Why a giant ‘Poop’ appeared in the middle of Yellowknife

A large sign reading “Poop” at a Yellowknife ball diamond turns out to be the culmination of a year-long slopitch rivalry.

Several residents contacted Cabin Radio seeking an explanation after the sign, in large yellow-and-white lettering, caught their attention.

The venue – Fritz Theil Memorial Park, at the gateway to Old Town – immediately suggested a link to slopitch and the recent GAP tournament at the field.

However, the depth of the history behind the sign’s emergence may raise eyebrows.

Several sources traced the Poop’s lineage back an entire year to the night before the 2018 GAP tournament, which formed the event’s 20th anniversary. The anniversary was celebrated with large signs reading “GAP 20.”

One of the teams involved, the GAP Connectors, went onto the field and painted the bleachers blue – their team colour – in order to make a statement.

At the same time, the Connectors “hid” a new table built specifically for the tournament by rival team Strykers.

Later, Strykers retaliated by painting all the ‘P’ letters in the GAP tournament 20th-anniversary signs yellow, which is the Strykers team colour.

A rivalry is born. Still with us? Good.

All was quiet for the rest of the year as the teams plotted out their next pranks.

For example, at the 2018 year-end tournament – where each team received a bat as a gift – the GAP Connectors discovered theirs had been painted Stryker yellow. Strykers stryked again.

That night, the Connectors struck back by taking the yellow “P” letters from the aforementioned GAP signs, alongside the large, white zeroes from the two “20” signs at the 20th-anniversary tournament, and placing them on the lawn of the Strykers team captain’s house – to spell, yes, P00P.

If you thought that was the end of this prank war, you would be wrong.

As the 2019 GAP tournament neared, Strykers members decided GAP Connectors could not have the last word.

Needing something to top all prior pranks, the Strykers team initially tried to persuade the City of Yellowknife to grant a fireworks permit.

The City, perhaps wisely, did not oblige this request, but the Strykers did not give up.

Instead, on the opening morning of the tournament, arriving players were treated to a novel sight.

The Strykers had retrieved the P00P sign and erected it at the field for all to see.

A large sign reading ‘Poop’ sits at a Yellowknife ballpark in July 2019. Sarah Pruys/Cabin Radio

Within the past 48 hours, the sign has once again disappeared – Yellowknife residents, after all, being famous for the diligence with which they remove any large poop from a visible area.

However, neither team prepared to tell Cabin Radio which other pranks may yet be in store.

Ollie Williams contributed snark.