'm certain that at some point along the way, someone introduced you to one of the world's favorite and timeless accoutrements for any big bash...the noise maker!
Most of them that I can remember seeing from my youth looked quite strange. So bizarre in some instances, that it was almost as if you had stumbled across something you really weren't supposed to see or have in your hands at all.
Some of these carnivalesque curiosities looked like old cans of sardines with rounded corners and a little plastic handle that, when cranked, sprang the internal coggery to life with a tinnish yet inexplicably festive clunk.
Another entertaining implementation of shrieking shindiggery is the paper blowout or paper horn. Come on, we've all seen them, and we've all used one like a relentlessly annoying snake to repeatedly lash at someone's face while it wails in rhetorical agony to further the victimized revelers pain.
Of course there are many more, and you can rack your brain to think of as many as you like when it comes to partying.
But, my big question for Wild fans is "in what way do you prefer making noise when at Town Toyota Center for a hockey game?"
Do you use any of the aforementioned devices to try and rattle the opposition and root on the home boys?
Or do you have a special toy that's even more maddening and vociferous? I know that I have seen someone in the crowd with a big long trumpet looking thing that it blue in color and appears to made out of Nerf!? I call it the "Muppet trumpet".
The air horn is a very popular distraction for any venue these days and has become a mainstay for those fans looking to call as much attention to themselves as possible.
Thundersticks are a more recent advent for the purpose of echoing chaos throughout a sports arena. You can exercise a free set of these for yourself if you attend the game on Friday, November 14th.
And then there's the cowbell...oh yes...the dreaded cowbell! That seemingly innocent and quaint little charm used by our farming forefathers to help keep an audible account of their wandering livestock that has been so devilishly upgraded by shameless 21st century promoters to give away in heavy volumes as a novelty and thereby create the most infuriating and frenzied cacophony known to all of human kind when resonated in unison.
I must admit, after being in the radio and television biz for over a decade now, it takes some kind of ruckus to distract my veteran focus from the task at hand. But the cowbell, at least when vitalized in quantities of more than a few hundred, absolutely drives me to the very brink of total insanity!
Even the cushy and padded headset that I sport when working which completely covers and protects both of my ears cannot offer sufficient protection from the torturous clamoring of all those cowbells!!
Well, now that you know what the canker of my sportscasting career is, have you been able to figure out what your favorite discord is to create when taking in a game at TTC?
OK, I get it, maybe you're a pureist? You don't need some fancy horn to toot or bell to jangle in order to disturb the peace. All you need to conjure up some bedlam is your big bad voice! Right?
Yup, I'd have to say, that's got to be the number one choice among most fans to vocalize their general feelings about the game.
Much of this manifests in the form of yelling or hollering, and it can be either positive encouragement for the home boys or as vicious ranting at the opposition and the officials. Especially the officials!
This verbalization might be a slew of clear and precise statements or take the form of slobbery and nonsensical gabble. In the latter you are apt to also detect any of the following; hissing, spitting, crowing, face making, tongue jabbing, raspberries, cooing, heckling, jeering, whistling sounds, a variety of hand gestures and of course booing.
There's nothing quite like a few thousand folks all looping their lips in harmony and making that unmistakable resonance of discontent...BOOOOO! Hah, love it ;-)
Whatever the case may be, I hope you will all be out to see the three games coming up at Town Toyota Center this week when your Wild battle the Kenai River Brown Bears.
And when you do arrive at the rink, I sincerely anticipate that you will all feel unencumbered enough to make as much noise in whatever way you choose to cheer on the Wild and give the Bears some heck!
Just remember to be the great and classy fans that I know you are by staying in control of those awe inspiring vernaculars at all times, especially when addressing our visitors from Soldotna and those fellows wearing the stripes.
Oh, and on the note of air horns, you might want to find out if these are a go inside the arena. I'm actually not certain myself, but I know that in some stadiums they have been banished!
Just promise me you won't all show up with your cowbells on ;-)
See you at the rink!
Chris Hansen is the play-by-play voice of the Wenatchee Wild and can be heard on gamedays with Pat Norlin and Rich Haney at AM 560 KPQ on radio in North Central Washington and online at FastHockey.com…his web site blog, "The 5-Hole", will be updated at least once a week here at WenatcheeWild.com
