The Cap Snatcher And The Power Of The Mob.

Piotr Szczerek didn't get away with stealing a cap meant for a child at the US Open, and he finally, officially goes on record with a qualified apology...

Piotr Szczerek swipes the cap meant for “Brock” - a young boy at the event.

A core memory of my youth was when I went to a Minnesota Fighting Saints hockey game and caught a hockey puck. The Fighting Saints played in the old WHA (World Hockey Association) and at the St. Paul Civic Center, which sat roughly on the same grounds where the Wild now play. The incident is so memorable, that I can still see it in my mind’s eye.

I was 11 or 12, and the Saints were playing the Houston Aeros. Our seats were behind the visitors goal, and about 20 rows up. During warmup, I came down and joined other kids standing on the rail over the tunnel behind the goal. The backup goalie picked up a puck and looked up - and looked right at me - and tossed me the puck. I caught it.

The puck was meant for me. I didn’t miss it. I barely saw the game - I kept looking at that puck. There was no logo on it - in those days warmup pucks were just regular old pucks - but it was the holy grail as far as I was concerned. I probably slept with the damned thing. I took it to school - I remember that - and everybody thought it was so cool. I kept telling the story. The story of me catching the puck from the goalie. He wanted me to have it and I have it.

What a wonderful thing to happen to a kid. All kids want this to happen. They want to catch a ball - or get an autograph - or these days - maybe a selfie with a player.

Brock, this young boy, thought he had a similar experience on his plate, until Piotr Szczerek, a 50 year-old Polish multi-millionaire, and CEO of his company Drogbruk, took it right out of his hands.