Bizarre

Worst Person of the Week: Man Steals Puck Being Thrown To Boy At Penguins Game

1704050871_4586638337001_4586627477001-vsAn older man at the Consol Energy Center may not be the ideal neighbor for your kids to visit on Halloween. The man stole a puck being tossed to the boy named Trey during the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Thursday night game against the Buffalo Sabres. It started as an act of kindness when the Sabres’ new head coach (and former Penguins head coach) Dan Bylsma noticed a small boy standing in the aisle just beyond the glass and tried to toss a hockey puck to him as a souvenir. That is when this man swooped in and snatched the puck.

I can understand that people might not initially realize that a puck or a ball is being thrown to a kid at a game (a woman was also trying to grab the puck). However, this kid was standing there alone and the pitch was clearly directed to him. Even if that escaped the man, he clearly must have realized after snatching the puck but did not give it to the boy.

Here is the despicable moment:

Fans were justifiably irate and the Penguins made it right by getting Trey a jersey, stick and a couple pucks. He even got a huge hug from the Penguins mascot. The only thing bigger than the jersey for the boy was his smile.

The man, who is still unidentified, will remain mired in public scorn. His anonymity may not last as long as his infamy however if prior such controversies are any measure.

This man is not alone in his utter lack of decency with regard to children at a sporting event. This woman still holds the title for worst person ever filmed at a professional sporting event:

The woman was later reportedly identified as Grennele Brashskowitz, a child psychologist in private practice with four other clinicians. It is not clear if the identification is itself a hoax given the many sites that traffic in false stories. While reported as her identity, the article seems transparently false, including the name. I was equally shocked by the high-five from one of her friends after stealing the ball from the girl. She reported;y headed back to her native Quebec, according to this dubious site. There is no confirmation of the identity or a suspiciously self-incriminating interview allegedly given to a small website (assuming that this “interview” is fake, it would have raised some interesting defamation claims — of course to sue she would have had to identify herself).

The man in Pittsburgh may face the same outing by irate folks on social media. I hope the puck was worth it.

To finish on a more promising note, one of our readers share the better half of humanity at a sporting event here.

21 thoughts on “Worst Person of the Week: Man Steals Puck Being Thrown To Boy At Penguins Game”

  1. I went to a Blues game in Saint Louis when on a visit to Ferguson. One of the nicest crowds I have seen on this planet. They would not tolerate hockey puck thief though. Another sports venue in Saint Louis which I went to last year was the Billikens Basketball team. They are from a local university named after the city. That, was a good crowd. They love their Billikens.

  2. Karen, I always choose to see the best. I spend my professional life seeing the worst in people. I pray to not become jaded and so far I have not.

  3. So we saw the worst as well as the best in people.

    Shame on that man and the woman in the other story.

    But it was uplifting to hear how the Penguins made it up to that sweet child. He’ll have fond memories of that night because of that team. Good for them.

    As for the woman in the other story, if I was there I would have tried to retrieve the ball (without fighting with the woman) and given it back to the little girl.

    I’m surprised, given the uniformity of public reaction, that either miscreant left the respective stadiums with their stolen prizes.

  5. Just taking a break from the insanity on the Heckler’s thread. Schwadom?

  7. What a spectacularly dooshy move. And disappointing that his fellow fans didn’t react to shame him for it.

  11. Paul, Back in the 70’s, Joan Payson owned the Mets. She was a billionaire member of the Whitney family. She wanted the team to retrieve foul balls. Baseball men convinced her that was not the way to go.

  12. *The man and the kid were in cahoots. It was his grandfather. They hatched this plan before arriving at the game, and figured it was a long shot but you never know.

    “Joey- you stand by yourself in the aisle over there and look real sad and pathetic, and maybe they’ll throw you a puck. THEN- I’ll snatch it away cuz it’s easy to catch an underhand toss meant for a child. Play up the sadness when this happens. They will see the awful situation, and amend it by EVEN MORE GOODIES!!! Then we’ll sell a couple things and keep a couple, and use the extra money for those new hockey skates you need to start junior league this year.”

    *Entirely made up for fun by a cynical mind.

  13. In college baseball you have to give the balls back. You get horribly abused if you try to keep it.

  14. I was at 81 home games for ten years. After those 810 games I quit going. The number will tell you that there were no playoff games for that team. I wont divulge the city and team. I saw a lot of balls in the stands and few incidents of fighting over balls. I went to one Patriots game last year and some quarterback had what they call “inflated balls”. We think it was from drinking the cool aid. He could not walk straight up and had no room to maneuver.

  15. I have attended close to a thousand MLB games in my life. I have seen people being idiots going for foul balls and even more crazy going for home run balls. But, I have seen many acts of kindness. I was @ a Brewer’s game a few years back. A foul ball bounced off the upper deck and came right down to me. There were a couple kids across the aisle from me who were grade school age, had their gloves, and were real fans, watching the game and chatting w/ their dad. So, I did the “Give a number between 1-10 and the closest gets the ball.” One of the reasons I gave the ball away is I have seen it done, and it makes the kids day. I always see the glass half full. For every jerk like this, there are many more good folks. Anyway, what do you expect from a Penguins fan?

  16. Vultures

    After reading the LINK listed above for the ball snatching woman, I have to agree she is the worse.

  17. He’s a schmuck with a puck.
    He’s a schmuck all the way.
    From his first cigarette to his last dying day.

    It would take but one Penguin …
    To level him down.
    A large hockey stick would fix this dumb clown.

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