Flyer's Fever

The Stanley Cup hockey finals several years ago between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit Red Wings made things a bit nuts in the Philadelphia area. I don't want to be too harsh, but these hockey fans seemed to have some serious psychological maladaptations.

Here's the evidence. One place around Philadelphia had an old red car in a roped off area--a car to stand for Detroit and red for the Red Wings, I guess. Before the finals, people could pay, go inside the rope, and hit the car with a sledgehammer.

People actually paid money to do this.

One man ripped the door off the car, held it in the sky with both hands, and repeatedly hammered it into the top of his head.

Is it any wonder some women think male sports fans are a few teeth short of a working gear?

The money raised went to charity. The report didn't say which, but an Idiotic Brain Injury Association seems like a good choice to me. I.B.I.A. would be pronounced "ih-bee-uh", which must have been the only sound that car door guy was able to say for a while.

I was afraid to tell this story for years--I might have been blamed for jinxing the finals. (The Flyers lost.) If you never hear from me again, ask the police to look for a speech-slurred, flat-headed man with a car door as a hat.