Crosby's ready for a break

It's been a busy first NHL season for Sidney Crosby, and he certainly needs a rest after carrying the sorry-ass Pittsburgh Penguins on his back all year.

By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After a whirlwind 10 months -- from being the ultra-hyped No. 1 pick at the Ottawa draft to bunking in Pittsburgh's Hotel de Lemieux to scoring a record 102 Penguins points to leading the World Championship in scoring in Latvia to, upon returning stateside, lunching with the new Penguins general manager -- it's no wonder hockey wunderkind Sidney Crosby has one thing in mind for his immediate itinerary:

Just chill.

Being Sidney Crosby, though, even that won't last long.

"I want to have some time to relax a bit and get ready for next season," Crosby said yesterday at Mellon Arena, his first media availability since before leaving for Latvia. "I think the way I prepared before last season, for me ... it's important to get rest. But it's also important to work. Everybody wants to have a better season than last year.

"I want to get to the playoffs. There's no doubt about that. But our focus should be having a good start and coming in with the right frame of mind for training camp. To say we're going to make the playoffs next year, that's too far ahead. We've got to focus on the short term."

It might also help if he didn't have to babysit Mario's kids next season. It's time for Sidney to waste his energy womanizing and drinking like his teammates.