By Rookie, AllHabs.net
MONTREAL, QC. — Some fans have it all. And it shows. I’ve seen pictures of some pretty impressive “fan caves” – living rooms, basements, or garages that people have turned into sports shrines. We’d love to see your pictures or hear your stories!
I can’t say I have a shrine of my own, but I do decorate for the playoffs. I wasn’t very keen on decorating for Halloween or Christmas last year, and I didn’t touch a single paper Cupid on Valentine’s Day, but I treat the playoffs like a holiday.
My sister recently moved out of the house, and thus I had no choice but to decorate her new apartment for the playoffs. It was a necessity; she planned on having a few of her friends over to watch Game 3. So the morning before the playoffs started, I opened up a bag of craft supplies and hockey paraphernalia and went a little nuts, focusing mainly on Habs-themed decorations but with a few nods to other teams in the playoffs.
The picture frame on the right side, above, was purchased on vacation and remained photoless for months until I filled it with pictures of hockey players.
I cut sixteen Stanley Cups out of coloured paper, corresponding to the colours of each team in the race to win the Cup, centred by two pictures of the real thing. There was already a hook on the wall, and since the only jersey in the apartment was to be worn, I hung red and blue beads on the wall, a leftover from a past Habs Tweetup.
I concentrated most of my efforts on the TV console, with more pictures of players (top right corner: Scott Gomez in his Ranger days), two wooden decorations shaped like jerseys, a mini-stick from the dollar store, and an autographed puck and postcard.
The finishing touch (and this wasn’t even my idea): a teddy bear hanging from the ceiling. A little gruesome, but also kind of funny!
Add in some bleu-blanc-rouge table settings, a whole lot of game snacks, and you’ve got yourself a playoff party.
If you’ve got a fan cave or have done anything for the playoffs, let us know! We’d love to read your stories or see your pictures, and we might just want to share them with all our readers and Facebook fans. Leave a comment or email me at erica@allhabs.net and your shrine might just be the next one we feature!