It only took two games for Leafs Nation to sink to a new low as one infamous fan went from hurling boos to his souvenir jersey onto the ice as the Buds floundered against Pittsburgh.
Has losing a pair of hockey games in October ever generated so much vitriol? Does being edged by the Habs and then undressed by the Pens, actually warrant such a public display of disrespect? By the time I started putting pen to paper the Leafs had already rebounded with a Manhattan road win. Does our newly naked fan now wish to retrieve his souvenir?
A true fan would not have parted so quickly with their treasure. For the jersey is the purest form of displaying your true colours and loyalty to your team.
How powerful are the True Colours of Fans? Exhibit one for me was all my Cleveland Browns’ acquaintances mocking me of their throttling of my Steelers on the weekend. Notice I didn’t say Cleveland Browns’ friends! Browns fans epitomize True Colours. Their team name is a colour, albeit they were actually named after their founding owner Paul Brown. Their greatest player of all time was named Jim Brown. They are the only NFL team to have their franchise sneak out of town at midnight and yet have the league’s rulers strip the deserters of the Browns name and trademark as it was considered a true part of Cleveland’s DNA. Like the Leafs, the Browns haven’t won the title since the mid-60’s. Yet their fans have remained loyal.
The irony of the jersey toss is I had just noticed last week one of the coolest sports sponsorship activations I have seen in a while. It was created by Alaska Airlines, an official sponsor of the Seattle Seahawks, well known for innovative activations such as their Portland Timbers campaign where fans got to design a plane patterned after the MLS team. They also ran a 35,000 feet in the sky tailgate party during last year’s Super Bowl featuring the Hawks demolition of Denver.
Now the airline has offered Seattle fans, affectionately known as the 12th man, a unique offer tied to their utilization of Quarterback Russell Wilson as their new spokesperson. When taking an Alaska flight at Seattle’s airport there is a new boarding class available right after Business.It’s called Seahawks Class and all travelers wearing Wilson’s # 3 jersey get to cut to the front of the line. Brilliant!
What I love about this simple promotion is: 1. It’s a zero cost activation; 2. It’s rooted in a human truth – fans love Wilson; 3. It creates true Social buzz… not staged digital but WOM, online, PR; 4 it’s easily measureable; and 5. It is selling airline tickets!
Unfortunately our Leaf jersey fan has a bizarre sense of entitlement. The cost just to get inside the Air Canada Center is prohibitive to most average fans. Let alone buying a jersey.
This jerk’s act takes on more meaning this week with the death of Ralphael Platner, better known as “Ralph the Program Guy”. He started working in the 1970’s at Jays Games held at Exhibition Place and pretty well worked at every major venue in the city. Season ticket holders knew him by site and according to a great blog by Mark Hebscher he was also a renowned party crasher!
You couldn’t help look at Ralph when he was working and wonder what he thought of all these fans paying top dollar to attend games. Ralph probably witnessed, although not sure he saw, more great sports moments than all my readers combined. If a vendor can be a fan, part of the show, and an essential service all at once – it was Ralph.
But more importantly I doubt he ever threw his jersey on the ice.