If the NHL decides to flush the rest of the season, Toronto Maple Leafs fan Jim Vigmond is ready.

The Ontario lawyer purchased a toilet from the home dressing room of Maple Leaf Gardens for $5,300 at an auction, according to the Toronto Star.

Vigmond had been trying to score a 1967 Stanley Cup banner but he said the bidding became too steep, so he went for the toilet. And he was willing to go as high as $10,000 on the commode, which his friends thought was a little out there.

“They thought I had money to burn, and surely there was something that I could have better spent my money on,” he said, according to the newspaper.

*****

Maple Leaf Gardens was home to the Leafs from 1931-99. More than 100 items from the arena were up for auction. Vacant for several years after the Leafs left for the Air Canada Centre, the Gardens was recently converted into a small arena for nearby Ryerson University and a grocery store.

Vigmond told the Star that the toilet will go in his sports memorabilia room. He’d like to sit on it, light a Cuban cigar, drink some single-malt scotch and watch a Leafs game, if the season doesn’t go down the drain.- ESPN

As it stands, I don’t expect an NHL game to be played between now and December 31st 2012. The player lockout imposed by team owners is over two months old and no resolution is in sight at present.

A frustrated Toronto Maple Leafs fan who threw waffles on the ice at the Air Canada Centre will have to admire his team from afar.

Joseph Robb was charged with criminal mischief and barred from the arena for throwing waffles on the ice at a Maple Leafs game to protest the team’s performance this season. The 12-17-4 Leafs were 28th out of the NHL’s 30 teams entering Wednesday’s games.

Robb, of Oakville, Ontario, says he’s “just a normal Leafs fan, I love them to death.”

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment vice president Bob Hunter says Robb’s actions during Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers were inappropriate.- Associated Press

The waffles in question were uncooked Eggos, but we don’t know what flavor. No syrup was found on the offending waffles.

Robb has been banned from other sporting events because of his unruly behavior. He’s an out of control jerk, IMHO. Normal fans don’t throw uncooked food on the ice and disrupt games.

SUNRISE, Fla. – Sunrise Sports & Entertainment announced today that the Florida Panthers Hanukkah Celebration presented by The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 7 during the Cats-Avalanche game at the BankAtlantic Center. Prime Time Stubs, Inc. is an associate sponsor for the event.

Fans are encouraged to join the biggest Hanukkah party in South Florida through a number of initiatives including:

- A giant menorah lighting on the JetBlue Tarmac at 6:45 p.m.

- Jewish music provided by Avimagic Entertainment

- Kosher food available throughout the game in select locations

- Panthers yarmulke given to all ticket-buyers

The Panther website clearly says all ticket-buyers. Fans arrived for tonight’s game and were told it only applied to group ticket buyers. I got wind of it at The Litter Box where one commenter let everyone know. George Richards of the Miami Herald has also confirmed it in his live feed of the game.

The Panthers don’t have a very good rep in South Florida and this sure isn’t going to help it. It is Hanukkah after all and this region has one of the biggest Jewish populations in the nation.

On a side note this particular Panther game isn’t supposed to be broadcast because it is NHL night on Versus. They have exclusive rights on these nights. Well, I’m watching a video feed with Florida Panther radio announcers doing the audio. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is in Sunrise tonight. Maybe he would be interested in knowing all of tonight’s screwups but he’s a screwup himself so I bet he’d shrug it off.

Vancouver Canucks center Rick Rypien pushed a fan in the team’s 6-2 loss against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

Rypien and Minnesota’s Brad Staubitz, who fought in the opening period, were about to square off in the second period before being separated by the linesmen in front of the Wild bench.

As Rypien, who was assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, was pulled by linesman Don Henderson toward the Vancouver bench, he appeared to push the official.

On his way down the tunnel to the dressing room, Rypien pushed a Wild fan who was applauding at the railing. Rypien was quickly pulled away by teammate Manny Malhotra. The fan was removed from the area.

Rypien was not available for comment after the game, but Malhotra thought the fan “got a little bit too involved.”

“There’s boundaries that should never be crossed. We’re in our area of work,” he said. “We’re all for the hooting and hollering and supporting your team and saying whatever is tasteful. But as soon as you cross that line and want to become physical with a player then we have to make sure we take care of ourselves. … We have no idea of what their intentions are.”

What a wimp Malhotra is. An NHL player perceives a fan as a threat? He should go run a child day care or something.

I don’t get this pushing BS in the Associated Press article. Watch the video I will post below and tell me its not assault.

