Once again this comes in from tipper/guest blogger Mike A.: The dubious emotional climate within the NHL's mascot community turned stormy Dec. 20 in Calgary, when Harvey, the big white husky-looking cur, celebrated the exceedingly rare occurrence of the Flames taking a four-goal lead by leaning over the glass behind the Edmonton team bench and taunting the Oilers. Oilers coach Craig MacTavish, thinking that perhaps Harvey had gone too far, calmly ripped his tongue out and threw it into the seats.

This story leads me to recall a hockey mascot anecdote that also centers on reader Mike A. (well, it's not quite an anecdote, more of a reminiscence, really). When Mike was my roommate in San Francisco back in the 90's, nearby San Jose got themselves a hockey team, the Sharks, and they sponsored a contest to name their new mascot. Mike came up with what I think is obviously the best possible nickname for a shark who loves hockey, Puck Finn, but for some reason (possibly the fear that fans or opponents might reverse the inital consonants of his moniker and shout out something dirty) the eventual winner was the horrendously lame S.J. Sharkey. And that now reminds me of a similar incident from a few years earlier, which doesn't have anything to do with mascots, but as long as I'm-a typing... when I lived in Minneapolis in 1991 the local Fina gas stations introduced hot dogs to their line-up of products and had a contest to name the hot dogs. I came up with the unbelievably awesome Fina Weinas and entered it at various Twin Cities-area Fina Stations approximately 6 or 7 times, only to lose out to Fina Pups, which is just as lame as S.J. Sharkey, if not more so... come on, at least Fina Franks, right? The lesson to be learned from these two reminiscences: all naming contests are bullshit.