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Banned items for Winter Classic fans: Please leave your projectile toys at home
The National Hockey League released a rather extensive list of banned items from the Big House for the 2014 NHL Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs on New Year’s Day.
Please, for the love of decency, LEAVE YOUR BALLOONS AT HOME people:
- Aerosol or spray cans
- Alcohol or illegal substances
- Apparel or signage displaying profane or abusive language
- Audio recording equipment
- All Bags (including purses)
- Balloons
- Banners, flags and flagpoles
- All Bottles (including all types of water bottles)
- Brooms, poles or tripods
- Containers of any kind (including cans, thermoses and open containers)
- Coolers
- Fireworks
- Firearms, knives or other weapons
- Flasks
- Food of any kind
- Laser Pointers
- Nets
- Noisemakers
- Professional cameras/lenses (lenses longer than 6”)
- Projectile toys (including footballs, Frisbees and beach balls)
- Seat backs
- Strollers
- Video/movie cameras
- Umbrellas
Can we talk about video cameras for a second?
This list seems a little archaic when you consider that every fan with a smartphone has a video camera, a still camera and an audio recorder. Granted, they don’t have the zooming power of a professional lens or video recording device, but if the goal is to protect the broadcasters’ rights to the material … well, how do you do that in the stadium, considering fans can shoot and upload video within minutes?
I guess you go after YouTube or whoever hosts the video. That was going to be my suggestion to one league that reached out to us about a video shot by a fan in one of their arenas, but they successfully had it spiked from YouTube before I had a chance to opine. So maybe that's the plan of attack.
I shutter at the thought that fans at the Winter Classic who raise their phones to record a few moments are going to be shut down like a movie usher kicking out someone they think is pirating a film. I don't think we're there, but who knows?
Besides the fact that most phones can also be used as a projectile toy.
A hearty s/t to Malik for the find. And has one of his Red Wings commenters mentioned, “Nothing about octopi.” (Alas, Leafs fans, waffles likely fall under “food” …)
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is the editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