What will be the length of the knee slap suspension the NHL hands down on Rypien? I bet its 10 games or less. The NHL suspension policy is a joke and has been since Todd Bertuzzi broke a player’s neck six years ago. Steve Moore suffered a career ending injury from the sucker punch. Bertuzzi is still playing in the NHL. Enough said about suspensions, right?

Hat tip- Litter Box Cats

So you decided not to buy a ticket Saturday and missed Roy Halladay’s perfect game, the 20th in baseball history. Thanks to some outside-the-box thinking in the Marlins’ front office, you can still obtain proof that you were there!

The Marlins are selling tickets to Saturday’s game at the Sun Life Stadium box office and through Marlins.com. No discount prices just because you already know the outcome either. The Marlins figured they might sell a couple hundred. Theoretically, since 25,086 were on hand Saturday, they could disperse another 13,474 tickets. Baseball seating capacity at Sun Life Stadium is listed as 38,560.

These tickets aren’t going to be worth more than their face value at this. Some time in the future they could be worth more money. Some people collect all sorts of weird shit. A person who has bought one of the tickets may be able to fool a collector with the tickets.

Another possibility is a person using these tickets as a possible alibi for their real whereabouts. All of this sounds like a twisted television crime drama or novel but successful crooks are some of the most imaginative people around

A three-game series between the New York Mets and Florida Marlins in June has been moved from Miami to San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico.

Major League Baseball made the official announcement Thursday.

Florida will remain the home team, and the games will be played June 28-30.

Hiram Bithorn hosted 22 Montreal Expos home games in each of the 2003 and 2004 seasons before the franchise relocated to Washington and was renamed the Nationals. Average attendance dropped from 14,000 in 2003 to 10,000 in 2004.

I have never liked these transplanted games. Not when the Miami Dolphins played a home game in London or when the Florida Panthers played a game in Helsinki. Why are South Florida sports fans being needlessly penalized by pro sports leagues. We only have so many home games against popular teams in a given year. The New York Giants have played in South Florida a grand total of twice in 40 years since the AFL and NFL merged. The Blackhawks haven’t been to South Florida in over 3 years, and the Mets when they visit down here are one of the biggest draws for baseball fans. We get screwed, and I’m sick tired of it.

Up yours Bud Selig. Why not a Brewer game in Puerto Rico?

The New Jersey Nets will do anything to sell tickets … except win.

In the wake of their NBA-worst 6-53 record, the Nets have come up with yet another ploy to fill seats — free tax returns.

The team has partnered up with Roni Deutch Tax Center to give every New Jersey resident 18 years or older a coupon for a free state tax return if they attend the Nets’ game against the Orlando Magic at the IZOD Center on Friday, March 5.

Fans in attendance will also receive a discount on their federal tax returns if they choose to have Roni Deutch prepare them, as well.

The Nets are dreadful this year(They haven’t won 2 games in a row all season) and are trying to bring in fans any way they can. I don’t really think this is a dumb fan promotion but at the same time believe it won’t bring more fans to see a New Jersey game.

Baseball fans who sit six rows behind the third-base dugout at the Kansas City Royals’ stadium know they might have to duck a few foul balls.

But a Kansas man says it was a flying hot dog, not a baseball, that almost put his eye out last year.

John Coomer has filed a lawsuit against the Royals seeking more than $25,000 for injuries he sustained Sept. 8 when he was smacked in the eye with a hot dog chucked by the team’s mascot, Sluggerrr.

Coomer said the wayward wiener caused a detached retina and the development of cataracts in his left eye.

The Royals declined to comment Tuesday.

The team denies this suit is a promotional stunt. As for the suit, it is a joke. All sporting event tickets come with a disclaimer. That a team won’t be held responsible for injuries that take place at the stadium or arena. I guess that covers hot dog throwing mascots too. They’re part of the entertainment.

Starting Wednesday, Feb. 24, Meadowlands bettors will be given additional handicapping information for each race. In most races, there are several drivers who are named to drive more than one horse when entries are made. Drivers have to decide which horse they will drive a few days prior to the printing of the racing program. A new television graphic will now show these choices.

If a driver was listed on multiple horses in a race, the graphic will list those horses and indicate the drivers choice.

“Many bettors feel driver choices are one of the most important handicapping angles at the track and several of our fans have requested a way to obtain that information,” said director of simulcasting and track announcer Sam McKee.

This is probably more related to simulcast rather than live racing. When I’ve been to the horse races, any change of driver or scratches were announced as betting opened on that particular race.

It is very important to know who is in the sulky when betting a harness race. In my early betting days, my father laughed when he heard I bet on a horse driven by Al Olori(?). Dad said to me “He can’t drive around the track without the help of a map.” The horse I bet on finished 6th or 7th and I learned an important lesson.

