Flyer Fans, As You Might Expect, Do Not Take Kindly to Red Wings' Fleeces

Way back in March, we ran a BMR March Madness pick 'em pool. Hockey fans picking college basketball games. Go Figure. Anyway, the winning prize was a guest post here at BMR and, by virtue of his prognosticating power, Alex from Los Angeles beat us all and was awarded said guest post. His words follow the conclusion of this sentence.

FansEdge.com

It's been over a month since Kansas earned me the right to a guest post as winner of the BMR NCAA tournament pool, and ever since I've been waiting for the muse to strike so I could use that post. Today was that day, and it's about time...

So here's the story.

I live in Los Angeles, where hockey ranks somewhere between the L.A. Galaxy and yoga, and so my Flyers fanhood is not well understood. One of the few people who get it - or so I thought - was my boss, who, despite being a Rangers fan, is a good enough guy. He doesn't mind when I listen to Flyers games online at work. He's enough of a fan that he even flew back to New York for Brian Leetch's jersey retirement. He gives me crap about rooting for the Flyers, and I give it back to him about the Rangers. I kind of figured he understood the concept of team loyalties and rivalries.

That was until today.

This morning, a gift arrived in the mail for him from a friend who apparently doesn't know too much about hockey. It was a Red Wings fleece. For a Rangers fan. To my surprise, my boss wasn't immediately repulsed, but instead said he couldn't wear it because it was too big.

Then he offered it to me. I told him thanks, but due to the Flyers' sweep at the hands of the Wings in the '97 Cup Finals, I would never wear a Red Wings shirt. Ever. I had tickets to Game 5 of that series, too. Screw you, Fedorov.

It was a pretty nice fleece, though, so I offered to give it to a misguided soul I know who roots for the Wings. My boss, however, seemed a little taken aback that I had refused his gift in the first place, and decided that he would instead send it to another friend of his. Fine. Whatever.

Later on, he handed me the fleece and told me to put it in the mail. His friend is a Maple Leafs fan.

Sheesh.

***

Since I have this opportunity to post here, I'm also shamelessly going to plug www.uclahockey.org. Buy some stuff and support my old team.

And finally...go Flyers! Crosby's playoff beard is a joke!