So the Caps are defying Washington sports status quo and doing well in a post-season and I am thinking “Woo hoo - something to cheer for!” but apparently I should think twice before I try and cheer for my local hockey team. Thanks to craigslist and email anonymity I have had some exposure to the Capitals fan base — and they are a rosy happy bunch.
You see, I have been trying to see a playoff game since the caps got in but I have found it hard to track down tickets at a reasonable price. Looking to not pay huge stubhub or sidewalk markups I decided to put up this message on craigslist…

Little did I know that Caps fans are VERY protective of Verizon center seating and also insanely territorial when it comes to fair weather fans. Rather than the typical craigslist responses from ticket sellers offering links to broker sites or perhaps a fan responding with a fair selling price I recieved these responses from fans who had nothing better to do than hang around craigslist waiting for someone who wanted to buy tickets:

Okay, interesting, that doesn’t really help me much, sir. I suppose I appreciate the passion and the team spirit but can’t really see the point in gloating about owning season tickets.
Then we had:

I guess real fans are also cool enough to write strangers to tell them they are real fans.
Then came this last one, for some reason I just felt like responding because it seemed like the nut case would deliver a good response… and oh how he did. I will admit there is a little white lie about me owning season tickets in there but this guy clearly sits at his computer with hockey gloves on just waiting to throw them to the ground and send a belligerent email response.

I guess that’s hockey fans for you. I don’t even own any red so I can’t say I deserve to be at the game Monday, but I don’t think my iphone belongs up my ass either.
