Nathan Smith of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins was caught with his pants down last weekend.
Whether your post-game ritual involves dabbing Clearasil on a mountain of pimples after a midget house-league game or staving off the groupies in the bowel of the rink following an NHL game, coaching lingo is pretty universal. And I can pretty well tell you that when a bench boss at any level makes reference to "going balls out", this isn't what they have in mind.
This week's Weenie Award goes uncontested to Nathan Smith, the captain of the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who was tossed in the pokey last weekend, or at least taken away in the silver bracelets, after getting' naked and prancing around on a downtown Scranton street.
And when we say stripping, we mean nothing, down-to-the-bare-stuff, handprint-from-a-slap-on-the-butt-cheeks naked.
Now, there probably isn't much happening in downtown Scranton at those wee, if you'll pardon the pun, hours of the morning, but if you're going to run through the streets showing off your junk, a bail hearing isn't all that far behind.
No truth to the rumor that the arresting officer, after seeing Smith in his birthday suit, stated "I can clearly see you're nuts."
Needless to say, the boys were liquored up, with Smith's teammate Ryan Stone getting pinched for public drunkenness. Shocking, huh? Hey, who hasn't got sideways with the buddies before dropping the drawers around the knees and going for a run down a well-lit and, it seems, well-policed street.
Smith says he was acting on a bet. Well, in keeping with that theme, I'm giving you 10-1 odds that Smith's NHL prospects have taken a serious hit after this little stunt and he may spend the rest of his career, er, hanging out on the AHL buses.
Harsh, perhaps. But the naked truth nonetheless.
And don't bother calling Smith. His spirits are, er, sagging right about now.