The above article was written by Yahoo’s ‘Puck Daddy’. In the real world his name is Greg Wyshynski. The following is from his bio. “Greg Wyshynski is the editor of Puck Daddy. A former managing sports editor for The Connection Newspapers, he’s written for Deadspin, AOL Sports and is the author of “Glow Pucks & 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History.” Born and bred in New Jersey, living in Northern Virginia. Did we mention he likes booze?”
In the above article, Puck Daddy espouses that Justin Bieber is his ‘hockey hero’.
Yeah, I had to re-read it a few times myself. Perhaps ‘hockey hero’ was just meant for embellishment. Apparently, his status as a music star got him access to the Stanley Cup again. In this Cup encounter, Beiber touched the Cup. (and people freaked out.) I got my photo taken with the Cup back when the Dallas Stars won it. Back then, I didn’t know much about hockey. I was given a short lesson on Cup protocol before I entered the Stars’ locker room.
1.) Do not touch the Cup unless a player that won it gives you permission. Even then it might be considered disrespectful.
2.) Do not pick up the Cup unless a player that won it gives you permission. They likely won’t let you do that anyway.
3.)NEVER EVER EVER put the Cup over your head. (At least Biebs followed that one.)
4.) Do not stand on the logo in the center of the locker room.
I followed those protocols to the letter and even got to shake Mike Modano’s hand. In retrospect, that was a much bigger thing to me now than it was when I did it in 1999.
Had Boston won this year, I would have called in vacation time to go see the duckboat parade. (Fingers crossed, I hope I will have that chance again in the near future.) If I get another chance to encounter Lord Stanley’s Cup, I will follow the same protocols that I was told all those years ago. Why? Respect for the hard work the team put in to win the Cup, and for the traditions of the sport. Would I be very tempted to touch the Cup if I had another opportunity? Very much so. Very. Much. So. (But I would have followed the above rules.)
What does Puck Daddy think? I’ll quote him. “It’s a stupid tradition. “Hey, let’s put a giant thing in the middle of a high-traffic area and not allow people to touch it.” Dummies. You can argue the sacred reverence of the logo when they stop putting it on dog bowls. I hope Justin Bieber not only stood on the logo, but Moonwalked on it. Or did some other thing he stole from Michael Jackson.” (and I bet he probably wonders why the responses where overwhelming negative?)
I’m not a fan of Puck Daddy. They tend to drag their personal politics into the hockeysphere way, way, too much for my taste.(If you want to push your politics, I’m sure MSNBC will give you time.) I won’t knock his taste in music either. (Though there is help out there.)
My problem with this article and his group is this. For a bunch of professional writers that have played the game and understand the rituals and traditions, they seem to enjoy attempting to break down those rituals and traditions. He likes that Bieber can stand on the Blackhawks logo. If he took the time to read his own reviews, he would see a vast majority of hockey fans(and even a few hockey nuts that like Bieber’s music) didn’t. Why? Fans were raised on the traditions(and superstitions) of the NHL. Someone in the Blackhawks PR team should have at least had the decency to pull the popstar of the logo.
Bieber plays hockey. He has been in fact been offered several minor league contracts to play in various leagues. (I bet you just had the mental picture of him trying to clear a puck out of the corner and getting obliterated by a 6’4″, 230lb blueliner.) As someone who has been seen wearing at least half the teams logos in recent weeks, (bandwagon much?) it’s clear that Bieber is a fan of the NHL like many of us. That is what has so many of us going incarnadine. He should have known better. Regardless of his celebrity, the singer knew the traditions and literally stepped all over them.
To me it’s blatant disrespect. The star should have known better, and the people who write about hockey for a living should have called him out on it. Agree? Disagree? Send us a yell at @Causeway_Crowd on Twitter and share your two cents with us.