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The NHL Commissioner’s Office notified the Detroit Red Wings team that their Zamboni driver’s antics would cause the team to be fined $10,000. The specific antic that has Gary concerned is the revered tradition of Al Sabotka collecting octopi from the ice and then twirling one overhead as he leaves the ice. Bettman’s reasoning is “Because matter flies off the octopus and gets on the ice when he does it.” Bullshit! This Zamboni driver is also responsible for ice conditions and has meticulously maintained temperature and surface conditions for years resulting in Joe Louis Arena ice known as the best in the league. So please don’t tell me that “matter flies off” causing untold problems. The reason for the rule change has been attributed to Brian Burke and his goon squad from LA-LA land. (I’m sure Anaheim ice must be perfect..after you get through the first two inches of slush.) Apparently Burke has complained to da commish (AKA: ding-dong) about the celebratory twirling which causes Detroit fans to cheer when his team visits. Seems to this writer that this reasoning implies Burke would only be pleased if no cheering were allowed for the opposing home team. That said, Burke is well respected around the league and may just be the scapegoat for another inane rule initiated by none other than…Dumbo the Commish. While players are looking for no-touch icing to be implemented to prevent career-ending concussions, our Mr. All-Time Worst Commissioner of Any Sport dwells on Al Sabotka’s pregame ritual. Perhaps that matter should be collected and placed between Butthead’s ears. At least there would be SOMETHING in there.
The Detroit Red Wings organization needs to spend ten grand this Sunday!
$10,000…this is such bull…
Take collections on the way out of every game that an octopus is twirled at and I bet you’ll get more than the $10,000 fine. I hope he doesn’t stop and the Wings just pay the fine each time. Never lose this tradition!
just $1 per fan at each game gives us two twirls!!! this is such BS.
This is a new low for Bettman. The octopus tradition has been around in Detroit longer than you’ve been commissioner, Gary. Have some respect for your elders. Total BS from the Commissioner, but what else do you expect from him?
The Anaheim Ducks joined the NHL in 1993.
The Detroit Red Wings joined the NHL in FUCKING 1926, and the tradition of the octopus has been in every play-off game since 1952. For over 50 fucking years this has been going on, and it figures that teams who have been in the league for a little more than a decade would try and nullify tradition.
They haven’t been in the NHL to start any tradition of their own.
Gary I personally HATE you. No one wants you. You aren’t a hockey guy because you started out as a Director of Basketball Operations. You get all the Origional six teams scared of what tradiotions you will fine them for. This has been going on for longer than you have been comisioner. Anaheim Ducks are a bunch of cheapshot artists and now whiners. I want to give credit to the fans for how excited they were in the finals.
How quickly the NHL forgets:
“Frank Brown, the [NHL’s] vice president for media relations, said: ‘Every so often, an octopus slips out of someone’s hands, and Al is right there to take care of the matter. And he cannot be blamed if, as it tries to break free from Al’s grasp, the octopus lifts Al’s arm and twirls itself in the air.’” (from the NY Times, less than a year ago http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/sports/hockey/20cheer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
Bettman is a fool. He has no concept of the product (the NHL) he’s dealing with and its market. There is no Monday Night Football for hockey that will guarantee you an audience no matter what. You’re actually going to have to court fans to the NHL, not drive them away. The fact that the octopus tradition has resulted in not one, but several, articles in major non-Detroit papers should be a huge flag to Bettman’s office: people like it. People think it’s fun and quirky and worth noting even if they don’t give a crap about hockey. (The NY Times isn’t exactly a hotbed of hockey news). This is the stuff you should be advertising, not trying to quash you stupid M–F–.
Wow a tradition as old as Bettman is being demolished because of some BS from a crappy, no-tradion team. The wings are one of the most, if not the most, successful franchise in the NHL. Why mess with traditions? If some debris flies, then the goalie should move out of the way! its not that hard! Bettman is ruining the league and everything it stands for. I say everyone brings an octopus to the next game and have the ice be flooded with them.
wow. really wow. hey you guys, lets get rid of goals! they over excite the fans to! and fights! fuck bettman. no one likes him at all anymore. seriously, i fucking hate him.
This is so ridiculous!
Sign the petition to keep the tradition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/octopus8/petition.html
Bettman is an idiot and the best thing the NHL can do is get rid of him. The only thing that he has done is take all the tradition out of the league. What a Jackass.
Growing up in Detroit my whole life… and playing hockey my whole life… I may have been shot at and hit by punches and pucks a few times, but I’m still a reasonably intelligent guy.
So, could someone explain to me exactly who is getting hurt by swings an octopus?
I really think Bettman may be trying to ruin the game on purpose. Why else would they ban something that simply makes the game more fun to watch? Has he ever even played the sport?
- get hockey back on TV. Fire Bettman!
Maybe if he’s unwilling to step down, we can convince the government that he’s a terrorist and have him extradited to Canada for interrogation. They won’t go easy on him after what he’s done.
Well, if Bettman is intent on ruining the octupus tradition in Detroit, I wonder if he will step in and fight the catfish throwing in Nashville. My guess is no…since Detroit has a great fan base while Nashville does not.
