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*takethehorizon* · 02-09-2021, 12:02 PM

Texas Renegades are doing something a little different this year to get excited about the upcoming S58. Since fans cannot enjoy the game safely indoors, the Renegades are sponsoring an outdoor game viewing watch party for every game of the season. Fans will be able to drive up and park in front of a 35ft screen playing all of Texas' games throughout the season. Fans will be socially distanced inside their cars and will be able to enjoy Texas hockey while social distancing and being around other 'Gades fans. The speakers will be able to pick up the sounds of screaming fans and car horns during the game which will be presented on the megatron. While fans are not able to be at the arena they will still be able to cheer on their beloved Texas Renegades from afar. This will in turn give the edge to Texas and hopefully help them win more games by fans cheering them on.

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canes2112 · 02-09-2021, 01:39 PM

Not having fans at the games is definitely disappointing, even if it is the best decision considering the circumstances. The best way to get ready for the game is to focus on the game. My strategy to replace the fan's energy is to look at the cardboard cutouts and envision them as real people. Also, I will picture these people still being just as excited sitting on their couch watching the game from home. This way everyone wins, with the players getting to play, the fans getting to watch the games safely and the owners.. well there's always next year to make the money. Regardless of the current situation, the whole team knows the support that it has throughout the season, even if that support is not in person it is still in spirit. It will just make the return of fans in the future that much more exciting as they will be extra rowdy and provide even more energy than they did before.

sulovilen · 02-09-2021, 02:39 PM

The San Francisco Pride has been trying out a few different tactics to approach this problem in the off-season, and the one that will stick is yet to be determined. Maybe the best one so far has been to have some audio recordings of old playoff games being played from the rink PA system before the game. That way the noise off the ecstatic crowd can be heard all the way to the locker room, and it creates the feeling of being at an important game. So important, that the fans are already pumped and cheering before the game has even started. The players have felt the crowd noises so empowering that they haven't even realized that there's no crowd when the game has started. They have been so deeply in the zone. One of the strategies miserably failed, as the players tried to replace the fan energy by getting a caffeine overload. They just overdid it and it resulted in some pretty bad and very sudden diarrhea cases in the first period.

Rancidbudgie · 02-09-2021, 02:49 PM

For the San Francisco Pride, an odd ritual has begun to take form in the COVID-era. Combined with a recently more lackluster record, in order to re-make the Lion's Den into a hellhole to experience for the away teams, before the game a volatile mixture of 4Loco, snake venom, 5-hour energy, over the counter Benadryl, the filtered tears of Don Cherry, and a packet of cherry Twizzlers are stirred, steeped, and then boiled over an open flame (a fire made through the ritual burning of hockey sticks that have been broken on attempted one-timers), and then finally the liquid is imbibed by the members of the Pride, who then listen to a full-volume mash-up overlay of A-Ha's classic hit Take on Me and Celine Dion's rendition of My Heart Will Go On sped up to 1.5x track speed while in a pitch black darkness that is only illuminated by a single blinking light of a dying Tamagotchi, immediately before taking to the ice each game. Their resting heart rates may be at 186.6 BPM, but the squad certainly doesn't need a live audience when you can clearly hear the brassy samba of the individual atoms of the ever-expanding universe dancing in your head.

Thank you to Ham and Sulo for the sigs!

rum_ham · 02-09-2021, 03:11 PM

SHL players require intense focus to be successful. Hockey is a quick-moving and complicated game, and the ability to zero-in on nothing but the next shift is important. But occasionally, their narrow vision expands and the faces of 20,000 cheering individuals gleam back at them. In these moments, players realize that what they are doing is bigger than the next shift. It’s bigger than their teammates. The spirit of the city and the team doesn’t exist without the fans. This is especially true for the faithful fans of the Tampa Bay Barracuda. The sound of the bellowing crowd is a constant reminder that the players represent the entire city of Tampa Bay. Now they must play for them in an empty arena. The reminder isn’t as constant. To aid teams and add to the ambiance of the games, many SHL teams add noise over the speakers to keep the players motivated. The Tampa Bay Barracuda play audio of Gilbert Gottfried reading “50 Shades of Grey” on repeat as the team skates as hard as they can for their city.

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Moreorless89 · 02-09-2021, 04:17 PM

Hello, Luffy Richard here. Getting pumped up is easy. Instead of crowds telling me how bad I am playing, I just imagine all the nice things people think about me. I know my mom is still proud of my macaroni art. Also, I paid the arena people to play the sonic rings sound any time Sato hits the ice. That just cracks me up. I even saw they show the rings on the television broadcasts. I wonder how long it's going to take the team to realize I've bought of the graphics and sound crews.

Other ways to get pumped up include butt slaps as greetings, its not shaking hands so it should be safe. I like to replace the gatorade with lemon juice, Wait...maybe I should be pumping up my team instead of pulling pranks...but really, nothing pumps you up more than putting smelling salts in your goalie's helmet and watching them tear up. Who needs the crowds? Just play that one Van Helsing song over and over, or 'leave it on the ice' by 3 inches of blood. that's all the motivation anyone could ever need.

