Sharks Gameday: the Hall of Oh Yeah That Guy

I induct my first player into the Hall of Oh Yeah That Guy.

By shampeon@shampeon Nov 19, 2015, 10:17am PST

"Rat" enshrined forever, or until the next significant rain

I'm proud to announce the first player inducted into the Hall of Oh Yeah That Guy: Sharks and Flyers legend Mike Rathje. You may have a vague recollection of him.

Mike Rathje's plaque in the Hall

Whenever I can't think of a better idea, I'm going to be inducting former vaguely remembered players in to the Hall of Oh Yeah That Guy. I encourage you all to visit the Hall's gorgeous facilities (a light pole somewhere in my neighborhood).

Mike Rathje played 11 almost memorable years for the Sharks before signing a 5 year free-agent contract with the Flyers right after the lockout. Because Bobby Clarke is hilarious, and who wouldn't want to lock up an aging, huge, slow, offensively challeged defenseman long-term right after they changed the NHL rules to encourage speed and skill? Rat shockingly got injured his second year into the deal and never really recovered. As a Shark, he was most known as the whipping boy for the kind of moron fans that yell "HIT SOMEBODY!" Mike was a big player who played mostly a containment game reasonably well for the dead-puck era. His size and reach disrupted play a lot, but he never really delivered the bone-crushing hits fans craved. A half-season holdout angered Dean Lombardi (NO! I hear you saying), which is also pretty cool.

The best thing about Rathje was his all-world derp face.