Jersey Fouls is our ongoing exploration of the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition. If you spot what you think may be a foul in your arena, email a photo to us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com for inclusion in future installment.
Via reader Tatum Biggs comes this completely accurate yet undoubtedly offensive Jersey Foul, as a Philadelphia Flyers fan honors forward Wayne Simmonds.
Wow.
Now, the first question is whether this jersey makes you laugh. At face, it did not make me laugh. Had it read "Ya Know, The Black Guy?", then it would have made me chuckle. Harrison Mooney, Puck Daddy associate editor and self-identified "person of color," said "The Black Guy" made him laugh but that "Token" would have made him laugh harder. (He watches a lot of South Park.)
Look, we all just went through something with Joel Ward this week that makes a jersey like this wicked awkward. Not to mention Simmonds' own problems with racial "humor" earlier this season. Maybe you find it funny. Maybe you find it offensive. Maybe you're saying "typical Philadelphia", or maybe you're saying, "Oh crap, this is going to make people say 'typical Philadelphia.'" Maybe you're saying "but what if they had re-signed Ray Emery? Would the jersey have to be amended to "A Black Guy"?
Whatever your reaction, know that it's a Foul. Although a Winnipeg Jets Kyle Wellwood jersey with "The Fat Guy" …