Towel Power
The Importance of Asking Questions (And Giving Answers...)
I first started paying attention the the Canucks when I was still in my second year of university. At the time, I was living in residence, and I managed to get sucked into the hockey thing during the Olympics. We all crammed ourselves in to the lounge to watch the Canadian Men's team beat the Americans. After that, watching Canucks games seemed like a natural progression.
The earliest memory I have of this time is watching a game along with a friend of mine, Ashley, and one of the guys who lived on our brother floor. I wish I could remember his name, but to be honest, he really wasn't a very interesting person to begin with, so let's just call him Frank.
It was the playoffs; the most important time in hockey. I noticed that Frank always brought a small white towel with him to the lounge when we were watching games, but I never really thought much of it until one day, I overheard Ashley comment on the towel. I asked what the whole meaning of the towel was, and they both just looked at me and said "What, you don't know?" and then laughed it off.
I continued to ask, but they always refused to answer so finally I got fed up and said something along the lines of "Oh, whatever, it's just a stupid towel that you wave around, who cares?"
Oh, how little I knew.
You see, Towel Power is a tradition that started with the Canucks way back in 1982. You can forgive me for not knowing about it, as I was just a wee little newborn in 1982. But for those of you who don't know, well, read on.
In 1982, Roger Neilson was the assistant coach to Harry Neale for the 81-82 season. In March of '82, Neale was suspended for 10 games by the NHL for attempting to hit a fan during a game, after said fan had taken a poke at Tiger Williams around the glass. Neilson then took over as the coach.
Fast forward to the third round of the playoffs. Vancouver was facing off against the Chicago Blackhawks, who had home ice advantage. In the second game of the series, a bad call by the refs and the ensuing powerplay led to the Canucks being behind by a score of 4-2. Frustrated by the bad call, Neilson took a white trainer's towel, draped it over a spare stick and raised it in the air in mock surrender. The officials took exception to this, and tossed Neilson from the game. He was also fined by the NHL for his actions.
The reaction from several of his players, however, was quite different. Many were proud of what he had done and congratulated him. At game 3 in Vancouver, white towels sold outside of the Coliseum were eagerly snatched up by more than 16 000 fans. Inside the rink, fans enthusiastically waved the towels above their heads while cheering, and a tradition was born.
This is something that I had to learn on my own. A bit of quick research gave me the answer, but I have to wonder... What was so hard about telling me this story?
Some people tend to see hockey as some sort of sacred institution. They guard their secrets and are wary to let new people in on their history. Perhaps it is because they have seen so many bandwagon fans come and go. They feel they are more entitled and that they are a better fan. But a bandwagon fan can never become a "true" fan if they are excluded from the culture of the game.
Part of being a good fan, to me, means that you help out new fans. After all, the more the merrier. If someone asks a question about the game or the history of the team, they shouldn't be mocked for not knowing the answer. We should tell them as much as we can, because the more fans a team has, the less likely it is that they will be uprooted from their cities due to lack of support.
And how can anyone ever learn if they are not encouraged to ask questions?
The Importance of Asking Questions (And Giving Answers...)
I first started paying attention the the Canucks when I was still in my second year of university. At the time, I was living in residence, and I managed to get sucked into the hockey thing during the Olympics. We all crammed ourselves in to the lounge to watch the Canadian Men's team beat the Americans. After that, watching Canucks games seemed like a natural progression.
The earliest memory I have of this time is watching a game along with a friend of mine, Ashley, and one of the guys who lived on our brother floor. I wish I could remember his name, but to be honest, he really wasn't a very interesting person to begin with, so let's just call him Frank.
It was the playoffs; the most important time in hockey. I noticed that Frank always brought a small white towel with him to the lounge when we were watching games, but I never really thought much of it until one day, I overheard Ashley comment on the towel. I asked what the whole meaning of the towel was, and they both just looked at me and said "What, you don't know?" and then laughed it off.
I continued to ask, but they always refused to answer so finally I got fed up and said something along the lines of "Oh, whatever, it's just a stupid towel that you wave around, who cares?"
Oh, how little I knew.
You see, Towel Power is a tradition that started with the Canucks way back in 1982. You can forgive me for not knowing about it, as I was just a wee little newborn in 1982. But for those of you who don't know, well, read on.
In 1982, Roger Neilson was the assistant coach to Harry Neale for the 81-82 season. In March of '82, Neale was suspended for 10 games by the NHL for attempting to hit a fan during a game, after said fan had taken a poke at Tiger Williams around the glass. Neilson then took over as the coach.
Fast forward to the third round of the playoffs. Vancouver was facing off against the Chicago Blackhawks, who had home ice advantage. In the second game of the series, a bad call by the refs and the ensuing powerplay led to the Canucks being behind by a score of 4-2. Frustrated by the bad call, Neilson took a white trainer's towel, draped it over a spare stick and raised it in the air in mock surrender. The officials took exception to this, and tossed Neilson from the game. He was also fined by the NHL for his actions.
The reaction from several of his players, however, was quite different. Many were proud of what he had done and congratulated him. At game 3 in Vancouver, white towels sold outside of the Coliseum were eagerly snatched up by more than 16 000 fans. Inside the rink, fans enthusiastically waved the towels above their heads while cheering, and a tradition was born.
This is something that I had to learn on my own. A bit of quick research gave me the answer, but I have to wonder... What was so hard about telling me this story?
Some people tend to see hockey as some sort of sacred institution. They guard their secrets and are wary to let new people in on their history. Perhaps it is because they have seen so many bandwagon fans come and go. They feel they are more entitled and that they are a better fan. But a bandwagon fan can never become a "true" fan if they are excluded from the culture of the game.
Part of being a good fan, to me, means that you help out new fans. After all, the more the merrier. If someone asks a question about the game or the history of the team, they shouldn't be mocked for not knowing the answer. We should tell them as much as we can, because the more fans a team has, the less likely it is that they will be uprooted from their cities due to lack of support.
And how can anyone ever learn if they are not encouraged to ask questions?
posted by moreawesomethanyourlife at 12:59 PM
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