Nhamlet · 02-09-2021, 04:34 PM

Without the ability to have fans in the arena, what the Syndicate will be doing instead is partnering with a VR production streaming company in order to provide VR streams to fans who want to experience the game more in depth than they've ever been able to before. That means over head views that they can follow live, being able to sit on the top of the boards and have an indepth view, or even with the thanks to some refs wearing cams, be able to know whether or not the ref had the right call given their perspective. it's an extreme undertaking but given the recent funds raised from winning the Challenge Cup, the Syndicate thought it was best to reinvest in their fan base, making it an exclusive experience to start for all Syndicate fans to start, and releasing to the rest of the league as the technology continues to be fine tuned. The only issue is cost but given that nobody is paying for tickets, the money has to go somewhere and what better than the experience of the game in your own home.

StadiumGambler · 02-09-2021, 05:25 PM

First of all, COVID could be a myth in the SHL canon, because we are in an alternate universe from real life / NHL (That and the league barely survived the hypothetical financial damage of small market Hamilton winning Challenge Cups, so how the hell would it survive a pandemic).

That being said this should not affect players too much. Players can simply be pumped up by the disorienting canned crowd noise in an empty arena, which would be a suitable atmosphere for any sporting contest. The SHL could also run a collaborative effort with Apple Music and Spotify to provide high quality, specialized pump up music that fires certain parts of the brain to be motivated to do something.

SHL could also eventually allow medical first responders (who use masks and have been vaccinated already) to attend games for free, or even pay them to add crowd noise and have them cheer for the important teams such as Chicago or Manhattan to fire them up.

supertardis101 · 02-09-2021, 06:20 PM

PBE PT - http://probaseballexperience.jcink.net/i...t&p=274648

*littleb* · 02-09-2021, 06:41 PM

There is nothing like going back to an empty stadium to bring the energy down. I was at one time used to it playing in a small town rink with no on ice seating and viewing just from the lobby but still got used to having the roar of the fans every time I lay a hit or show some magic on the ice. Seeing the issue this was causing the players, Falcons management put loud speakers on each seat and gave every season ticket holder that couldn't attend an online link to it so while they are watching the game from home they can talk through a headset and their voices will echo through the stadium. Grabbed a goal in the first game and the skreeeeeeeeee coming from the seats achieved some of the atmosphere again. Now we will have to get the rumble they give when they stand, clap stamp and all the other things they usually do watching a match.

ThisSeemsFishy · 02-09-2021, 06:47 PM

Despite not allowing fans in the arenas, the Los Angeles Panthers are allowing one man to be their go to “hype man”. That man of course, is none other than TURG TURG. During practices/pre game warmups TURG TURG will sit in various locations in the stands and cheer as loud as he can. During games however, cardboard cutouts of TURG TURG are in every single seat and the sound guys pipe in sounds of TURG TURG cheering through the speakers, amplified a thousandfold. Nothing is more intimidating to an opposing player than hearing twenty thousand TURG TURG’s chanting “LETS GO PANTHERS!” And “TURG IS HOT”. The unofficial team mascot for the season is a man in a TURG suit. Which is as terrifying as you would imagine. The mascot goes around causing all sorts of mischief with cardboard cutouts of opposing fans. Beware the TURGDome in Los Angeles, California.

credit to MuNk22 for the sig

***TheSparkyDee*** · 02-09-2021, 07:53 PM

ISFL affiliate

Snoopdogg · 02-09-2021, 09:05 PM

Having COVID around for a full year now, it's starting to feel like the "new normal". So being proactive, management and together with a bunch of "tech guys" have filled each and every seat with human sized ipads. Each ipad represents a Blizzard fan and is sold to individuals just like regular seat tickets. Prices vary as there are many features a fan can opt to include (like instant replay, following a specific player or enhanced zooming effects just to name a few). We then simulate the regular oooo's and aawwww's throughout the game and with iconic game chants known from our fanatic fans playing aloud within the in house speakers. So every fan gets to feel like they are present in the arena with all the comfort they have in their own living rooms. We on the other hand get the illusion that are fans are live and present during SHL home games.

jtam · 02-09-2021, 10:53 PM

With COVID still ravaging the world, it is extremely fortunate that Hammarberg has been able to continue playing the game he loves, even if there are no fans in the stands. Remembering how much sports is an escape from every day life for so many people, being able to perform on TV to the many fans at home wanting a bit of normalcy from BC (Before COVID) times has been a constant motivation for Hammarberg. Rikard isn’t a front line worker, he isn’t truly an essential worker, but he feels that what he does on the ice can help provide some joy to those that are stuck at home.
While he is not a fan of pumped in crowd noise, as it feels very fake, Rikard does enjoy seeing the cardboard pictures of fans that have been placed into the stands. So while fans are not in person in the arena, their presence is felt.

peej2189 · 02-09-2021, 11:26 PM

The Barracuda have been renting out two clubs the night before a game, just the team and its staff. Getting absolutely SAUCED and going hard in the paint with our family. Then day of the game we go into the arena nice and early if its a home game and blasting one song from each player. This activity has been really good for morale and for each of us getting closer to one another. Funny enough, the Cuda with the weirdest music taste is Tom Fiddler. The man with such an average name, comes out of the gate with some Hillbilly Dungeon Rock that goes stupid. I don't understand how it works but Cuddles gets so amped from this song that you would think he could run through a brick wall. Unfortunately, nothing beats the sound of fans when you come racing out of the tunnel. But the arenas staff have done a good job at piling around the outside of it and yelling their asses off to help show their support. Hopefully by the end of this season we can start to go back to having fans in the arenas around the country. I'd love to experience an SHL game with some.

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