"Last week, [Sean] Avery made agitator history, in the third game of the Rangers' best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Devils, by inventing a new idiot technique. During a Rangers power play, he positioned himself in front of the Devils' goalie, Martin Brodeur, to block his view of the puck -- a standard technique known as a screen. Avery, however, turned to face Brodeur, and, ignoring the play, began waving his arms and his stick in Brodeur's face....Goal.....The next day, amid Pan-Canadian outrage, the N.H.L. issued a decree, informally known as the Sean Avery Rule, or the Nitwit Rule: no more doing that, whatever it was. The innovation, like midget batsmen and airplane shoe-bombing, would prove to be short-lived."
- Nick Paumgarten, "Puckhead," p.23 in the 4/28/08 New Yorker
5 comments:
Interesting quote, Andrew. I was watching that game and wanted to reach through the TV and batter Avery about the head with a large iron skillet.
Midget batsmen?
Brad: See Eddie Gaedel.
Midget batsmen?
If memory serves, the brainchild of Bill Vreek. IMfurtherS, the batter was actually a dwarf and his career ended the day after he first played in the majors.
Alright, that makes the antics of Sean Avery seem, um, mild.
Those are words I never thought I would write.
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