I'll See You In Buffalo / Sid v. Ben

Well, it's (almost) official! The NHL New Year's Day Ice Bowl is going to be a reality. The Penguins will face the Buffalo Sabres on January 1, 2008 at the Ralph Wilson Stadium, which is normally the home of the NFL's Buffalo Bills. However, no one from the league, the Penguins, the Sabres, or NBC will actually confirm the "news" until September 10th, when an official announcement is expected. If and when the tickets go on sale, I GUARANTEE you that I will be online trying to buy tickets! I'm not too worried about scoring a couple of seats - there will be plenty of tickets: the stadium seats nearly 74,000 people!!! No doubt it'll be a great way for the NHL to get some mainstream exposure (and cash in on the popularity of one Sidney Crosby).

I received this email from The Mario Lemieux Foundation. If I lived a little bit closer to Pittsburgh, I would SO be going to this event. Click the picture to enlarge so you can read the e-vite. Notice that Sidney can't attend this event until next year!!!

Every hockey fan is anxiously awaiting the early October start of the season. We've all been following trivial stories about our favorite players just hoping for something to pass the time until the action starts. Here at The Sidney Crosby Show, we've posted articles about Sid's birthday, found some cool videos, and previewed his fashion line during this offseason. But Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review has gone a little too far this time. Rossi has written an entire novel article detailing the similarities and the differences between Pittsburgh's two biggest star athletes, our man Sid and Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Okay, other than the fact that these two guys are both relatively young men that play professional sports on teams in Pittsburgh, they really couldn't be more different. Nonetheless, here's a sample of how Rossi says they measure up to one another:

Nickname
Roethlisberger: Big Ben
Crosby: The Kid

Age
Roethlisberger: 25
Crosby: 20

Size
Roethlisberger: 6-foot-5, 241 pounds
Crosby: 5-foot-11, 200 pounds

Rookie of the Year awards
Roethlisberger: 1
Crosby: 0

Athletic idol
Roethlisberger: John Elway
Crosby: Steve Yzerman

Championships
Roethlisberger: 1
Crosby: 0

Famous teammates
Roethlisberger: Jerome Bettis
Crosby: Mario Lemieux

MVP awards
Roethlisberger: 0
Crosby: 1

Shoe contracts
Roethlisberger: Nike
Crosby: Reebok

Celebrity girlfriends
Roethlisberger: 2
Crosby: 0

Method of transportation
Roethlisberger: Motorcycle
Crosby: SUV

Music video appearances
Roethlisberger: 1
Crosby: 0

Personally, I would be kind of embarrassed to include the "Celebrity girlfriends" and "Music video appearances" sections, but hey, I'm just a blogger - not a real reporter - right? Besides, this is like comparing apples to oranges. There is no way anyone can say one of these guys is better than the other. The only way you could fairly compare the two of them would be if they played the same sport. But I can imagine Sid would get knocked around QUITE OFTEN if he tried to play football, and I wonder if Ben can even ice skate?

The two of them have met only once, and apparently had a brief conversation so secrative that even the NSA is trying to figure out what they talked about. I honestly cannot wait until the season starts so reporters have something genuinely interesting to talk about again.


Special note to Jody Vance
In the same article, Rossi mentions the following about Sid's charity work: "Crosby hasn't established a foundation of his own, but said he plans to do so soon. For now he offers his time to the Mario Lemieux Foundation for cancer research." Suck on THAT!