At the very moment this post is published, I will actually be spending the evening with my parents. Haha, thank GOD for DVRs! Tonight while I'm with Mom and Dad, the Pens take on the Leafs (say it with me now: "Don't blow another lead. Do NOT blow another lead..."), and tomorrow the Steelers will make a go for an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl ring when they face off in the Big Game against the Arizona Cardinals.
I just got my mail, which included the newest edition of FACEOFF magazine. (Sign up for a FREE subscription here.) In this issue, there was a brief interview with our title man. Rather than type it all out, I scanned it for you. You'll notice at the end of the article, there is no punctuation at the end of Saint Siddo's response. I assume it was an editing oversight because there is not a second page to the article. Click the image below to enlarge it so you can read it.
I got a few more photos from the All Star Game. This first set comes from Friend of The Show Lorie P. who said, "I'm from Montreal, and I got to go to the all Star Game. It was amazing to be at! I met Guy Carboneau Thursday night at the Jamboree, but I didn't have a camera with me, no sight of Crosby though." Enjoy Lorie's pics (click all the following pics to enlarge):
Lorie also sent in two short videos of the massive crowds gathered around as the players emerged from their bus:
Next, we'll hear from Friend of The Show Jamie M.:
I was just reading your post on the All Star game. I was also at the red carpet ceremony and was located outside at the front of the gate. I was extremely lucky enough to be located at the very front where as the players came off the bus I was one of the first people they seen. (If anyone has video of them getting off the bus I am the one wearing the yellow winter jacket and blue Winter hat; I was shown on the large screen during the skills competition when they showed a clip.) The players were released off the bus in pairs and each was provided with a Sharpie for autographing. I brought my father to the game and skills competition for his 50th birthday, and we had the time our lives.
I am a HUGE Crosby fan and collector. The only piece I brought hoping to get signed was Crosby’s 2003 Shattuck St. Mary’s High School yearbook. I was very excited when Crosby came off the bus and soon as he stepped off I asked him to sign the book. I told him I was one of his biggest fans and he smiled and nodded.(I am sure he hears that all the time.) He was very rushed but did take a second to sign and it is now one of the nicest Crosby pieces I own.
I was also lucky enough to get an All Star hat signed. The first person to sign it was Roberto Luongo which is on the bottom right in the right side view picture. Ovechkin's is at the right side almost on top of the hat of the right view pic Mark Messier's is on the middle back and is the long one that you can pick out the M. I was surprised to see Mark but told him it was great to see him there. Carey Price's is the one on the back in the silver pen. Vincent Lecavalier is the silver one on the front bib of the hat. Jay Bouwmeester is the one on the hat you can barely pick out the number 3. In the top left hand corner of the left side view pic is Shea Weber.
There were a couple I was unsure of but the signatures on the hat I am aware of for sure are:
Vincent Lecavalier Carey Price Mark Messier Roberto Luongo Shea Weber Keith Tkachuk Mark Streit Alex Kovalev Jay Bouwmeester Sheldon Souray Alex Ovechkin Keith Tkachuk
Are you kidding me?! What I wouldn't give for a hat like that! Check it out:
Thank you so much to Lorie and Jamie for sharing these great pictures and videos with us! :)
Friend of The Show Dave S. was lucky enough to attend the All Star Game!! He was kind enough to give me an all access pass to his game day photos and passed along a few details in his e-mail:
I've got a bunch of pics to share with all of you from the All Star Weekend. Some are out of order because we had two cameras in play all weekend, but the pics comprise of the All Star Practice on Saturday morning, the Red Carpet ceremony and Jamboree, the Skills Competition, and the game itself.
At the Red Carpet ceremony, both Malkin and Crosby were the nicest guys I noticed in that they actually talked and responded to people.
I think we waited about 3.5 hours up front at the gate before Geno and Sid made their way down the red carpet. I worked out a deal with the Habs fans in front of me: they let me up front for the Penguins, and I make sure nobody pushes them out of the way the entire night. We each made good on our deal and I was furthermore lucky enough to have both of them come my way and not pass me over. The odds were pretty low considering the amount of time they were allotted to do their walk and signings, and everyone was trying to shove jerseys, pictures, cards, ticket stubs, etc. up front for receival.
