The Biggest Rivalry In The Stanley Cup Playoffs Right Now Is Hockey Journalists vs The Panthers' Portable Locker Room Logo
Eliot J. Schechter. Getty Images.The Stanley Cup Playoffs offer a great opportunity for new rivalries to form. You have so many intense battles, and once you start to get the same matchup a few years in a row? You can really start to develop some bad blood between teams and fanbases. The playoffs are the perfect breeding ground for hatred.
But one new rivalry I didn't expect to pop up would be Hockey Journos vs the Florida Panthers. Respect the biz vs Respect the logo. Turns out this one is really brewing, however, over the Panthers' portable locker room logo.
Now for those who don't know, this is a part of hockey culture. Teams will have their logo on the floor of their locker room and if you step on the logo, that's worse than committing murder. Remember when Justin Bieber stepped on the Blackhawks logo a while ago?
I'm pretty sure there are guys who still want to kick his ass over this.
But most of the time the logo is only in the home locker room. I don't know if this is a trend that has been picking up recently or not, but I've never heard of a team bringing their own floor mat logo with them on the road. We've started to see this in the NFL with teams bringing their own benches on the sidelines, so I'm not surprised to see it make its way to hockey.
The moral of the story here is that stepping on the logo is seen as the biggest sign of disrespect. But if there's any group of people who couldn't give less of a shit about weird little superstitions like that, it's the journalists. All these fuckers care about is getting their quotes, slamming back a few bottles of Diet Coke, and wrapping up their story before deadline so they can ball out at the local Applebee's with their per diem.
You think these guys give a fuck about a silly little drawing on the floor when they have a story to write about how the coach wants to make sure his team plays "their brand of hockey" and "win the first 5 minutes"? For sure not. They'll take a shit on the logo for all they care. The Stanley Cup Playoffs would mean nothing at all without the stories. Honestly the Conn Smythe should go to whoever gets the most canned quotes throughout the playoffs.
This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets and unmovable object. I honestly have no idea who is going to come out on top of this one. All I know is that it's going to be a rivalry for the ages, and now I'm pulling for the Panthers to advance to the Stanley Cup Final so we can get even more chaos.
P.S. -- I need to see this portable floor mat. But it would be hilarious if it's the same size logo as the one they have in their home locker room. I mean you have to know visiting locker rooms are always going to be tighter. It's like staying in a hotel for a weekend and bringing your entire living room with you.