Adventures of A Red Wings Packrat: Jersey Foul Edition...

I just so happen to be the proud-ish owner of a Red Wings jersey foul. I say “proud-ish” because after all these years, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. I’ve had it for at least eight years (it was an integral part of my ’02 Cup celebration), but I’m not exactly sure when it came into my possession. I have no idea where my mom found it. It’s a baseball-style jersey that says “Red Wings” on the front and has Shanny’s name on the back. It’s officially licensed stuff, so I’m not 100% sure it qualifies as a foul. Either way, it’s awesomely bad.

Back in ’02, I was but a high school sophomore. The Wings were kind enough to win the Cup the night before the last day of school/final exams. The next day, I wore the jersey foul since wearing a real hockey jersey to school in June would’ve been a poor life decision. One of my best friends happened to show up in an Yzerman semi-jersey that day, too. Somehow, in our excitement, we ended up nicknaming each other after the players on our backs. I became Shanny and she became Stevie. This was ironic because my favorite player was Stevie and hers was Shanny.

That day was also the end of the year pool party for a school club. At the party, we assigned Wings player names to all of our friends. An extremely studious friend became Igor Larionov. A talkative one became Brett Hull. Someone else became Sergei Fedorov because we felt like he had to be represented at the party and nobody else fit. I think there was also a Luc Robitaille. Nobody else there had the slightest idea what we were talking about. I’m fairly certain that most of them wouldn’t have known the Wings had won the Cup if we hadn’t shouted it at them multiple times. That didn’t stop us from finding a silver-ish bucket and making them pose for celebration shots like the team did on the ice. We also discovered that the people who were hosting the party owned an autographed Gordie Howe stick which they let us take pictures with, but that’s not really the point. In more on-topic news, a red and white jersey foul paired with a turquoise beach wrap with killer whales on it makes a fantastic outfit.

Those same jerseys were worn down to the city a few days afterward when my dad took us to the celebration parade. It was the first we’d been able to attend. It was sweltering. Once again, the Shanny jersey foul saved me with its short sleeves and breathable fabric. I’m fairly certain it was almost seven years before the jersey foul made it out of my closet again to see the light of day.

Last spring, when the Wings were in the Finals, that same friend from high school and I decided to watch one of the road games down at Hockeytown Café. I’d worn most of my Wings shirts already, so I decided to throw on the Shanny foul for nostalgia’s sake. Imagine my surprise when my friend showed up at my front door wearing the very same Steve Yzerman semi-jersey she’d worn for our fake celebration all those years earlier. It was an awesome moment in our friendship. Of course, the Wings went on to lose the game, further cementing my refusal to watch another Finals game at Hockeytown ever again. (I was also there for the 3OT disaster in ’08.)

When I decided to stop being lazy and write something, I chose this jersey foul because I’ll be wearing it when Liz and I go to the Wings Alumni Softball Game tomorrow. She’ll also be rocking a jersey foul. I figure mine won’t be terribly out of place there since it’s a Wings softball game.