The Wave

I was at a fight today and a hockey game broke out. Now you KNOW that I wouldn't be caught dead at a hockey game. I'd actually be more likely caught sleeping. I don't understand hockey well enough, and the 2 halftimes are altogether too much for my A.D.D. to handle. And there are too many substitutions. Okay, I'm starting to sound like I understand and watch the sport. To be totally honest, I have only a tolerance for the very impressive highlights that they show on Sportscenter every night during the longest pro season of them all. It seems like its ALWAYS hockey season. No I'm just rambling, as usual.

I was actually at a basketball game today and a wave broke out. No, the perfect storm didn't hit and no I wasn't swept away by a tidal wave straight into an internet cafe where I'm recording this entry right now. No, that didn't happen either. It would make for a great story, but that's not how it went down. I'll explore fiction in the next stage of my development. For now I'll keep the training wheels on. The Golden State Warriors were keeping the Dirk-less Dallas Mavericks at bay when the folks in section 207 decided that they wanted to reach into the retro vault and resurrect the wave. Yes, the wave. Yes, THAT wave. Remember? Back in the '80s and maybe on through the early '90s you couldn't go to a stadium without being sucked into a wave that might last for 4 or 5 minutes at a time, completely distracting the serious fan from the action taking place between the lines.

I hadn't seen the wave in years. Well, at least not a good one. A couple times at an A's game in the last couple of years some folks tried to get it started but it quickly died. For some reason, once people sit down, they just don't feel much like prying their caboose's out of those tight stadium seats for anything less than the greatest play they've ever seen, a bathroom break or a beer run. Back in the day, a good wave might make its way around the stadium a dozen times or so, getting the fans into such a frenzy that they yelled and screamed to their hearts content. It's a wonder that the players didn't turn around to watch the spectacle in the stands.

Today's fan apparently isn't interested in all that. We want to see the action on the field and want to enjoy some top quality snacks and we want to pay top dollar. We do? Well, not me, but I guess that everyone else is alright with it because I sure don't see anyone boycotting the concession stand. I'm holdin' it down for Stadium hunger strikers all by myself. My own kids won't even join me in a show of solidarity.

Where have you gone Krazy George? Today's fickle fan needs your raspy voice and that drum more than ever. I laughed when they actually got that wave going after about 6 or 7 tries. The peer pressure was too much for the folks in section 201. All of the other sections boo'd then each time the wave died in their section. Finally, they got their act together and the section next to them followed suit and then the section after them and so on , and so on....

Before long, even the folks in the lower bowl were doing it. What a display of spirit and enthusiasm? Way to bring it back, Bay Area Fans! Next time, let's just try to do it during a time-out instead of in the final minutes of a close game.