BoT Roundtable – Traditions

In any sport, superstition is not limited to just the players.  All through the Sharks’ season, I meet with people and hear all sorts of different quirky things that people do.  One fan I met with has to eat wings before any game where the opposing team has a wing in their logo, another will switch beer from period to period if the Sharks are behind.  Because everyone is different, I put this question to our writers:

What are your Sharks traditions/superstitions/rituals?
Darryl
As for Sharks Pre game traditions or rituals…well the good news is that there are no animal sacrifices practiced…
Seriously, I actually have very few though I’ve been known to enjoy hot wings before a game (and during a game). I’ll usually wear a Sharks t-shirt when watching a game on Center Ice since I’m all the way down on the San Diego area. I have a old school Sharks jersey I will wear it attending a game (I try to make one or two a year). This year if the Sharks trailed after two periods I drank bacon flavored milkshakes…I wanted to go bass-o-matic originally but Mrs. Kingshark drew the line there and put the kabosh on that since she didn’t want to hear me puking all night…I guess she was right about that one…

Amy
I don’t know that I have any super set traditions or rituals but I do have some semi-weird things I guess. I tend to never watch games on TV when they are away, I like to listen on the radio a lot and hear the plays happening instead of seeing them. In the case that I am listening to it and they are down in the third period, I will take a shower…this tradition started when I got so frustrated with a game one night I walked away from listening to it, took a shower, and by the time I got out the game had been won! So yeah, every once in awhile I test that superstition out. The other thing is that I started wearing Gongshow T’s to every game. If I wear a T to the tank and they lose I won’t wear it to the tank again. I never wear sweaters (jerseys for anyone new to this sport) to games. Always Gongshow with some kind of Sharks paraphernalia with it.

Benny
Traditions: A bottle of Great White Beer every period (during the playoffs one year, I had a collection of over 50 bottles, they were doing pretty good).
Superstition: The teal back light to my TV has to be on on game day.
Rituals: Gotta have that Specialty Hot Dog (I forget the name of the place) and a Hef at the rink during the first intermission.

Mike
If I’m at the game, I will wear whatever jersey I last wore to a win.  If I’m at home, I’ll wear whatever jersey the players are wearing on the ice.  During playoff runs I always wear the same shirt under my jersey and don’t wash it.  My friends and family hate this.
I had a hat that I wore to consecutive losses and I threw it out like it was last month’s leftovers.  I once bought a hat at the Tank, Marleau scored a hat trick during the game and I naturally tossed it over the glass…and bought another of the exact same hat.  When he didn’t put in a 4th I decided the hat was bad luck and never wore it during a game again.
But it goes so much deeper than that.  Before a game I attend, I go to the Brit for a black and tan.  At the game I always get a bag of peanuts and a drink in the souvenir cup.  When the Sharks score I sit down immediately after Rock and Roll Pt. 2 is done, before drums come in. Before a big game I wear Sharks cufflinks and a Hockey Fights Cancer tie to work.  This is all just a small taste of my Sharks-related superstitions.
Gretzky put his equipment on left side first for his entire career.  If you don’t believe in superstitions, you don’t believe in The Hockey Gods.

Gordon
I can’t wear Sharks clothing except on game days, and if I have a shirt that is team/game specific it has to be the one worn.  I can’t wear the same shirt twice without washing it, so sometimes I wind up running my laundry after only a few days (ie the 5/7 and 5/9 Kings games).  If we lose I have to change my hat and when I’m at the game, I have to wear a jersey and hoodie.
For the last couple years, I take two of my cousins to games for our birthdays which are less than a month apart.  It’s only been for two years now, but it’s a tradition I intend on keeping until we all move away.
At the playoffs, whatever beard I have gets shaved the day before our first game. When our run is over, I wear every Sharks shirt I have on consecutive days until they are all dirty.  That’s a long time considering I have over twenty now.  And as for the beard, it only comes off when the purge is done.

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