01-06-2008, 11:15 PM
The "[Expletive] Stupid Ice Bowl"
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/01/06/the-expletive-stupid-ice-bowl/">http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/01/ ... -ice-bowl/</a><!-- m -->
Leading up to last week's Winter Classic (a.k.a. "The Ice Bowl"), Sabres blueliner Brian Campbell was saying all the right things, acting the part of willing promoter of the League's biggest regular season publicity stunt event in ages. He referred to practicing outdoors for the game as "fun," noted that it would be a great game for the fans and joked about how cold it might be, all of which you'd expect from the host team's captain (Campbell wore the "C" for the month of December, an honor that has been rotating in Buffalo on a monthly basis this season).
But while Campbell the hockey player was selling the made-for-television event (and not cashing in on the obvious commercial tie-in), Campbell the rock star was apparently trashing it.
According to the info accompanying the video clip below, a week or so before New Year's Eve, Campbell and teammate Ryan Miller somehow found themselves at The Buckin' Buffalo on stage with a band covering The Tragically Hip's classic "New Orleans Is Sinking," a tune during which Hip frontman Gord Downie routinely rants about killer whales, cookie factories or whatever else might strike his fancy. Campbell -- a big Hip fan, according to his baby diarrhea-colored MySpace page -- took the opportunity to talk about how he and Miller would "freeze [their] asses off at the [expletive] stupid Ice Bowl" and throw a little disrespect R.J. Umberger's way (Campbell, you'll recall, once hit Umberger so hard that Umberger's dog was sore for a month, small children were frightened and computers reprogrammed themselves to recreate the collision and its aftermath. Umberger retaliated months later in a less sportsmanlike manner). Have a look and listen for yourself (language NSFW):
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn9iVGlO8Io">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn9iVGlO8Io</a><!-- m -->
Now, I don't want to make this into more than it is -- a guy having a good time and maybe a couple of wobbly pops on a night out. Been there, done that three times in the past week. But let this serve as yet another reminder that when you're a celebrity -- even one of Campbell's status -- everything you say and do in public may very well end up on the internet (and let it also serve as notice to Gary Bettman et. al. that not everyone was thrilled to play in your outdoor game).
Oh, and if the Sabres front office is reading this, you may want to bookmark this page and refer back to it for the shred of cover it may provide when if you fail to sign Campbell before he splits town.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/01/06/the-expletive-stupid-ice-bowl/">http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/01/ ... -ice-bowl/</a><!-- m -->
Leading up to last week's Winter Classic (a.k.a. "The Ice Bowl"), Sabres blueliner Brian Campbell was saying all the right things, acting the part of willing promoter of the League's biggest regular season publicity stunt event in ages. He referred to practicing outdoors for the game as "fun," noted that it would be a great game for the fans and joked about how cold it might be, all of which you'd expect from the host team's captain (Campbell wore the "C" for the month of December, an honor that has been rotating in Buffalo on a monthly basis this season).
But while Campbell the hockey player was selling the made-for-television event (and not cashing in on the obvious commercial tie-in), Campbell the rock star was apparently trashing it.
According to the info accompanying the video clip below, a week or so before New Year's Eve, Campbell and teammate Ryan Miller somehow found themselves at The Buckin' Buffalo on stage with a band covering The Tragically Hip's classic "New Orleans Is Sinking," a tune during which Hip frontman Gord Downie routinely rants about killer whales, cookie factories or whatever else might strike his fancy. Campbell -- a big Hip fan, according to his baby diarrhea-colored MySpace page -- took the opportunity to talk about how he and Miller would "freeze [their] asses off at the [expletive] stupid Ice Bowl" and throw a little disrespect R.J. Umberger's way (Campbell, you'll recall, once hit Umberger so hard that Umberger's dog was sore for a month, small children were frightened and computers reprogrammed themselves to recreate the collision and its aftermath. Umberger retaliated months later in a less sportsmanlike manner). Have a look and listen for yourself (language NSFW):
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn9iVGlO8Io">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn9iVGlO8Io</a><!-- m -->
Now, I don't want to make this into more than it is -- a guy having a good time and maybe a couple of wobbly pops on a night out. Been there, done that three times in the past week. But let this serve as yet another reminder that when you're a celebrity -- even one of Campbell's status -- everything you say and do in public may very well end up on the internet (and let it also serve as notice to Gary Bettman et. al. that not everyone was thrilled to play in your outdoor game).
Oh, and if the Sabres front office is reading this, you may want to bookmark this page and refer back to it for the shred of cover it may provide when if you fail to sign Campbell before he splits town.
