So it's about time somebody addressed the issue of the worst invention in sports history.  The thunderstick.  For those of you that don't know what those are, they're the annoying inflatable tubes that fans can bang together to creat noise.  I guess too many people were having problems hurting their hands by banging them together (clapping) to make noise.  My first encounter with these items was at a football game when I was in college.  I thought they were kind of cool, blew mine up and banged them together loudly.  And yes, if done right, they are very loud.  Problem is I had to leave that game by the end of the 3rd quarter because of an incessant ringing and major headache.  The increase in noise that they created may or may not distract the players, but I think they distract fans.  At the Denver Nuggets playoff game the other night, I watched as two kids smacked each other in the face with these things.  While the kids became wild and unruly, they weren't reacting to the game, but ignoring it.  I watched people throw the thundersticks from high up in the upper deck down into the lower area of stands.  They don't quite fly like paper airplanes or tortillas, but they can travel.  And then, when the game was seemingly over, there became a new noise.  I guess fans learned that when you pop these quasi balloons, they're even louder then banged together.  So I enjoyed the sound of gunfire throughout the arena for the final 6 minutes of the game.  These have replaced the foam finger as the worst item in sports history.  I for one, didn't even inflate mine and the drunk lady next to me looked at me like I was the idiot.  By the way, she accidentally hit herself with her thundersticks about 37 times by the end of the 2nd quarter.  Don't get me wrong, i'm not asking for quiet, like I was at home watching on TV, but it's 2 days later, I can't talk, but the ringing is still in my ears.  Lets get rid of these glorified balloons and hand out "brick" signs, or towels, or something fun and new that nobody's thought of yet...until that becomes the worst invention ever.