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The Red Wings are on the road today, playing at St. Louis, which means one thing to Chris Osgood: His toothpaste will go missing.

It has happened every trip the Wings have been on this season -- and with today being Festivus, the holiday made famous by a 1997 episode of "Seinfeld," Osgood leads the way as several Wings indulge in the traditional "Airing of Grievances."

"The guys always take my toothpaste and my hair products out of my kit I use on the road," he said. "Always. I don't know who or why, but it's annoying. They also steal my sticks off the rack all the time, the ones I've just freshly taped.

"Those would be my main grievances. That's against everyone, though, because I don't know who it is. But I have a particular one against Mike Modano because his hair is always perfect, even when it's messy. Doesn't matter if it's wet, dry, whatever -- it's perfect."

Osgood's situation in turn is the basis for Kris Draper's grievance, because "Ozzie steals my toothpaste and puts it in his kit. Happens all the time -- I buy it, he takes it."

Draper's plight isn't likely to draw much sympathy, because several teammates have him on their list.

"Well my grievance, it must be my nemesis, Drapes," Henrik Zetterberg said. "He always plays pranks and stuff on me, and yet somehow I'm always the bad guy."

Draper made Darren Helm's airing, as did Jiri Hudler, Todd Bertuzzi, Osgood, and also, "everyone."

"Huds for always telling me to slow down," Helm began. "Everybody for always telling me to slow down. Everyone for calling me 'Dumb and Dumber.' Ozzie for always having different nicknames for me every day. Drapes, same thing. Ozzie and Drapes for always ganging up on me and Abby. Bert's perfect, except he makes me get tape for him, and then he says it's 'for us' but there is no 'us,' there's just him."

Helm shares the "Dumb and Dumber" movie reference burden with Justin Abdelkader, who gets the Harry moniker to Helm's Lloyd.

"Yeah, Ozzie and Drapes, I have a grievance against them with their 'Dumb and Dumber' stuff -- they love calling us Harry and Lloyd," Abdelkader said. "Then (Pavel Datsyuk) always makes fun of me for my soccer skills, how bad they are. And (Johan) Franzen -- recently he's been calling me his kid. He thinks I'm his kid, so he'll call me kid and say I'm suppose to call him Daddy."

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Pittsburgh Steelers: Tonight's Game A Festivus For The Rest Of Us

The Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Carolina Panthers tonight, and like Festivus, it should begin with the Airing Of The Grievances.

The Steelers offense is terrible because they have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but Offensive Coordinator Bruce Aryans seem incapable of taking advantage of Ben Roethlisberger's talents, instead plugging in plays that only highlight the weaknesses of the offensive line instead of trying to minimize it.

The Steelers have become the elite team they claim to be through years of running the ball and just pounding the ball down the throats of their opponents. Aryans won't have that, though, and Rashard Mendenhall's 1,173 yards going into tonight's game actually is low for a back of such talent.

Mendenhall should be challenging for a 2,000-yard season, but the aforementioned weak offensive line and poor gameplanning have given him relatively low numbers.

The defense is not as good to an alarming degree without Troy Polamalu, and the Steelers lost games to teams like the Carolina Panthers in 2009 when Polamalu was injured.

Festivus can not end until Jimmy Clausen is pinned.

For a preview of tonight's game, check out Thursday Night NFL Showdown.

Bruins host Thrashers in Festivus match-up

John Bazemore - AP

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The Atlanta Thrashers are in town to take on the Bruins tonight in a Festivus tilt at TD Garden before the NHL breaks for Christmas. This is the the second of four meetings between the Bruins and Thrashers this season. In their first game, Atlanta cruised to a 4-1 victory at Philips Arena on November 28th.

The Thrashers are a much-improved hockey club this year after pulling Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd off of the Blackhawks' scrap heap in the off-season. The Thrashers are 19-12-5 and a battling with the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Southeast Division. Byfuglien and Ladd are tied for the team-lead with 12 goals and have 36 points and 31 points, respectively.

In goal, Ondrej Pavelec seems to have beat out Chris Mason for the starting job. Pavelec has a 12-6-3 record with a 1.82 GAA, .943 save percentage, and 2 shutouts. Pavelec ranks second in the NHL behind Tim Thomas is both GAA and save percentage.

Notes:

- Brad Marchand (undisclosed injury) sat out Wednesday's practice and is considered questionable for tonight's game.

- The Thrashers do not have any major injuries to report.

