Posted on 05/23/2008 7:42:18 PM PDT by swampdweller
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.
I don’t know, but anyone preparing to wrestle an Octopus should watch this:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=103_1172872332
Life was so dull and meaningless before Japanese gameshows.
Octopuses is acceptable. Octopi comes from the mistaken belief that it is a Latin word — it is Greek-derived, but not every Latin noun that ends in -us takes -i in the plural.
There was another not-so-sporting activity that took place at Wings games back in the day. Fueled by gallons of Stroh’s beer (Fire Brewed at 2000 degrees), Wings fans used to heat up pennies using their Zippo lighters, then toss the coins on to the ice. The hot pennies would melt into the ice so only a silly millimter of coin was above the ice. Wing or Canadien would skate over the coin and their skates would catch on the exposed penny and they’d go flying a$$ over teakettle.
>> But the plural of octopus is not octopi — it’s octopodes. <<
No less than “Ask Oxford” agrees with you, but the Oxford dictionary is, of course, British, and the dictionary itself (as opposed to the advice-column formatted website) states all three plural forms - octopodes, octopi, and octopuses - to be valid.
Further, the argument made by “Ask Oxford” is invalid. “Octopus” does not come to us as a Greek word, but as a biological term for the animal’s genus, which is derived from the Latin word which is based on the Greek word. It is certainly standard to pluralize a Latin name for a genus by changing “us” to “i,” although this is not an absolute rule: the plural of “genus” is “genera.”
Very good!
Good thing there isn’t a hockey team in San Francisco. Lord knows what they’d throw on the ice.
LOL, great way to start the day. Thanks for the question that sparked replies which caused me to spit coffee. :-)
“Squid-Mart”
Wouldn’t that be the PX on a Navy Base?
Though I have never had the octopi, I usually get my pies at Marie Callendar's. I prefer banana cream, but will try octo my next visit.
hey, thanks for a great story for me to use at work today! Keep em coming!
“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”
Would a gerbil suffice??? Must be plenty of them among any 2 teams.
(PaMom blows whistle). I'm sending you to the sin-bin for four minutes for that post...
I don't think hockey lacks for testosterone...
Dictionary.com Unabridged
oc·to·pus
noun, plural -pus·es, -pi
1. any octopod of the genus Octopus, having a soft, oval body and eight sucker-bearing arms, living mostly at the bottom of the sea.
2. something likened to an octopus, as an organization with many forms of far-reaching influence or control.
[Origin: 1750–60; < NL < Gk oktpous (pl. oktpodes) eight-footed; see octo-, -pod
I remember one of those games, several years ago. The visiting goaltender took refuge under his net. Just tipped it over and stayed under it until the rats stopped.
Hillary’s Pant suit? Well, I guess I won’t be eating anymore today. Barf!
Aww...it's the least I could do. (I was actually surprised to check my pings and see this many responses.) Squid-mart!
I don't know. It's going to be tough to beat flying octopuses on ice. I'll try though.
“Octopi belong on the grill,”
Amen. Best Octopuss I ever had was here back in 1991. The young ones are best.
http://www.vesuvio.com.do/web/
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