It always boggles my mind how many ways hockey card manufacturers can botch something as simple as taking a photo of a professional athlete. I’m not sure if it is the photographer who has these ambitions of winning the Nobel Prize in photography (if such a thing even exists), or if it is the player himself who has a say in how he will appear on his card, but this type of atrocious photography in the hockey card industry is out of control.

Many of you may have forgotten that Hall-of-Famer Dino Ciccarelli, he of 608 career goals, played his final 42 games (mostly during the 1998 calendar year) as a member of the Florida Panthers. This is when this photo of Dino sticking a carrot into the mouth of a rhinoceros was taken. You would think that the back of the card explains why Dino, a hockey player, would be posing for a photo at the zoo, but the card makes absolutely no mention of the zoo, rhinoceroses (or is that rhinocer-i?), Africa, horns, the colour grey, or carrots, whether they be the orange, red or yellow variety. Check out the back of your card for yourself.

This is why I have to write these little inductions every so often. I feel you, no, the world, needs help interpreting these things. No need to thank me for my service, however; just doin’ my duty! My best guess is