Celebs in the dressing room? In
Raleigh? Has the whole world turned upside-down?
Look here, Cuba: this is a restricted area. Here is where the general gives his troops the plans for battle. Here is where oaths are pronounced, where allegiances are sworn, where wounds are sutured closed and anaesthetics administered directly to the spine. This is the gladiators' armory beneath the coliseum! Men have earned their entree into this room by suffering punishment and inflicting it! The locker room is for warriors! (And, to a lesser extent, for the press, provided they make themselves unobtrusive!) What business do you have here?
Actually, I don't blame Cuba Gooding, Jr. for crashing the champagne moment in the victors' dressing room. If I were famous enough that I could breach arena security at a thrilling moment like this, I might have the same lapse of judgment and try to get in, too. That's where some 'Cane official has to step in and say "I'm sorry, Mr. Gooding, Jr., the locker room celebration is only open to players. And credentialed reporters. And players' loved ones."
Which, OK, for all I know, maybe Cuba's seeing one of the Hurricanes. In which case, I retract all of the above and simply say: hey, good for you guys.
In closing, here's another surreal celebrity locker room moment, and maybe the weirdest hockey photo I've ever seen.
"Mess," Gary Coleman is saying, "I'm no psychiatrist, but I can plainly see your nuts."