Okay, so here's the sob story:

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Essentially: I"ve been a Leafs fan for 10 years. I live in Australia, which is quite far. I have never had the chance to see my beloved team play live. Earlier this year I booked some rather expensive airline tickets to visit family in the US with the aim of finally getting to a game this November, but then LOCKOUT.

After the jump: the remedy. It's not what you might think, and you don't have to do anything more than click a button on the internet.

Another thing I did earlier this year - perhaps less foolishly, in hindsight - was design a couple of jerseys for competitions being run by Icethetics, if you're familiar with it.

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Icethetics is currently running a contest in conjunction with RinkGear: one of the jerseys designed for its fantasy hockey league will be produced and made available for purchase. There were 64 designs to start with, but the competition is now down to the final four - and my design is one of them.

Being Leafs fans, and PPP readers in particular, I'm sure you know how this works by now. I'd be most grateful if you might visit this poll and vote for my green Seattle Aviators design. (Full disclosure: no, I didn't design the pretty logos, just the stripeyness.)

Missing out on going to a Leafs game for another five or ten years would be fairly disappointing. Cruising around wearing a jersey I designed would cushion the blow somewhat.

VOTE 1! AND KEEP YOUR EYES OUT FOR THE FINAL ROUND OF VOTING IN A FEW DAYS' TIME.

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