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THE RINK — Any time an athlete tosses a memento into the crowd, the reactions from fans can instantly go to extremes. For example, if you're the person who catches the baseball or hockey puck, your heart will soar. But if you watch that treasure fly right through your fingers and end up with the person sitting behind you, it feels much worse than if the object had never been offered at all.
Unsurprisingly, this phenomenon is particularly relevant to kids.
Check out the roller coaster of emotions in this video from a Washington Capitals game.
A young girl bangs on the glass to catch the attention of a passing player. He happily obliges by lobbing a puck over the barrier to her, but her older brother snatched it. The girl's smile vanishes and the announcer observes that "she is devastated."
The player returns with another attempt to get the girl a souvenir. But her other brother ends up with the puck!
"What are we doing here?" exclaims the announcer. "Are we raising gentlemen or what?!"
Undeterred, the player scoops up a third puck to send over the glass. But his toss fails to clear the barrier and the poor girl looks as though she's about to explode from misery.
Finally, she receives the gift and all the frustration is forgotten as she bounces up and down with glee.
What's the takeaway here? If at first you don't succeed at something in life, keep banging on the glass. Something good is bound to happen.
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