On P.K. Subban & Touching -Or Not- The Stanley Cup

This weekend there was much angst over the fact that P.K. Subban appeared at the Just for Laughs festival with Seth Rogen and the Stanley Cup and proceeded to drink beer from the Cup (actually, a replica of the trophy) through a straw, thus avoiding the “touch”.

Traditionalists would argue that Subban shouldn’t have treated the Cup in such a way, and that tradition dictates that a player must win it before getting the spoils that go along with it. Even if it was a replica, it still represents the actual trophy itself.

I, for one, come from that school of thought. I have been in the presence of the Stanley Cup a handful of times over the years, but have never touched the Holy Grail of Hockey. And I am fully aware that I will never win the Cup as a player, and have known that since my house league hockey days.

However, I still cling to the hope that one day I might work for an organization that wins the Cup and I will have played a very miniscule part in that victory, and then I might be able to have earned the opportunity to touch the Silver Chalice.

Even if the Senators were to somehow win the Cup this season and it was in the city for long periods of public display, I still wouldn’t touch it because although my favorite team did win it, I didn’t have any direct part, or indirect for that matter, in getting it done.

As silly as it might seem, I feel that the Stanley Cup is a hallowed thing and you should earn the right to treat it like a toy, to eat cereal from it, to take it mountain climbing, or to baptize your baby in it.