Puck Daddy’s Top 10 Jersey Fouls for 2011
Another year, another year's worth of fans tossing their money down the toilet in the name of personalized jerseys.
To see all of the Jersey Fouls of 2011 and the years before them, head over to the posts linked up here. This year's crop featured some monumental FAILS, some sexual puns that landed with a thud and at least one Foul that aired on national television.
As with many things on this blog, Jersey Fouls don't happen without your nimble camera fingers and your wicked senses of humor. Just because you don't hear back from us doesn't mean we didn't get your Foul; we literally receive dozens each week. Don't worry: If it's truly heinous, it'll be featured at some point.
Now, here are 10 of the most interesting and/or loathsome Jersey Fouls from 2011:
10. Phil Kessel/Tyler Seguin Mockery Jersey
Puck Buddy Amanda from Montreal sent over this image captured at Bell Centre, featuring the jersey of Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins but with a clear message for Phil Kessel and Brian Burke of the Toronto Maple Leafs. A tricky Foul on the PASS/FAIL scale, given that it's nearly disrespecting a current Bruin in order to mock the team that "traded" him to Boston. But the readers felt it was a PASS under the provisions of the Mockery Jersey Exception.
9. "P Whippped" for the Anaheim Ducks
The rarest of the rare: The live Jersey Foul during a televised game. This one was seen during VERSUS coverage of the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks; it was also attached to a gigantic ham who managed to get "P WHIPPED 69" on national television. Here's your prize.
8. "Sluts 42" for the Los Angeles Kings
As far as Douglas Adams references go, it was hard to top the Nathan Gerbe "The Answer" No. 42 jersey from the Buffalo Sabres. That is, were it not for this Los Angeles Kings sweater that Erik in LA explained:
"I was manning my Video Store Old Bank DVD in Downtown Los Angeles when this customer came in having just returned from the Kings/'Nucks game. I mentioned the tough loss, and he said he was a Canucks fan and the Kings Jersey was an ironic thing. I still hadn't seen the back at this point and we talked hockey for a few minutes, and on his way out I noticed the "SLUTS" on the back. So I ran out to stop him and snap a (admittedly bad) photo and get the story.
"Turns out he really likes the word SLUTS and (I guess sluts in general) so why not put it on a jersey? The #42 is a reference to the meaning of life in "Life, the Universe and Everything." He apparently got it at the team store and they were a bit hesitant to do the stitching of the name, but he used a thick Swedish accent and said his name was Anders Slüts (pronounced Sloots) in order to convince them."
Hilarious.
7. Sergei Fedorov from Team USA
One of the strangest Fouls we've ever come across: Sergei Fedorov, on a Team USA jersey. The dude who sent it in picked it up in 1999 and actually had the gall to have Feds sign it after a Columbus Blue Jackets game.
6. 'Doggiestyle 69' from the Philadelphia Flyers
You know, we're not licensed sex therapists; it's more of a hobby. But this combination just doesn't seem … right, you know?
"From Vince A. in Philly: "As a faithful reader of Puck Daddy, I found it my civic duty to report this potential foul, occurring Saturday night at the Flyers-Blues game at the Wells Fargo Center. Now although I admit I got a cheap laugh upon seeing this, I called the foul into question when I realized that the number and the name were two completely different … activities, shall we call it? The guy clearly has a pair of brass ones for wearing this in public, if nothing else!"
Well that's one way of looking at it.
5. 'Crosongo' from the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks
The worst Frankenjersey of the season, courtesy of Andrew from Hamilton:
"This has to be one of the worst Frankenjersey offenses in recent memory. During the National Anthem at the Canucks home opener, this guy was spotted with a dual Vancouver/Pittsburgh jersey. The jersey has the Stanley Cup patch of last year's playoff loss on the Van City side (ouch, what fan still wants that on their mind?) and then a captain's 'C' on the Pittsburgh half — belonging to Sidney Crosby."
One of the most clutch players in recent hockey history sharing the same jersey as Roberto Luongo. We're surprised the stitches haven't blown apart from the opposing forces yet.
4. The Los Angeles Kings Burger King Robe
One of our favorite Fouls of all-time, via Mayor's Manor, is only because we want to believe there's an active cult in Los Angeles that wears these during ritualistic sacrifices.
3. 'MasterB' No. 8 from the Florida Panthers
We're still trying to explore the depths of this FAIL: Is it the crass pun that even Blink 182 circa 2001 would have passed on for an album title, or the fact that said crass pun isn't even spelled correctly?
We know being a Panthers fan can sometimes be a solitary existence, but still …
2. The San Jose Sharks Chain Mail jersey
Nik Rode was a San Jose Sharks fan with a dream, and the chainmail jersey he created was an instant Puck Daddy classic. There are about 23,000 rings in total and it weighs just about 11 pounds. From Nik:
"After I decided to make the jersey in the spring it came down to three players I felt belonged on a chainmail jersey: Clowe, Murray or Nichol. As Nichol left and I wasn't too keen on making a Blues jersey, and I wasn't sure I had enough teal rings for a single digit number on the back, I decided on Clowe. Changing it to another player would probably take about 30 hours, but I could reuse all of the rings so it wouldn't be too much of a problem. I worked on it about 3-4 hours a day after work and about 8 hours a day on the weekends (which the fiancee was none to happy about) to get it finished in time for the season. I wore it to the Shark intraclub game before the preseason and after going through one of the autograph lines Burns ended up detaining me and having McGinn take a picture with his phone. The two of them (and Clowe) ended up tweeting that picture.
"Every game I go to I get 2 or 3 people asking basically the same series of questions as Kyle, sometimes with a "Can I touch it?" thrown in. And if anyone is going to be at a Sharks game and wants to see it first hand, I'm at about half of the games in section 212."
Stop over and say hi, and be sure to bring some WD-40.
And finally …
1. Alex Semin from the Washington Capitals
We have been sent every possible variation or goof on Alex Semin's name imaginable. Or so we thought. Then this Jersey Foul made a slash, courtesy of reader Betsy Philpott at Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. It's just something you can't un-see … a stain on your mind, if you well.
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