Gary Bettman is a giant, phlegm-ish piece of Octopus matter! How long can we allow him to change his octopus “mandates” every freakin’ playoff game in Detroit? First, it was Al Sobotka can’t do an overhead swing after a fan-thrown octopus is retrieved from the ice, due to that horrifying “matter” that can somehow marr the ice surface and possibly cause harm…what does Bettman think the players own spit and snot are? PUL-LEEEASE! so what does Al do, even after a $10,000 fine will result from such actions? he waits for the first octopus thrown @ last Thursday’s game to get to him in the zamboni gate (pretty damn hilarious watching referees trying to pick it up with a shovel!), then he grabs it off the shovel AND SWINGS IT OVER HIS HEAD inside the zamboni gate where the infamous “matter” can’t get on the ice…all caught on camera so the fans could watch it on the jumbotron above center ice and go completely ape-shit berserk anyway! TAKE THAT BETTMAN and all other NHL team’s whiny fans! right? oh no…there’s more! Sunday’s game comes, and after 6 octopi hit the ice before the puck is dropped (a BEAUTIFUL THING to witness in person!), Red Wings longtime arena announcer, one armed bandit Bud Lynch (who has been there since the first octopus thrown in the 50’s) gets on the sound system and announces that now the TEAM will be penalized if any octopus is THROWN…what bullshit! I’d like to know HOW this mandate will be policed in Denver this week, when any Avs fan can throw one on the ice to try and get a penalty on the team sporting the Mighty Winged Wheel. What a bunch of crap! now think about it: maybe if Bettman and the NHL could get a sponsorship logo or brand name on each octopus, then they’ll allow it again! or is this octopus mandate due to a perceived “unfair advantage”: the Detroit fans go nuts, thus pumping even MORE adrenalin into The Red Wings bench. i find it the HEIGHT OF HYPOCRACY that the NHL and their cable channel Versus use this same image of a thrown octopus as a promotion for their playoff coverage! unreal! to pull a quote from the movie “Network” often used as a sound bite @ Wings games: I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!! Let’s kick some Av and sweep the series…and lets have a Detroit/Montreal Stanley Cup final! GO WINGS! (oh, and lest we forget: LET’S FIRE BETTMAN!)
Personally, I think that the NHL would do well to eliminate the tradition whereby a total nonentity with no hockey sensibilities whatsoever gets to pass judgement on hockey-related issues just because he has a business card that says “Commissioner” on it. (I mean, “President” was good enough for Frank Selke and Clarence Campbell and John Ziegler.)
I think that the NHL should take steps to eliminate this behaviour by banning Bettman and fining itself $100million for being so dumb-ass as to employ this joker in the first place.
Or maybe just put a dead octopus in his bed one night.
Waving an Octopus is a sacred tradition in Detroit….and Bettman wants to eliminate it ? Where did we get this jackass ?
Have Bettman become the commissioner of Baseball and have him eliminate the 7th inning stretch …or Football and eliminate the halftime show at the SuperBowl.
The guy is a babbling loser….and Hockey has gone downhill ever since he took over..the quicker the owners get rid of this jackass the better.
Have they officially changed the name of the league to the BHL? The Bettman Hockey League will be huge in Mississippi, Arkansas, & New Mexico. All untapped hotbeds for hockey.
I hope the octopi fly tomorrow. Fuck Bettman. That jerk off doesn’t have a clue. Fire that little weasel dick.
GO WINGS!!!!!
Dr. Keith and all fans of the Detroit Red Wings and all those who hate Bettman:
I hope that the Stanley Cup is awarded in Detroit and the fans at Joe Louis Arena throw octopi and other shit in the direction of dickface when the Cup is awarded in Detroit. Bettman is nothing but a total inbred piece of shit who has ruined the NHL and the game of hockey.
Personally, I hope that the Stanley Cup is awarded in Detroit and everyone at Joe Louis Arena throws octopus and other shit in the direction of Gary Bettman. This arsehat has ruined the NHL and the game of hockey with his godforsaken stupidity.
Well, Gary has found something new to ruin the game of hockey. What’s next? Hockey games in Brazil?
I think that the owners of all of the Canadian teams should form a bloc and try to push Bettman out of office. None of the American owners have a reason to do so, with the exception of Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Joshua N.
If hockey games are played in Brazil, (where they don’t care about hockey) then all the Canadian teams along with Pittsburgh, Buffalo and every other American team had better come together to fire DOUCHEBAG
Pittsburgh will never vote or get together with every other team to get rid of him. He sat back and allowed Pittsburgh to purposely move talent and try to stock pile draft picks. And their punishment was a free hand out of Crosby after the strike. Pittsburgh is his baby. Meanwhile teams like Detroit have to find talent in the 6th and 7th rounds. Watch in 2009 when Bettman finds a way to get Tavares on Pittsburgh and raise the cap to 85 million so Pittsburgh can keep them all.
Chuck, if that’s true then name me a team or team whose ownership group has a reason to get rid of Bettman. It sure won’t be the Rangers or Flyers.
i wonder if detroit was fined when this happened at game 4 of the flyers pens series