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A few tips if #ThrowTheSnake becomes a reality

Obviously, I’ve had plenty of fun with the red-hot #ThrowtheSnake meme today, as you can see from this post and my brief history of odd things fans enjoy throwing on the ice. But - as much of an uncontrollable locomotive of a meme monster as its become - I have to admit that much of what I was writing was in jest. Yet, it seems like the idea has a chance of becoming more than just a flash-in-the-pan for its creators Chemmy (of Pension Plan Puppets) and (and Phoenix Coyotes blogger) Travis Hair. Travis Hughes of Sports Blog Nation (the network Hair’s Five for Howling belongs to) states that the movement might indeed result in an actual (OK, plastic) snake being thrown. Hughes shares some more thoughts on the meme’s popularity and just how “real” it is getting.

And from there it took off. 39-plus re-tweets. The number one trending topic in Canada. It took on a life of its own, getting to the point where Travis himself didn’t even know what was going on. Slowly though, it’s actually becoming a serious thought. Travis’ wife chimed in via an email to him supporting the idea, calling it his “cultural obligation”, “an opportunity to make a tangible impact” in a city with a “weak fan culture.”

From there, the planning actually got going, with fans from several teams chiming in about getting rubber snakes shipped to Arizona in bulk. Could it actually happen? Could a little thought, started as a joke, turn into a tradition in the the Desert?

If Hair and Co. do plan to act on such an awesome idea, I have a few suggestions. These suggestions are made with the overly ambitious idea of handing tons of them out to fans in mind - not just throwing one on the ice - by the way. (Obviously taking things a little further.)

Slap your logo(s) on it: Casual fans might not know about your blog right now, but if they know the source, that will go a long way in winning some well-deserved readers.

Make them cheap (or better, free): Obviously, that’s the tricky part. Earlier I discussed attending a Texas Brahmas game with Tapeleg in which we threw soft Brahmas when the team scored a goal. The key was that the cute little things were cheap.

They better be soft and easy to throw: Don’t make the mistake of giving noodle-armed (or worse, cannon-armed) fans something hard to throw. As the guys at Hockeenight told me, the Chicago Blackhawks handed out construction helmets one night in which a Chicago player scored a hat trick. As you can imagine, the situation was a bit ... nerve-wracking.

Follow those three steps and you could be onto something ingenious. Good luck Travis and Co. We could be all be privy to a true moment in Twitter-fueled history. God help us all.