It's finally Election Day here in the U.S., which hopefully means the end of this, this and especially this for a while. It also means cable news will go back to stories about poisonous toys from China and random shark attacks, and "SNL" will once again dedicate a larger portion of its broadcast to painfully unfunny Kristen Wiig and Keenan Thompson characters.
What we'll miss most here at Puck Daddy is the delightful political propaganda and memorabilia that floods our mailboxes and inboxes every election cycle. Scare tactics, falsehoods, misleading imagery ... these things can sometimes become works of pop art.
With that in mind, we asked two of the superstars from our "Gary Bettman: Portraits of Heroism" art contest to return for today's special hockey-themed tribute to political ads, posters and propaganda.
Stephen Slesinski (whose amazing image is shown above) and B.D. Gallof are talented artists and witty puckheads; check out their work, and our own contributions, in this bizarre and hilarious marriage of hockey and politics. Enjoy!
B.D. decides to place Don Cherry in a Michelle Obama/Oprah Winfrey sandwich. And since neither of them is wearing a visor, we imagine he's absolutely cool with it.
Stephen's preposterously good Obama poster parody perfectly captures the essence and legacy of our fabled commish. Tell us this wouldn't make a great T-shirt, huh?
And speaking of Gary Bettman ... it's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone at NHL HQ and it's ringing. Something's happening in the world. Your vote won't decide who answers that call ... because it's going to be Gary Bettman.
One of our silly, unprofessional contributions: A political button that Tampa Bay Lightning Coach Barry Melrose would be proud and/or forced to wear.
B.D. brings us "Joe the Hockey Player," who listens as Obama tells him how he's going to spread the wealth around. Colorado Avalanche star Joe Sakic is about to call him a socialist, until he realizes that the NHL has revenue sharing and a salary cap.
Another of our contributions, and a dream we believe most voters share when it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs agitator.
B.D.'s dream ticket of the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks executives. This would be like if Hillary ran with Obama, only there was a slim chance those two could have gotten to like each other.
Paid for by People for the Ethical Treatment of Elbows.
As B.D. shows us, it can't all be cynical. Although we would like to see the Ted Nolan attack ad against New York Islanders GM Garth Snow.
Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin and Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby on the same ticket? B.D. believes it can happen, although Crosby's expression makes us think this relationship is going about as well as the one between the McCain and Palin camps on the Express these days.
Finally, our attack ad on Sidney Crosby, paid for by Semin for Art Ross '08.
Sports
Now, if you haven't already, get your behind out to the polls and vote. Did anyone tell you that they give out free stickers? Isn't that incentive enough?
