Fan of the Week: The Random Jersey

Deep down, part of you feels for the guy.  He stumbles into a sports bar in middle America on a day when 95 percent of the flat screens that surround him are tuned to college basketball and quickly realizes that there are few, if any, allies in the quest to get one of them switched to an NHL game.

Though he finds comfort in the familiar touch of the cold Busch long-neck in his hand, he never looks entirely at ease in this foreign territory.

Perhaps he is hoping to catch a glimpse of the Capitals game even though this particular establishment happens to be 1,000 miles away from Washington.  But a glance at the NHL schedule shows that his hero, the man whose sweater he wanted so desperately that he was willing to fork over a week’s salary to buy, isn’t even playing on this night.

This is simply an appearance by the Completely Random Jersey. 

It’s one thing to walk into a hockey game wearing an officially licensed sweater as a compliment to your stone washed jeans—even if it’s not the sweater of a team that is playing, at least you’re amongst your peers. 

But breaking out the Alex Ovechkin jersey at a sports bar…in a city where Ovechkin doesn’t call home…during the height of March Madness…when the Capitals weren’t even on the evening’s NHL docket is taking the randomness to another level. 

A level that maybe he wasn’t ready for. 

And just when he is prepared to head for the exit, humbled by the fact that not one single person offered him a fist bump in support of his wardrobe choice, he notices a beacon of light across the bar, a potential kindred spirit in a room full of basketball-crazed simpletons. 

Never did he think he would have something in common with the guy wearing a Roberto Clemente throwback and a stocking cap in the middle of March. 

The unspoken bond between wearers of the Completely Random Jersey should not be underestimated.