The NHL's Underdog All-Star
To spice up the stale All-Star Game, the NHL changed the format to a 3-on-3 tournament between divisional teams. The league was trying to get the fans excited for the All-Star Game because the ratings have been dropping for the past few years. They came up with the idea to allow the fans to vote for any player they wanted.
Next, the internet took things to another level when fans starting voting for John Scott. Now, if John Scott was really an all-star then voting for him would be boring for the fans. But John Scott is not really good and is known as an enforcer, which is hockey slang for the guy that's job is to hit everyone.
Within 48 hours of the voting being online, John Scott had skyrocketed to the top of the voting which fans found hilarious and just made him take off in the voting. The All-Star Game is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, and so, of course, it became the target this joke which John Scott ultimately had to pay for.
With the fans wondering if they would honor their all-star voting contest, the NHL announced. "As long as voting is legitimate, we will honor the results," and with that statement the NHL completely stopped promoting the fan vote.
John Scott himself didn't like the attention that was coming from this, but he won and since he finished in first he was announced the all-star captain. Next, the joke turned into something else: appreciation that John Scott was an actual person with a personality, feelings and everything.
Next, even John Scott came around to this idea of playing in the All-Star game. He has two kids, and his wife was due with twins the weekend of the all-star game. He even had a shot at splitting $1 million with his team if they won, it suddenly mattered to him.
This joke with the all-star voting had suddenly become a feel good story for hard working good guy and his family. That's what made what happened next so surprising.
Arizona traded Scott to the Montreal Canadians who immediately sent Scott down to the minors making him ineligible for the All-Star game or so we thought. The NHL had finally got Scott out of the All-Star game but this sent the fans into a rag.
John Scott had to pay the price for being voted as captain of the All-Star game by the fans. The NHL had him traded, sent to the minors and he might never play in the NHL again because of it.
Eventually, the NHL allowed Scott to participate in the All-Star game creating a heartwarming moment and story for the league. Scott playing in the All-Star game created an appreciation for the average NHL player and an All-Star game too never forget.
