The Other Team's Fan

The man whose office is next to mine at work is a huge Blackhawks fan. Every time the Blues and Hawks are about to meet, I hear about it for several of the preceding days. God forbid, the Hawks come away with a victory. I hear about it for several more days. This morning when I arrived at work, I had an email about "real hockey" coverage, with a link to a Chicago sportsradio station. It said something to the effect of, "If you want to hear real hockey coverage, check this out."

For those of you that are interested, here is my reply(it is all true):


It all started several years ago. A man and his friends attended his company's hockey night. As I recall it was against the once storied franchise, the Chicago Blackhawks. This man, we will call him Larry, was sitting in the crowd at the Kiel Center enjoying the game against his team's bitter rival. Not nearly as bitter as the Red Wings, but then again, the Blackhawks weren't nearly as good, either.

During that season, Taco Bell had introduced a promotion so that when the Blues scored 5 or more goals, all of St. Louis could receive 29 cent tacos the next day. Moments into the third period, Larry looked up and noticed that the Blues were manhandling the Hawks. It was something like 4-1. Knowing that his future ex-wife would not be cooking dinner the next evening (she never cooked dinner), Larry decided he wanted cheap tacos.

Larry started chanting, "WE WANT TACOS!" and clapping. At first, he was alone in his fervor for free fiesta food. Then some of his coworkers and friends joined in, "WE WANT TACOS!" *Clap. Clap. Clap, clap, clap.* Then the whole section joined in, "WE WANT TACOS!" Pretty soon, the whole arena, with the exception of the oft frustrated Blackhawks fans, were chanting in unison, "WE WANT TACOS!"

From then on, whenever the Blues score 4 goals, if you listen, you will hear the crowd work itself into a mexican munchy frenzy. Yelling, "WE WANT TACOS!" The only thing that can derail their taco madness, is a fifth goal. I was listening last night. Not only did I hear the chant. I heard it silenced, by a fifth Blues goal. How many did the Hawks score?