Posted: July 10, 2013

Those of you who follow me on twitter and through this blog know that I am a big hockey fan. So you know that I can not leave the events of yesterday without comment.

bieber_cup

Yes, that is Justin Bieber with Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Any NHL player worth anything knows that you do not touch the cup unless you have EARNED the Cup. But Bieber is not a professional hockey player (or professional anything for that matter), so why all the outrage? Because it’s Bieber!

I myself have touched the Cup in Calgary, many moons ago. So it is not that someone who did not earn it is touching it, because there is just no way that some people, myself included, can possibly earn it. So I would seize any opportunity I can to touch it.

The outrage is based on the fact that it is him, Bieber, touching the Cup.

Please note the Blackhawk jersey with his name on it in the background. Something tells me he did not grow up a Blackhawk fan, in Canada! Loyalty? Bandwagon?

But I will take comfort in the fact that I am quite sure he will be exiled from Canada shortly. As video of Bieber relieving himself into a mop bucket has been released by TMZ makes the rounds, there is only so much of this a nation can endure, even a nation as polite as Canada.

So, who is this Philip Pritchard and why should he be fired? Well, he is the “Keeper of the Cup. It is his hands inside the white gloves that you see around the Cup almost all the time. His job is to escort the Cup everywhere.

Every player who wins the Stanley Cup gets a chance to do whatever they want with the Cup for a day. Take it to their home town, allow their dog to eat out of it, bathe their child in it, etc. Mr. Pritchard escorts and protects, as much as possible, the Cup around on its escapades.

Prior to a Keeper of the Cup, the Cup has been left on street curbs, in bars, and has even been lost for days. His job is to ensure that these things don’t happen anymore. But he has allowed far worse. You see a hockey fan will eventually return the Cup. But no amount of polishing will remove the tarnish placed on the Cup by his allowing Bieber to touch it.

Let’s just hope that was one of the replicas and not the real thing.