- In what can only be lazy schedule making, the Bruins also played the Thrashers on Festivus last year at TD Garden. The B's won that contest 6-4.

- The Thrashers lost 4-2 to the St. Louis Blues at home on Tuesday night.

- Atlanta has scored 15 goals in their last 3 games. Over that same stretch, the Bruins have scored 6 goals.

- Atlanta is 5th in the league in offensive production with 3.22 goals per game.

- The Thrashers and Bruins both give up 33.9 shots per game.

- The Binghamton Senators are fully embracing the holiday of Festivus.

- The game starts at 7:00 PM ET and airs on NESN. 98.5 FM The Sports Hub has the radio broadcast.

- Public Skate open thread gets underway at 6:30 PM ET.

With this being Festivus and all, I thought I would incorporate some of the traditions of the holiday into today's preview:

The Airing of Grievances:

"The Falconer": Usually I let bygone be bygones, but with a game against the Thrashers on Festivus, I figured this was a great opportunity to call you out. You are a self-important ATL-Hole with zero sense of humor. Take the Easton composite out of your ass and relax. This is hockey blogging. Have some fun. Most people reading this probably have no idea what I am talking about and that is because you do not believe enough in what you write to keep it posted. For the record, I have never dropped an F-Bomb in the title of a post. Who is the real "professional"?

Claude Julien: Light a fire under the ass of everyone in that room! Despite the fact that the Bruins brass is telling everyone that your job is safe, you need to start motivating your players as if you could be fired today. The reality is no matter what they say, they could fire you today. You should know that better than anyone.

Peter Chiarelli: Are we supposed to be happy that your solution to the cap mess you created was to give away player assets without getting anything in return?

Zdeno Chara: Starting showing that you deserve that "C" on your sweater and show that you are a leader.

Daniel Paille: I know you have not had much playing time this year, but at times you look like you have never played the game before. Last year you were a solid PK guy, this year you look tentative out there.

Marc Savard: I know it is going to take time for you to get your game back. I'm just wondering if you came back too early...again. You look like a shadow of your former self out there.

Nathan Horton: Great start, but where is Mr. October now?

Bruins Neutral Zone Play: The Bruins have looked awful lately in the neutral zone. I do not know how many times I have seen a defenseman make a good pass to a forward in the neutral zone only to see him cough it up or dump the puck in with no one in pursuit of the dump-in.

NHL Officiating: I don't really complain about officiating much, but their have been a lot of bogus ticky-tack calls made this year. Let the kids play!

Feats of Strength:

Last game against the Atlanta Thrashers featured two fights. Matt Hunwick fought Evander Kane and Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves with Eric Boulton. The Thrashers only have 14 fighting majors this season, but they have plenty of guys that can throw haymakers. I think there is a pretty good chance we will see a feat of strength or two this Festivus.

Festivus Is Here: Time to Air Grievances

(CBS) "Festivus for the rest of us" has arrived.

Every year on December 23 since 1997, "Seinfeld" fans and general humorists have gather around an unadorned aluminum pole; aired their grievances by telling others how they disappointed them in the last 12 months; eaten a meatloaf meal with no alcohol; and performed feats of strength by attempting to pin the head of the household.

What began as a lark by a character on the popular 1990s sitcom has now taken root in the real world, to what extent and for how long into the future exactly is still anyone's guess.

The origins of the Festivus celebration can be dated back to the Seinfeld episode titled "The Strike," when actor Jerry Stiller's character Frank Costanza talked about how his refusal to conform to the increased commercialism and consumerism that saturate the Christmas season gave him an idea.

During a routine outing to buy a Christmas gift for his son George, Frank realized that there should be a new holiday:

Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.

Kramer: What happened to the doll?

Frank Costanza: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born … a Festivus for the rest of us!

Kramer: That must've been some kind of doll.

Frank Costanza: She was.

According to the Festivusweb, the Festivus idea originally came to Seinfeld writer Dan O'Keefe from a tradition started by his father, Daniel O'Keefe.

The elder O'Keefe had discovered the Festivus holiday in a book, published in 1966, that outlined obscure holidays. The book described many of the features later included in the Seinfeld episode. He was also inspired inspired by the Samuel Beckett play Krapp's Last Tape, whose protagonist tapes himself speaking at different times in his life.

There are dozens of websites and groups devoted to celebrating Festivus. Those interested can buy pre-made Festivus poles, get a how-to guide on celebrating, and meet like-minded Festivus enthusiasts.