Saturday’s game between the New Mexico Lobos and the BYU Cougars may be the biggest game of the season and an estimated 1/3 of Albuquerque TV viewers will not be able to see it.

The No. 10/12 ranked Lobos are heading for a huge showdown Saturday in Provo, Utah against No. 13/11 BYU.

The regular season conference championship will most likely be on the line.

But, because the game will air on the Versus network, DirectTV subscribers will not be able to see it.

A money dispute between Versus and DirectTV has kept Versus off DirectTV.

On their network, DirectTV claims the parent company of Versus, Comcast, is asking too much money to carry the network on DirectTV. As a result, DirectTV does not carry Versus.

The Mountain West Conference’s tournament championship is scheduled to be broadcast on Versus next month.

I sympathize with Mountain West sports fans. This dumb dispute has dragged on far too long and NHL fans are about to get screwed even more than they have already been up to now. The playoffs are less than two months away and some of those games are carried exclusively by Versus.

The NHL’s decision to sit on its hands is mind boggling to me. The league doesn’t have a big United States fan base. Marginal fans are going to find something else to watch and perhaps permanently. Is Commissioner Gary Bettman too dumb to realize that or does he simply not care?

The league is looking into the security lapse that allowed two fans to walk into the Blazers’ huddle during Portland’s game at Dallas Saturday.

Two women walked onto the court and into the Blazers’ team huddle during a timeout with 41 seconds remaining in the game. One of the woman wrapped her arms around a stunned Rudy Fernandez from behind. The women were ushered away from the huddle.

By any measure, the incident is a major breach of arena security and a league spokesperson said the league is investigating.

“We’re looking into exactly what happened,” Tim Frank, the NBA’s vice-president, basketball communications, said in an e-mail Wednesday.

What could be even more shocking – if that’s possible – is that the women were allowed to return to their seats and were not kicked out of the arena. Normally, fans walking onto the court would likely result in an automatic ejection from the arena.

Sports fans running out on the court or field doesn’t shock me. Dumb spectators just doesn’t move me very much.

As for security not ejecting the fans, there was less than a minute to go in a close game. I’m betting security wanted to view the ending, not deal with a couple of drunks who were going to leave very soon any way.

It took a swing through the Sunshine State for the Anaheim Ducks to salvage a 13-day road trip.

Jonas Hiller made 33 saves to earn his second shutout of the season, and the Ducks beat the Florida Panthers 3-0 on Monday night.

Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry each scored for the Ducks, who wrapped up the six-game trip and snapped Florida’s five-game winning streak at home.

Hiller’s other shutout this season came on Nov. 5 in a 4-0 win over the Nashville Predators. Hiller, who has six NHL shutouts, was coming off a 30-save effort in the Ducks’ 2-1 shootout victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.

*****

Florida’s Tomas Vokoun stopped 22 shots. Vokoun was coming off his seventh shutout of the season, a 33-save performance in the Panthers’ 2-0 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday.

*****

The Ducks went ahead 3-0 on Perry’s goal at 17:18 in the third. He scored with a slap shot from the right circle after taking a pass from Getzlaf from behind the net.

Selanne gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal in the final second of the second period. James Wisniewski’s shot ricocheted off the left post and hit Vokoun in the back, and Selanne then tipped in the loose puck.

After a scoreless first period, Getzlaf netted an unassisted goal at 15:17 into the second. He picked up the puck on a turnover by Keith Ballard and scored with a wrist shot from in front, beating Vokoun on his stick side.

Corey Perry scored the final goal of the game with under three minutes to go in the game. I was already out of my seat and getting ready to leave but saw the goal go in the net. Just prior to this the Panthers had two consecutive power plays, which overlapped one another for about 30 seconds resulting in a 5-3 for the cats. The score of the game tells you how Florida fared with those advantages.

Florida got thoroughly outplayed tonight. This was one of their worst home efforts of the 2009-10 season.

Now some random comments and occasional barbs related to my night out at the Bank Atlantic Center.

*- Tonight was my first visit to the BAC. In fact, I haven’t seen a professional team sporting event in person in almost 20 years.

It took me a while to find my way around the parking lots on arrival but did ok. On the way out, I found my car with ease and got out of the parking lots but headed in the wrong direction on the Sawgrass Expressway. South instead of north to Palm Beach County.

*- Food prices at sporting events is ridiculous. $6.00 for a hot dog. I can buy a package of buns and a 8 pack of hot dogs at the grocery store for less. 20 oz. Coke was a ‘cheap’ $5.50. If sodas were priced were priced the same amount times over hot dogs were, they would have been $10.00 or more tonight.

