On the eve of the opening game of the season, the Colorado Yeti fans hold their now (in)famous competition to pick out the Official Unofficial Yeti of the year - an event that is not sanctioned by the team.
The event starts in many of the sports themed bars in downtown Denver, Colorado, with the fans in attendance, drinking, eating and discussing the prospects for the upcoming season.
What is noticeable is that among the crowd, there are quite a few large men who are wearing layers upon layers of clothing (15 to be exact)
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A Yeti fan gearing up for the big event. [/div]
With average high's in August in the mid 80's, this can be extremely uncomfortable for those heavily clothed individuals, especially as crowds get busier and busier as the evening and night moves on.
Where the fan's participating find some solace is that with every pint or shot drank, they remove a single item of clothing, and as such are perversely encouraged to drink a copious amount of alcohol.
By the fourth bar, the focus of the fans is purely on those who arrived wearing excess clothing, while at this point generally a few have dropped out of the competition - some not able to handle the alcohol, others not able to handle the heat.
Every time an item of clothing is removed, the crowd cheers.
What is also noteworthy about this event is that the folks in question don't follow the usual logic of taken a top down approach to removing clothing (I.e. lads would generally be happy to walk around with their top off before having to remove their trousers), and as such, 10 drinks in, you tend to have a few man standing around drinking while wearing a couple of tshirts and jumpers, but without wearing any pants.
As soon as the first competitor downs his 14th drink, he must wait... either for his fellow competitors to catch up, or to drop out.
Needless to say at this point, most cannot stand, those who are standing are swaying side to side as they prop themselves against the bar. Slurring words, if able to speak at all.
But this is not a drinking contest - no sir.
Last year, there were three men who made it through drink 14. At which point the three men, followed by about 50 revellers docked out in their Yeti fangear, made the march through the city of Denver and out to the Yeti's stadium.
Picture it now - three men wearing nothing but a Yeti tshirt (and I mean nothing), stumbling and swaying from side to side, marching towards the stadium followed by fifty pissed up loonies, hooting and hollering at them.
When they get to the stadium they are each handed one last drink - a can of Rockie Mountain Fresh (Coors Light), on the count of three they drink the can down, each man somehow able to finish it. Before the show begins and the men peel off their last item of clothing, to a man revealing bloated guts and a mass of body hair.
And who is the winner? Of course it is the hairiest one of all.
Once declared victor, he is doused with talcum powder by all in attendance at which points he is said to resemble the Colorado Yeti's Mascot.
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[/div]
A king amongst men, the Official Unofficial Yeti of the year is held in high regard amongst Yeti supporters and as is tradition, he is not allowed buy another drink for the remainder of the football season, with men women and child, fighting over the honour to buy the Yeti a drink.
@`incitehysteria` @Noble - hope you guys are ok with the homoeroticism that will now be associated with the mighty Yeti.
The event starts in many of the sports themed bars in downtown Denver, Colorado, with the fans in attendance, drinking, eating and discussing the prospects for the upcoming season.
What is noticeable is that among the crowd, there are quite a few large men who are wearing layers upon layers of clothing (15 to be exact)
[div align=\\\"center\\\"]
A Yeti fan gearing up for the big event. [/div]
With average high's in August in the mid 80's, this can be extremely uncomfortable for those heavily clothed individuals, especially as crowds get busier and busier as the evening and night moves on.
Where the fan's participating find some solace is that with every pint or shot drank, they remove a single item of clothing, and as such are perversely encouraged to drink a copious amount of alcohol.
By the fourth bar, the focus of the fans is purely on those who arrived wearing excess clothing, while at this point generally a few have dropped out of the competition - some not able to handle the alcohol, others not able to handle the heat.
Every time an item of clothing is removed, the crowd cheers.
What is also noteworthy about this event is that the folks in question don't follow the usual logic of taken a top down approach to removing clothing (I.e. lads would generally be happy to walk around with their top off before having to remove their trousers), and as such, 10 drinks in, you tend to have a few man standing around drinking while wearing a couple of tshirts and jumpers, but without wearing any pants.
As soon as the first competitor downs his 14th drink, he must wait... either for his fellow competitors to catch up, or to drop out.
Needless to say at this point, most cannot stand, those who are standing are swaying side to side as they prop themselves against the bar. Slurring words, if able to speak at all.
But this is not a drinking contest - no sir.
Last year, there were three men who made it through drink 14. At which point the three men, followed by about 50 revellers docked out in their Yeti fangear, made the march through the city of Denver and out to the Yeti's stadium.
Picture it now - three men wearing nothing but a Yeti tshirt (and I mean nothing), stumbling and swaying from side to side, marching towards the stadium followed by fifty pissed up loonies, hooting and hollering at them.
When they get to the stadium they are each handed one last drink - a can of Rockie Mountain Fresh (Coors Light), on the count of three they drink the can down, each man somehow able to finish it. Before the show begins and the men peel off their last item of clothing, to a man revealing bloated guts and a mass of body hair.
And who is the winner? Of course it is the hairiest one of all.
Once declared victor, he is doused with talcum powder by all in attendance at which points he is said to resemble the Colorado Yeti's Mascot.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"]
[/div]
A king amongst men, the Official Unofficial Yeti of the year is held in high regard amongst Yeti supporters and as is tradition, he is not allowed buy another drink for the remainder of the football season, with men women and child, fighting over the honour to buy the Yeti a drink.
@`incitehysteria` @