Posted June 3, 200817 yr FULL ARTICLE AT: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/SPORTS05/806010703/1053/SPORTS05 WHEN OCTOPI FLY Wings fan throws octopus, kicked out of Pittsburgh arena, sneaks back in BY BEN SCHMITT • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 1, 2008 PITTSBURGH -- Splat! The octopus hit the ice of Mellon Arena to a chorus of boos just after the national anthem Saturday. But the tentacled toss didn't come from a Michigander. Zach Smith, 19, of Cleveland, an avid Red Wings fan and adrenaline junkie, hurled the slimy creature. Then he got tossed. Security guards threw him out... Contact BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or [email protected].
June 3, 200817 yr An octopus? That's gangsta! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 3, 200817 yr You've got to be kidding me. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 3, 200817 yr An OCTOPUS "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 4, 200817 yr The octopus has been a tradition for the Redwings for a while. I even remember an episode of Home Improvement where Tim Allen took an octopus in a cooler to a game :laugh:
June 4, 200817 yr AMY LEANG/Detroit Free Press Joe Louis Arena building operations manager Al Sobotka 54, swings an octopus tossed by a fan before Game 1.
June 5, 200817 yr Isn't that...animal cruelty (the photo)? "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 6, 200817 yr ^Octopi have always been an integral part of Detroit hockey. The NHL has officially banned it, but we don't give a f$&k. They'll keep flying... Funny, because Bettman allows it to happen. He's only told Al not to twirl it on ice anymore. [/fact checking]
June 6, 200817 yr ^Fact checking. It was banned this year: Why the octopus still won't twirl in Detroit With Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings set for Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night, angst over one of the postseason's biggest controversies continues to linger in the Motor City: The NHL's decision to ban octopus twirling on the ice. Tossing octopi on the ice has been a Detroit hockey tradition dating back to 1952, and longtime arena operations manager Al Sobotka has been whipping around cephalopods to whip Wings fans into a frenzy since 1991. But back in the first round of the playoffs, the NHL vowed to hit the team with a $10,000 fine if Sobotka or anyone else dared twirl an octopus thrown onto the playing surface. The decision sparked massive and immediate fan protests, but the policy has remained in place. This week, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman defended the League's decision on WDFN's "The Stoney and Wojo Show," claiming the twirl ban is an issue of safety: "Actually, there's a very good reason for it. We haven't fined or given a delay of game penalty for the throwing of the octopus because we understand and respect the tradition. Having said that, when you swing the octopus around - and I don't know the exact term for it -- but octopus 'gunk' gets on the ice and occasionally has gotten on the players -- the goaltenders -- as it goes by. Occasionally, when it freezes on the ice, it creates a potentially hazardous situation for the players. It's not about interfering with a tradition; it's about making sure nobody gets it in their eyes, like a goaltender nearby, or that nobody blows out a knee getting caught on some frozen gunk." Somehow, blowing out a knee on octopus goo has escaped us on injury reports for the last 17 years. The Detroit News has a terrific mini-documentary that details octopus tossing history, and the passion, the sights and the smells that go along with it. While Sobotka's great on-ice tradition has been halted, the News reports he can still swing the octopi on the concourse. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Why-the-octopus-still-won-t-twirl-in-Detroit?urn=nhl,84176 Twirling by Al has been banned. [/reading comprehension]
June 6, 200817 yr ^Fact checking. It was banned this year: Why the octopus still won't twirl in Detroit With Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings set for Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night, angst over one of the postseason's biggest controversies continues to linger in the Motor City: The NHL's decision to ban octopus twirling on the ice. Tossing octopi on the ice has been a Detroit hockey tradition dating back to 1952, and longtime arena operations manager Al Sobotka has been whipping around cephalopods to whip Wings fans into a frenzy since 1991. But back in the first round of the playoffs, the NHL vowed to hit the team with a $10,000 fine if Sobotka or anyone else dared twirl an octopus thrown onto the playing surface. The decision sparked massive and immediate fan protests, but the policy has remained in place. This week, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman defended the League's decision on WDFN's "The Stoney and Wojo Show," claiming the twirl ban is an issue of safety: "Actually, there's a very good reason for it. We haven't fined or given a delay of game penalty for the throwing of the octopus because we understand and respect the tradition. Having said that, when you swing the octopus around - and I don't know the exact term for it -- but octopus 'gunk' gets on the ice and occasionally has gotten on the players -- the goaltenders -- as it goes by. Occasionally, when it freezes on the ice, it creates a potentially hazardous situation for the players. It's not about interfering with a tradition; it's about making sure nobody gets it in their eyes, like a goaltender nearby, or that nobody blows out a knee getting caught on some frozen gunk." Somehow, blowing out a knee on octopus goo has escaped us on injury reports for the last 17 years. The Detroit News has a terrific mini-documentary that details octopus tossing history, and the passion, the sights and the smells that go along with it. While Sobotka's great on-ice tradition has been halted, the News reports he can still swing the octopi on the concourse. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Why-the-octopus-still-won-t-twirl-in-Detroit?urn=nhl,84176 Twirling by Al has been banned. [/reading comprehension] ba-zing!
June 6, 200817 yr ^Which is the same as FLYING as I said eariler. We don't care if it's banned. Twirling by Al has been banned. [/reading comprehension] Reading Compreshension 101: Twirling and Flying on the ice are the same thing. It's banned, period. You posted in response to an article about a Fan throwing an octopi on the ice, which as intelligence dictates has nothing to do with Bettman, the NHL, Al or anything related to when the octopi flies at the Joe. If you go back and read the article about twirling, Bettman is 100% fine with octopi being thrown on the ice. Is there some serious malfunction where you can't let an argument go, even as trivial as this? I could respond "you are poopy-head" to your next post (Which I know its coming), and you'll respond and respond and respond and respond. Its like if you don't get the last word and convince yourself are correct, you'll be unable to go to sleep at night.
June 6, 200817 yr Is there some serious malfunction where you can't let an argument go, even as trivial as this? I could respond "you are poopy-head" to your next post (Which I know its coming), and you'll respond and respond and respond and respond. Its like if you don't get the last word and convince yourself are correct, you'll be unable to go to sleep at night. Uh-oh, this thread could very interesting or boring now. I'm betting boring cause how can you argue with "poopy-head." You can't, that's it, it's over C-Dawg. You lose. But seriously, the pope is right. Are you an obsessive compulsive arguer er?
June 6, 200817 yr Great year for hockey on the I-75 corridor. Cincinnati & Detroit both cup champions of their leagues.
June 7, 200817 yr "tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom."
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