Geno signed my Stanley Cup Finals puck and asked me if I'd like him to sign my jersey too. It was a Crosby jersey but I had him sign the crest anyway. I told him he ruled and he said thank you. Sid signed the puck but not the jersey. I asked him to and he said something in length to me but was simultaneously turned around by security (they were rushing the players down and off the carpet all night) and didn't turn back around before heading off.
The only other signatures I got were Scott Neidermeyer, and Mike Babcock on the other side of my Cup Finals puck.
Here are Dave's incredible pictures (click to enlarge):
It's not that I didn't already know that. After all, you're a scoring machine, and you have the skills of a master. Over the past year, you have done so many things that have made me (and other Pens fans, no doubt) stand back and say, "WOW!" But it is what you do off the ice that prompted me to write this. I could fill up the Blogger servers with page after page of reasons why I think you're a great hockey player, but I want to address a few reasons why I think you're a great human being.
For starters, there was that contract renewal this past summer. You, like your team's captain, chose to sign a long term deal with a team whose players are a fantastic group of guys and whose loyal followers absolutely adore you rather than shop around looking for the big time money you undoubtedly could have commanded. The fact that your contract is equal to Sid's contract was a clear sign of your mutual respect for one another. That's very admirable in a world where most athletes' egos are bigger than their over-inflated paychecks.
Then watching you at the skills competition at the All Star Games yesterday opened my eyes to what kind of person you truly are. The look on your face when you realized you were the winner of the accuracy was priceless. In the interview you gave afterwards, you were so humble - genuinely humble - much more so than I would have ever expected. It was very endearing. :) As underappreciated as you are outside of the Pens' fan base, it would have been understandable if you had used the moment to sell yourself a bit, but instead you attributed your win to luck. (Just so you know - anyone who has ever seen you play in even one game knows that it was something more than luck that propelled you to that win!)
Most telling is how well you got on with Alexander Ovechkin. You, sir, are a much bigger person than I! After all that has happened between the two of you on the ice, you were able to set it all aside and not just work with the guy for the sake of appearance, but actually be friendly towards and have real fun with him. It's clear that you don't take any of that stuff personally, nor do you hold any kind of grudge (which also would be more than understandable if you did). At the risk of sounding cheesy, that is something from which I can take inspiration to try to make myself a little better person. I know the "in" thing for athletes to say is, "I'm not a role model!" but that's just not true. Being a role model goes with the territory, and you are a good one, Geno, and it seems like you're a good one without even really trying to be.
Anyways, I just wanted to mention it and say thanks for all you do. Good luck tonight, Geno. Not that you'll need it. ;)
For the second consecutive year, Siddo managed to get the most votes for the All Star Games. He even broke the all-time record for number of votes this year. But, also for the second consecutive year, he will forgo the festivities in favor of a week of resting and (hopefully!) healing.
We'll have to wait yet another year to see a sight like this again.
Quite honestly, this is good news to me. I was actually kind of apprehensive because, at this time yesterday, he was still considering participating. Let's face it - while the All Star Games are entertaining to watch (particularly the skills competitions), we're all in this for one thing: another Stanley Cup. And since the All Star Games don't mean anything in the race for Lord Stanley's Mug, it's much better that our captain miss the event lest he risk aggravating his already ailing knee. I don't want to have to create another Sidney Crosby Injury Monitor for this season! A week of R & R will do him (and our collective peace of mind) well. All is not lost, however. The All Star Games will still have Penguins representation from GENO!! :)
Sid has decided that he will be playing in this year's All Star Games. Until then, an anonymous Friend of The Show gave me access to some great photos from the Pens' 4-2 victory over the Flyers in Philly on January 13th. Enjoy!
Many thanks to the anonymous Friend (a possible Flyers fan?) for access to these photos! ;)
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