Ken Campbell is not happy about Robby Fabbri’s day with the Stanley Cup

The St. Louis Blues are in the middle of the Summer of Stanley, and the team’s official website and social media team have done a wonderful job of chronicling its travels. Craig Berube took the Cup to his hometown of Calahoo. Molly Bozak turned it into the world’s best margarita glass. Jordan Binnington surprised a young fan. Vince Dunn surprised a fan in a hospital. Captain Alex Pietrangelo took the Cup home so his triplets could break the internet with adorable photos and so he and his family could eat his nonna’s spaghetti out of it. Not to be outdone by his fellow Italian, Robby Fabbri did the same, and quite frankly, it looks delicious.

You’ll notice who tweeted out the photos: Philip Prichard, the official keeper of the Stanley Cup. He’s on the trip with the trophy to make sure that it survives the festivities, because as we all know, that thing has seen some things and some stuff. Prichard’s involvement means that this was a Cup Keeper Approved event.

That’s not enough for THN’s Ken Campbell, who considers garlic and meatballs a step too far.

First off, from what I gather based on this tweet, the dogs were eating spaghetti in the vicinity of the Cup, not from the Cup. Second off, this is what you consider beyond the pale? This is where the fun police is finally stepping up and drawing the line?

Showing the players having their day with the Cup is fun for the fans and great PR for the league, which is why the HHOF and the NHL “tolerate” such horrible things as tomato sauce. The Stanley Cup is the most recognizable trophy in sports, is probably the most difficult to win, and the guys make a point of making their day as personally meaningful as possible. It’s nice to actually get a look at a hockey player’s personality for once,

To wit, these are some of the things the Stanley Cup has had to endure in the past:

• Kris Draper’s baby shitting in it
• Red Kelly’s son peeing in it
• The 1940 New York Rangers burning MSG’s mortgage in the Cup and (rumor has it) urinating on it
• Mark Messier bringing the Cup to an Edmonton strip club
• Mark Messier denting the Cup and bringing it to an automotive shop to get fixed
• Phil Bourque trying to drown it in Mario Lemieux’s pool
• Patrick Roy drowning it in his own pool
• Being (almost) punted over the Rideau Canal
• Nearly every player sleeping next to it in bed
• Steve Yzerman showering with it
• Guy Carbonneau trying to throw the Cup into a pool from the balcony but missing and denting it
• The 1924 Habs leaving it on the side of the road after changing a flat tire
• The 1962 Maple Leafs throwing it into a bonfire, somehow “on accident”
• Clark Gillies filling it with dog food and actually letting his dog eat out of it

But yes, by all means, Robby Fabbri having his family’s dogs eat a piece of spaghetti with the Stanley Cup in-frame is by far the most shocking, pearl clutching thing to ever happen to this trophy. People were absolutely confused by Campbell’s tweet, which came out of left field. The replies are fantastic. It even earned him a dressing down from hockey journalism’s grande dame, Helene Elliott:

The most Campbell could offer up as a retort is that the Cup “deserves better.”

The Stanley Cup’s been through hell multiple times. That’s part of its charm. If it can survive Kris Draper’s daughter’s explosive baby diarrhea then it can survive this.