Behind the Zamboni
IowaChops.com 2/17/09
“There are three things in life people like to stare at,” Charlie Brown once declared, “a rippling stream, a fire in a fire place, and a Zamboni going around and around.” The truth of this statement can be seen at Wells Fargo Arena and ice rinks across North America, where it is a source of perpetual fascination for hockey fans of all ages. Over the six decades since Frank Zamboni developed his famed machine, it has become a fixture not only in professional hockey but throughout popular culture. Since Charlie Brown first made his observation nearly 30 years ago, various “Peanuts” characters in the comic strip have referred to it more than fifty times. The venerable ice resurfacer has popped up in several other cartoons including “SpongeBob SquarePants,” driven by Krusty Krab and slightly renamed as a “Clamboni.”
Numerous references have been made to the Zamboni on television and in movies and song, some humorous, some less so. On the long-running series “Cheers,” Carla’s second husband was supposedly killed when he was run over by a Zamboni. In one episode of “ER,” a drunken Zamboni driver levels a group of ice skaters, sending them to the hospital. In the film “D2: The Mighty Ducks,” three of the Ducks crash one through the boards. In the musical world, the best-known example is a hit song in which the Gear Daddies confess: “Now ever since I was young, it’s been my dream / That I might drive a Zamboni machine.” The musical “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” features the character Freddie singing about wanting his “own personal Zamboni” in the song “Great Stuff.”
Sarah Palin, arguably the world’s most famous hockey mom, admitted in a “People” magazine interview that she always wanted to have a son named Zamboni — an idea for which her husband Todd, however, expressed little enthusiasm. Perhaps the most outrageous real-life use of a Zamboni took place when WWE wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin drove one to the ring at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to confront Vince McMahon!
However, Life is unlikely to imitate Art (or, for that matter, the WWE) at the “Well,” thanks to the steady-handed expertise of Todd Lebel and the other three Zamboni drivers who groom the ice for Chops games and other skating events. … [Full Story]
