The Cost of Celebrity

On Saturday, I attended a New York Rangers hockey game with Peter in which they slaughtered the Penguins to the tune of 7 to 1. But it wasn't the display of utter domantion put on by the Rangers offense that captured my attention during this particular game; instead, it was the antics of a hometown hero.

His name is Homo Larry. Yes, you read that right: Homo Larry. Unbeknownst to me, Larry happened to be sitting in the rows just above us. At some point during the game, cameramen gathered in our section and the crowd all stood up to look up behind us. Upon seeing this, I questioned Peter about the source of the commotion. He informed me that during the third period of most games, this guy named Larry dances outrageously to a particular song and his dancing is shown on the big screen to the delight of the crowd. According to Peter, he used to be called the more politically correct 'Dancing Larry' but after an incident in which he forcefully pushed a woman away who was trying dance with him, he earned his current title. Larry, it appears, does not want to the share the spotlight -- even if the cost of that exclusivity is a nickname that doesn't win him much respect in the hockey arena.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later Larry, a bald-headed guy wearing a Rangers jersey, was dancing like a maniac to some techno song. The crowd went wild. As the song wound down, the crowd began to chant "Homo Larry" over and over again. Holding up his hands in triumph, Larry didn't seem to mind.

That all got me thinking: is minor celebrity status worth a nickname like Homo Larry, especially if it involves little more than making a complete ass of yourself in front of 20 or 30,000 fans?

Nope. Not at all.

Note: I searched for a picture of Homo Larry on the 'net, but the only links that turned up were to posts on some community forum for the site called njguido.com, and they uniformly involved someone talking about beating poor Larry up. I repeat -- not worth it.