Thankful Not to Be from Buffalo

This one got a nice round of applause from the crowd at the RBC Center.

Yinz Ain't Welcome Here

A Friday night game against the Pittsburgh Penguins meant that the Pens fans came out of the woodwork and overran the RBC Center (February 25, 2011). Sure, I was equipped with my Cheer If Your Team Sucks and Cheer If You Eat Boogers signs, but (fortunately) they came in handy only the one time that the Penguins scored. I decided I needed more ammunition and scribbled this sign on the back of another one during the first intermission. ("Yinz" is Pittsburghese for "y'all.")

It came in really handy when one Pens fan in the next section over stood up waving his towel, chanting something and trying to get all the other nearby Pens fans to join him.

"I got somethin fer you, buddy," I mumbled to myself and pulled out this sign. He was good-humored enough to laugh when he saw it (confirming my previous assertion that Pens fans are not as bad as Buffalo fans). He pointed it out to whomever he was with and chuckled, but he kept trying to rouse his fellow fans. So then I shot him with the Moron/Fool sign. He chuckled at that too.

Several minutes after that, a chick behind me tapped me on the shoulder. I am always afraid I have irritated someone behind me, even though I make sure never to hold signs up when puck is in play, or even when there is a fight or something interesting I think people might want to see. Or else when I get tapped, I think some opponent fan is going to say something snarky to me, so I was bracing.

But this chick, whom I've never spoken to before, apparently has regular seats there behind my regular seats. She told me she is normally there with her boyfriend, but he couldn't make it that night. She had texted him earlier, fretting over how many Penguins fans were invading our arena. When she tapped me on the shoulder, it was to show me her boyfriend's texted response, which was something to the effect of:

"Don't worry...sign girl will take care of them."

And I did, with the Yinz sign -- and some help from the Canes, who won the game 4-1.

The win and the text made me feel pretty awesome.

Barfalo Not Welcome

The idea for this sign hit me months before the All-Star Game. I unveiled it tonight at the Super Skills Competition and got numerous thumbs up from strangers. Several people wanted to take a picture of it in the stands and as I walked through the parking lot. Too bad the cameras showed no love. Maybe there will be more attention during the All-Star Game tomorrow.

Mardi Gras

Another one of my favorites. My friend Jen and I held these up while wearing lots of Mardi Gras beads. Arturs Irbe was the goalie for the Hurricanes. He did splits.

Pitkanen A-Grinnin'

In honor of Joni Pitkanen.

Rooting for Buffalo

Lent.

Voted Off the Island

New York Islanders

Parlez-vous Whoopass?

Oui, je parle whoopass. For Montreal Canadiens games.

Buffalo: No Championships

Another variation on the "CHEER IF..." signs made specifically for Buffalo fans. I hold it up whenever Buffalo actually manages to score.

A Buffalo fan tried to argue with me about the validity of this sign, claiming that the city had won some kind of championship in professional lacrosse. My husband, who played lacrosse and loves it, laughed. The sign says "MAJOR."

Random trivia: There is an episode of the X-Files where it is revealed that the Cigarette Smoking Man is actually the reason for Buffalo never having won a Super Bowl.

Jose Corvo

Joe Corvo, you are a friend of mine.

WWJD?

This is another of my favorite signs, and another one that was useful quite frequently. Jesse Boulerice was known for making hits and dropping gloves. I miss him.

Eye Chart

Strangers have stopped to ask me if they could take a picture of this sign on several occasions. People often ask what IMHO stands for. The full sign reads like this:

O

MG

WTF

IMHO (= In My Humble Opinion)

REFUSUCK
UNEEDGLASSES

GETANEYEEXAMNOWLOL

GOCANESTTYLCLEVERSIGNCHICK

I made the design with a graphics program, printed it onto four pieces of 8.5 x 11 sticky label paper, and affixed the stickers to foam board. I made the sign the same on both sides.

A variation for roller derby is soon to be available as a t-shirt from my friends at Derbylicious.

Fool/Moron/Loser

The other side of this "Fool -->" sign says, "<--Moron," so it is viewable and meaningful from all angles. (It used to say "Loser" on one of the sides, but I decided it would be more useful to use another word, in case the Canes were losing bad.)

I love this sign a lot because of its usefulness. Certain opponent teams have the most obnoxious fans who come and invade our arena. When one of them is particularly and repeatedly irritating, I bring out this sign and point it at them. I usually get big kudos and thumbs up from other Canes fans.

Thanks to this Barfalo fan for uncharacteristically (of other Barfalo fans) being a good sport and posing with me for the photo. She's a friend of our friends. Once or twice, we allowed the Barfalo couple to trade seats with us so they could sit next to our mutual friends, who have seats near ours. But we won't be doing that any more, as it has proven to be very bad karma.

Eloquent Finnish

The Hurricanes had three Finnish players when I made this sign, and the team was known for some dramatic game endings. Contains a rare triple entendre: Finnish the players, Finnish the language, and finish the ending.

Olympic Gold Medalist Sidney Crosby

This was the first Canes game against Pittsburgh after the Olympic break.

Bret's Wife

This is one of my favorite signs. This photo was on the Hurricanes website.

Bret Hedican played for the Carolina Hurricanes and his wife was, or is, Kristi Yamaguchi. Scott Stevens of the New Jersey Devils enjoyed most hated opponent status at the time.

I coulda sworn I saw Bret looking up at this sign from the ice.