Or, “it’s the hockey team from Hell!”

Or, as Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy offered,

Hey, remember that scene in The Dark Knight when Batman said the difference between himself and the imitation vigilantes populating Gotham City was that he “wasn’t wearing hockey pads”?

I could make headline jokes all day, but the truth of the matter is that the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League are having “Batman Night” tonight, have temporarily renamed themselves The Gotham City Crusaders and are sporting Batman-themed jerseys. I’m not the world’s leading Batman expert or anything (that title goes to my good friend Chris Sims), but I’m excited to see these in action. The only way it could be more Batman is if the Tulsa Oilers stopped in the middle of the game and spend three weeks combing their arena for Riddler trophies. Or maybe the jerseys could have nipples. Again, not a Batman expert.

From TulsaOilers.com

On November 23, Gotham City and Tulsa citizens are invited to witness the squad of 18 crusaders as they take the ice dressed in Limited Edition Batman hockey jerseys created exclusively for this event and featuring the iconic Bat Signal. After the game, the game jerseys will be auctioned off in the ONEOK Club in the BOK Center.

In honor of this special event presented by Z-104.5 The Edge, Gotham City children 12 and under will receive free admission to the Crusaders game on November 23 at the BOK Center.

“This is a once in a lifetime chance for our fans and players to experience Tulsa hockey in a whole new light,” said Tulsa Oilers and Gotham City Crusaders General Manager Taylor Hall.

The other team should wear red hoods on the ice just to f**k with them.

Anyway, here are a few additional pics of the jerseys (from the Oilers, by way of Puck Daddy). I’d love them if they’d left off the abs. I’ll wear a $200 sweater with the Batman logo on it, but not one that looks like a bikini body shirt from Spencer’s Gifts.

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I hope the fans chanted "NEEP! NEEP! NEEP!" as he descended.

The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Toronto Raptors 107-100 on Saturday night to open the amazing new Barclays Center in style, after the original opener against the New York Knicks was scratched because of Hurricane Sandy. Unfortunately, the attention that should have been focused on Brook “Dwight Who?” Lopez, who led the healthier-than-last-year Nets with 27 points, was directed at the Nets’ new mascot (above) as he made his debut after popping out of a trunk in the back of Maynard’s shop.

But there’s apparently so much more to this new character, known now as the BrooklyKnight, which is so much fun to pronounce as Brookly Knight. The Nets have teamed up with Marvel to give the NBA its first official superhero, which means that the whole LeBron James comic book was indeed just a bad dream.

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Nice to see LeBron reading up on Dwight Howard.

When I first read that ESPN the Magazine had teamed up with Marvel to create a one-time, limited edition comic book for LeBron James, I rolled my eyes and groaned. It was bad enough that Tim Tebow got his own comic book – not sure whatever happened with that – but now ESPN could profess its hot, stinky man love for the reigning NBA Finals MVP and gold medalist across 20-plus pages of embellished artistry. And when I read that the comic was titled “King of the Rings”, I pulled my eyes out of my head, dipped them in acid, shoved them back in their sockets and rolled them again.

But then a funny thing happened – I read the comic. It’s actually not terrible. Sure, in theory it only feeds the league’s greatest, most uncontrollable ego and provides more ammunition for the shallow belief that the Miami Heat can just steamroll the entire league for the next 5 years. I mean, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but it’s still an obnoxious overstatement. When it comes to pure, comic entertainment value, though, this little book is pretty damn good.

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Despite being absolutely mauled in a three-game sweep at the hands of their villainous arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals – this is how I assume every article in the Midwest began last night and this morning, by the way – the Chicago Cubs left Busch Stadium with their heads high and a positive attitude. In fact, the whole team decided to dress up in zany costumes, as has been a “hilarious” trend throughout the league this season and seasons past.

As you can see above, some of the Cubbies honored their favorite super heroes, while others dressed as video game and movie characters. And even after the 23-1 ass-stompery, which included a 7th inning for the ages in Game 2 on Saturday, the Cubs stood by their promise to dress up and have some fun.

“I have to do it,’’ Alfonso Soriano said of the commitment to put on his costume after a 7-0 loss. “I don’t want to do it now, but everybody else is doing it, so I think I have to do it.’’

Though some other staff and players also seemed reluctant, nearly everyone complied with the event, which had been planned, and once postponed, since spring training, including Ryan “Captain America” Dempster, Anthony “Buzz Lightyear” Rizzo, Carlos “Zorro” Marmol and manager Dale “Hellboy” Sveum. (Via the Chicago Sun-Times)

Of course, their fun couldn’t be dampened solely by the fact that they lost 3 straight games, instead some of the Cubs also had to be reminded that they were dressing up as Batman characters only a few days after the Aurora, CO shooting. If that wasn’t completely bad enough – and short of a reporter running over Ryan Dempster’s dog – the Sun-Times also reminded everyone that this weekend was a celebration of Ron Santo’s life for Cubs fans, and he absolutely loathed costume days.

All in all, I’d say the Cubs probably feel like complete crap today. But at least they’re having fun.

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Ever since I saw and loved Marvel’s The Avengers, I’ve been jumping all over every little rumor that pops up and analyzing the hell out of it for FilmDrunk, because I need something to do in between chest and shoulder sets. With the success of Avengers, it’s hardly a surprise that Marvel wants to start making films for basically any character that has ever existed, so that got me thinking: “Hey, what about the NFL SuperPro?”

In case you’re unfamiliar, the NFL SuperPro was a character created by Marvel in 1991, and he was just your average NFL player whose career was cut short because he saved a kid from a fire and shredded his knee in the process. He’s like the exact opposite of Maurice Clarett. But he met a crazy sports fan scientist along the way – aren’t all scientists huge sports fans? – and through a series of zany coincidences, he was doused with a formula that turned him into a super-powered mutant. Thankfully, he chose to use those powers – and a fancy NFL-inspired costume – for good.

I know what you’re thinking: “This sounds awesome! How has this not already been turned into a movie?” Unfortunately, the NFL SuperPro only lasted 12 issues and people pretend like it sucked. Well, it didn’t. It was incredible, and he deserves to be a part of the next Avengers film. Please join me, as I explain my reasons.

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If Anderson Silva finally getting mad and threatening to break every bone and tooth in Chael Sonnen’s body didn’t get you excited for Silva vs. Sonnen II at UFC 148 next month, maybe THE SILVER SPIDER VS. THE AMERICAN GANGSTA will.

That’s the comic series UFC is using to promote their next event, with a new panel showing up every day on Facebook. If you’re like most people your first reaction will be, “why didn’t they call him the ‘Silva’ spider and put the hard ER on the end of ‘gansta’? Would Chael Sonnen call himself a ‘gangsta’?” Your second reaction will be to scroll down a little and laugh out loud at Steven Seagal’s cameo.

They’re updating the comic every day until July 7, so check out what we’ve got so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for a Booster Gold crossover at some point.

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