How does a family manage a night out at a game? Even with half off Monday, the family of three in my row had to cough up about $170 for their tickets. That doesn’t include food and anything else bought at the stadium. You better be upper middle class to go see a game or expect to make a car payment to see 60 minutes of hockey.

*- My seats were 6 rows behind(Section 102) the Panthers bench and almost right on center ice.

*- Now I know why Florida has a ticket promotion called ‘Half Off Mondays’. The BAC was only half full tonight.(Or worse)

That meant I had half a row to myself with no one seated on my right for 3 seats and only people seated on my left but with an empty seat between us.

*- Anyone attending a Panther game should bring earplugs. The BAC does what they call ‘Rock the Rink’. Loud Rock music that I could have done without. It blared incesantly all through the pre-game warmups.

*- Dumb rude fan moment of the night. A person in their twenties wanted to get out of my aisle. At the time I was standing up, he could have said excuse me and I would have moved. Instead he climbed down a row, stepping on a seat in the process. Wouldn’t you love to be the fan who had to sit there later on? NOT!

*- Should Panther fans forced to view the back of Peter DeBoer’s head all night get a discount on their tickets?

*- The Panthers have a team mascot named Stanley Panther. There’s a kids version, little stan or something. I got nothing against Mascots except they are blocking my view when the puck is in the opponent’s end of the ice. Get your big heads down!

*- One of the reasons I chose tonight’s game to attend, was the fact there was zero television coverage of it. As part of the imbecile deal the NHL made with the devil Versus, no other games are allowed to be aired during that Network’s ‘Game of the Week’.

*- BAC has a computer area where someone can check email etc before the game or during intermissions. I did exactly that between the first and second periods of play.

*- Anaheim Duck Teemu Selanne played tonight. Wasn’t he supposed to be out for over a month with a broken jaw?

*- The Florida Panther who came closest to scoring a goal tonight? Goalie Tomas Vokoun and he almost put one in for Anaheim! The Panthers were on a Power Play and the Ducks shot the puck out of their zone. Vokoun went to handle it and passed it across the goal mouth. I swore the thing was going in for a moment.

*- Florida Panther David Booth played in his second game since suffering a concussion. He played well for two periods but looked fatigued in the 3rd.(He did similarly in a game yesterday but managed an assist.)

That’s about it. Did you have enough already? I needed something to do to help unwind in preparation for bed.

An unidentified man was taken down from a conduit above a catwalk during a Detroit Red Wings game on Saturday night.

Almost an entire section of stands in the lower bowl was cleared out when the man was noticed during the second period of the Red Wings’ 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Joe Louis Arena.

After he was removed from the area, fans were allowed to return to their seats.

“We didn’t know what was going on until somebody pointed it out,” Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said.

Photographers have remote cameras stationed on the catwalk, but no one is usually there during games.

“He got in through one of the storage cages and came out through one of the cable traps used for show cables,” arena audio engineer Ricky Gopigian said.

Why didn’t they evacuate the stadium? It is routine for airports to be emptied if someone breeches security. One guy with a bomb in the rafters could literally bring down the roof.

I don’t know if I’m being serious or not in the above criticism. On the surface, it does sound inconsistent.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter is promising a free pizza to every fan who saw him sink a shot from midcourt at a Louisville basketball game.

He banked one in after a few tries at halftime of the Oral Roberts-Louisville game last week.

Video posted by the company on YouTube shows Schnatter celebrating wildly after hitting the long shot in Freedom Hall.

The company estimates that if all 18,868 fans claim the free large one-topping pizza, it will add up to a $174,000 giveaway.

People who watched the game have up to December 27th to make a claim. Anyone for pepperoni pizza on Christmas day?

Kickoff for the Ravens game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday was moved to 4:15 p.m., because of a snowstorm expected to hit Baltimore this weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning in Baltimore, predicting snow accumulations of 10 to 20 inches. They expect it to begin snowing late Friday and continue through early Sunday morning.

The NFL approved the change on Friday after the City of Baltimore recommended the move, according to the Ravens’ Web site. The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m.

Safety concerns was the reason given for the time change. I guess that is meant for the fans, not the players. Snow falling while a professional football game is taking place is hardly unique.

Update- Another NFL game has been postponed. The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers will be kicking off late in the afternoon also.

The revised article brought up an issue I hadn’t thought of. That two NFL teams had to fly into the snow packed Northeast. The Chicago Bears original flight to Baltimore, scheduled for Friday night, was canceled.