The Tin Foil Diaries...

We pulled off the #tinfoilflashmob last night with mixed success. I like to think that we amused some people, but I imagine we scared away just as many. Most people seemed to have a good time with it. This is the gallery of pictures from the hat-distribution phase/insanity packed bus ride over from Hockeytown, and here are some links to Freep and News pictures of our little group. This is the official video (graciously recorded by Rob):



I was supposed to make a bunch of hats the night before, but ran into real life obligations and was unable to do so. Instead, I headed down to Detroit right after work and set up shop in the Public Library. I never realized just how loud tin foil is until I tried to work with it in a library. After two hats, I couldn’t deal with being that obnoxiously loud and packed up. I headed across the street to Wayne State’s campus, and set up shop on a bench by a fountain. There, I proceeded to fold two economy-sized rolls of tin foil into hats to hand out at the event. While doing so, I was pondering at what point my life had taken the turn that led me to be making tin foil hats out in public in preparation to storm the steps of JLA and dance like a fool. Was it that fateful moment when I started SSDD? Or have I been heading down this path since that night in ’95 when my dad made me watch my first hockey game?

We gathered in front of the box office and began passing out homemade tin foil hats to passersby in order to recruit them to our little conspiracy theorist brigade. Malik came up with the awesome slogan, “Question authority!” We also discovered that people will take just about anything if you tell them it’s free. Seriously, yell, “FREEEEEE ___________________,” and people will stop and listen, even if it’s just a folded piece of tin foil.

At 6:45, Sara headed up to one of the landings on the famous Gordie Howe steps, and began calling the masses with a LGRW chant. We ran up the stairs one person at a time, until I arrived with the boom box. This was our first semi-fail of the event, as it would not start playing. Talk about an awkward moment…

Eventually, we got the boom box going and started doing our awkwardly cramped version of the Hustle on the landing. Do NOT try this at home, kids. We’re professional crazies. Seriously though, there were a couple of us who almost met our demise toppling backward down those deathtrap stairs. The song seemed to last forever, especially since I generally refuse to dance in public. We were completely disorganized and out of sync (you try adding an extra beat to the Hustle), but we had a blast.

Unfortunately, building security felt that the tin foil hats could be balled up and thrown on the ice (as opposed to everything else that could be carried into the arena?), and we were informed that people were being asked to throw their hats away before they took them inside. We were disappointed, but not enough to ruin our fun. Some of the hats did manage to find their way into the arena though, as the big screen showed fans in tin foil several times throughout the night. Sara, TPL Mom, and I even made it up there (with Bobble Rig):


We’ve been mocked by fans of other teams, and even called out by an SI writer, but these folks clearly missed the point of our little rally. None of us actually believe there’s an NHL conspiracy out to get us. Everybody knows that the NHL isn’t even remotely competent enough to pull something that epic off. We were there to have a little fun at our own expense. If you can’t laugh at yourself, what do you have left in life? We’ve embraced the notion of being the Tin Foil Hat Brigade over the course of this season (see: H2H), and wanted to do something ridiculous and random for laughs. Just wait until next time when we have more time to plan.