Tarkus' Nonsensical Musings and General Bruhaha

Darn it.....I'll just cut and paste the article then:

The NHL has decided that octopus twirling is OK after all at Joe Louis Arena.<o:p> </o:p>

The catch is, it has to be done away from the ice - like at the Zamboni entrance.<o:p> </o:p>

The NHL forbade the Wings, under threat of $10,000 fine, to do so during round one, because debris allegedly came off the slimy creatures and became embedded in the ice. Al Sobotka then took to doing his renowned overhead twirl in the Zamboni entrance, but the NHL put the kybosh on that as well.

Now, with round three about to start tomorrow, the league has loosened up a bit.

I think this is great news - Sobotka's octopus twirl is widely associated with the Wings being in the playoffs, and as we all know, the NHL needs all the recognition-factor it can get. And since cameras will be sure to capture Sobotka twirling at the Zamboni entrance - and transmit it onto the Jumbotron - that seems to be an ideal compromise.<o:p> </o:p>

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I just read a TSN follow up ...

The Maple Leafs have petitioned the NHL to allow the child of "Zorro" and "Geno" to be admitted into the 2009 entry draft where they plan to use their first overall pick to pass on Tavares and select Crosby-Malkin.  When asked to comment, interim GM Cliff Fletcher couldn't hold back his excitement, "Only Gretzky and Lemieux could have produced a surer thing ... With the Crosby-Malkin kid, our rebuilding process will be fully in place.  The city should be ecstatic ... the Cup will come back to Toronto by 2030, no doubt about it!"

If someone really hated the ice crew, I guess you could throw warm wet pennies on the ice.

I've got an OK story.  A buddy of mine used to manage the ice rink where the Caps used to practice ... this was back in the late '80s/early '90s, so think of guys like Hunter, Miller, Langway, etc.  He was driving the zamboni for them before practice one day when the zamboni blew a gasket and just died on the center of the ice.  My friend had to push the thing off the ice by himself, and not one of the Caps lifted a finger to help him out ... and some were ribbing him because he took so long to get the zamboni off the ice.

He's hated the Caps ever since that day.  He knows all those players are long gone, but he's since moved to Florida and took to following the Bolts.