The Ed Snider Celebration of Life memorial service, which aired on CSN, was extraordinarily well-produced and handled by all involved. But the selection of speakers, like Snider, represented surreal philosophical contrasts with what I’m guessing is 90% of the fan base and those in attendance today. For this audience, there was something odd about seeing the plutocrats chosen to speak – who seemed better suited as the green room inhabitants for CNBC’s Squawk Box than a memorial service held in front of hockey fans – including Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, rich guy and philanthropist Michael Milken, son of local magnate Lewis Katz Drew Katz, and even Gary Bettman, all of whom were friends with Snider. It was more than a little strange watching millionaires quote Ayn Rand, whose super-capitalist work Atlas Shrugged guided Snider [more on that here], and tell tales of wealth and privilege in front of the guy in the third row with a goatee, oversized jeans and a Flyers tattoo, who suddenly started to ponder just how much he had contributed to Snider’s wealth. But, somehow it was all endearing and a fitting and funny tribute to a man who led an impressive life.

The two best stories came from Katz and Bettman.

Bettman, who is about as warm at The Penguin issuing an ominous decry, recounted the time Snider literally prevented him from leaving the Wells Fargo Center grounds so he could chew him out over officiating in a Rangers game:

“I remember a Flyers/Rangers playoff game here in the 1990s. Let me set the scene: It was a spring Sunday afternoon – it may have been sometime around Mother’s Day as I recall it – and I drove down to the playoff game with my wife and my three children who were, at the time, a teenager, a pre-teen, and a little one. The Flyers were clearly the better team, but the Rangers were clutching and grabbing and hooking and holding all game. The end result was the Rangers won a one-goal game that had not been decided on the basis of skill.

And Ed, as you can imagine, was infuriated as I soon learned. The game ends, and I’m trying to get out of town as quickly as possible. My wife, the kids, and I leave the building, get into the car, and I’m just about to make it out of the parking lot when I see there’s a car blocking the exit. Looked like a police car with flashing lights, and it was arena security. The driver gets out, comes over to me and says “Mr. Snider wants to see you. Now.”

I get escorted back to the main entrance, and I go inside and there’s Ed waiting for me in the lobby. He generously offers me a detailed opinion of the game and the officiating and asks me point blank: “Do you really want the games played like that?” I stood there for about 20 minutes before I was permitted to answer the question, because there was a fair amount of animated gesticulation going on, none of it by me. My family – including my little kids – are watching all of this through the windows, and by the time I got back to the car I couldn’t tell whether they were amused or horrified. Probably both.

I start the car. Parking lot is virtually empty. And before we start moving, a very drunk individual threw himself across the hood of my car and douses us with beer. Ed tells me it was a Ranger fan. It was a fragrant ride home to say the least.”

That story perfectly sums up the Ed Snider Flyers is so many endearing, ridiculous, and hilarious ways.

So does this one from Katz:

“Did you know that Ed Snider once kicked Donald Trump out of his suite at a hockey playoff game? It had nothing to do with his political views, I don’t even think his political views were formed yet [Ed. note: Burn.]. It had to do with the fact that The Donald would not stop talking to Ed during the game. It’s a true story. There’s nothing that comes between Ed Snider and his hockey games.”

That one drew applause from the crowd, which otherwise got an unwanted summation of Rand’s philosophy of objectivism– though Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney was there to balance things out by letting everyone know that his dad worked as a security guard for Mr. Snider.

Not stated but present was Roberts continuing to take on the public face of Comcast in its Flyers ownership. It was reported last week that the Snider family now owns less than Ed’s original 37% stake– 24%. Comcast is telling people that is the Sniders’ ownership stake in Comcast Spectacor, but it’s unclear if that will remain the case. What is clear, however, is that Comcast, much like they’ve been for the past few years, is now fully in control of the company. Roberts talked about his Facetimes (from bed!) with Mr. Snider, but didn’t mention that they may have touched on a sort of passing of the torch in Flyers ownership from Snider to Comcast. No one in or around CSN – which is basically most of the Philly sports media – will touch this one, but I’ve heard from several folks that Comcast is now calling the shots. The Snider family no longer has run of the place, so to speak. So seeing Roberts in front of so many cameras and behind so many quotes over the last week is at least intriguing.

We’re trying to dig up more on this. Know anything? Your anonymity is assured.