Sid the - Juvenile???

Friend of The Show Julia found the clip of Sid rapping on YouTube. It's the clip mentioned in The Friends' Zone from the Sidney Crosby: On The Ice and Beyond DVD where Siddo sings Juvenile's song "Slow Motion:"


Here's something that will get you worked up for November 11^th - from Friend of The Show Doug L.:

It looks like a tomato threw up all over him. >:O

We've got to acknowledge and congratulate our girls Carroll T. and Cassie G. for submitting two of the questions that ESPN chose to ask Siddo in yesterday's chat:

Carroll (Ottawa, Ontario Canada): Do you miss Tim Horton's coffee and donuts will living in Pittsburgh?

Sidney Crosby: I do miss Tim Horton's! There's not many here. I definitely do miss it.


Cass (Norman, OK): What do you think is the biggest challenge you as captain will face this season?

Sidney Crosby: I think making sure the team doesn't listen to past history or facts, because history isn't on our side right now. There haven't been a lot of successful teams that have had Cup runs. We just have to prove ourselves. What we've done in the past doesn't matter.

AWESOME!!! Good job, ladies! :) Now I know some of you were upset that the interviewer didn't ask him about TSCS. I have to tell you in all honesty, I don't think I'd be comfortable knowing Sid knew about my site. I see The Show as a work in progress with many improvements (on my end, not yours - you guys ROCK!!!) to be made. Bottom line: I just don't think I do a good enough job here for him to be made aware of The Show's existence. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did not submit a question. I missed the deadline because I was at my sister's house and I got distracted. It's just as well - I couldn't think of a good one to ask him anyways.

Speaking of being away, I did try to keep up a little bit with my emails while I was away, but I failed miserably. Please don't get mad if I don't respond or don't use the stuff you've sent right away - I've still got it all (pictures, articles, Roaming Penguins stuff, etc.) and I can absolutely guarantee you that I will get to it eventually.


Stagerat, who writes for The Flower Shop, keeps finding stuff about the Saint in his search for all things Fleury. In an effort to help me out, he passes along the info. Here's what he has found this week:

• this article about how Sid's been handling all the attention as the "Face of the NHL"
• this tip that "TSN has gone Crosby Crazy." Click here to browse through articles, interviews, videos, and more
• an open letter to Siddo over at Barry Melrose Rocks that begs the Kid to stop being so careful about his words and - every once in a while - let loose and tell us what he REALLY thinks
  
• and two reviews of the new DVD: DVD Verdict review, Washington Post review

Kellie D. sent in this ESPN Crosby v Ovechkin article that has what may be the coolest Sid/Ovie graphic I've ever seen in an article comparing the two.



Ali W. found this link to Business Week's list of 100 most influential people in sports. Our title man comes in at a respectable #52:

52 - SIDNEY CROSBY Center and captain, Pittsburgh Penguins
At just 21 and with three years as a pro, Sid the Kid is hockey's top player and most marketable athlete.

And finally today, Sidney Penguin arrived in Benbrook, Texas, where he met Karen S. and her furry friends. S.P. wrote us to tell us all about it:

Well I made it to my new home and I met my new mommy. She has two black furry things that seem to own the living space. When mommy was talking to me one of them got curious about me and got too close. We will call that one 'Evil Kitty'. 'Evil Kitty' keeps staring at me but mommy has me protected by her side. The other one we'll call 'Good Kitty' let me sit with her and mommy took our picture. She gave me a soft nose kiss and then laid down on the blanket which has a Penguin logo on it. Mommy said they claimed it as their own and she is just lucky to get to use it. 'Evil Kitty' keeps lurking around but mommy said I will be kept in a safe place.

Sidney P. shares a nice blanket with "Good Kitty."

LOOK OUT, S.P.!!!

Many thanks go out to Julia, Doug, Stagerat, Kellie, Ali, and Karen for their help with today's post. Look for pictures of the Sweden games from two Friends to go up sometime in the next 24 hours. :)

Rate Sid's Influence

It is that time of year again. No, I'm not talking about the playoffs, so hold off on the "Captain Obvious" jokes for a second... Time Magazine has an online poll asking who their readers think are the 100 most influential people. Last year, Sidney came in at an impressive number 5! Not bad considering hockey allegedly isn't important in this country! He was the highest placing sports star, behind only Korean pop star Rain (#1), Stephen Colbert (#2), American Idol castoff Sanjaya Malakar (#3 ← I hope that was a big joke), and comedian Dane Cook (#4). Click on the picture of Sidney below to cast your vote. Heads Up: Don't just hit the submit button! Use the slider right next to the submit button to rank Sid at 100 (most influential) then click the submit button. :)


VOTE FOR SID

And now I've got the Photo of The Day. It comes from Friend of The Show Ron D.:

Cry me a river.

Friend of The Show Mike H. found this site, www.playoffbeard.com. It has caricatures of hockey players representing their teams. They have a clean shaven picture for Sid on their April 3^rd entry, but I'll let Mike describe the site's drawing of the Saint for the playoffs:

...the entry for April 16 shows him with a beard that, frankly, I doubt he'd ever be able to grow himself.

Maybe in 20 years, Mike... though I doubt it would even be that thick when he's 40!! HAHA!

Finally today, Friend of The Show Stephanie S. sent this to me a while ago. George Johnson of ESPN Online built the perfect hockey player using attributes from players today. Sidney is the only player to appear on the list twice. :) And there's a surprise: IFHSA™ makes an unwelcome appearance on the list. Johnson loves to hate him for his, well, his Averyness. UGH.

IFHSA's™ taunting extends to the fans in Philadelphia. What a class act.

Big thanks go out to Friends Ron, Mike, and Stephanie for their contributions to today's post. :)

Game 3 happens tomorrow at MSG at 7:00pm Eastern. Brace yourself for the "DIV-er!!!" chants. Let's beat these clowns and move on, already!!!!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sid's Place

Today's post comes courtesy of good Friend of The Show Cassie C. She got her March issue of ESPN Magazine (you may have heard about it, haha), and she sent me this photo and the details behind it:

They asked each of their cover subjects about "MY PLACE" - the one place they loved to be. Sid's was his house in Nova Scotia because he could get away from everything there. The pic was taken on the lake the house is on.

Check out Sid's backyard:

What a view. (Um, ladies, I was talking about the lake.)

Thank you for sending that in, Cass!

Also, a commenter identified simply as "d" just gave us a link to some news about Sid's status on TSN.ca:

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby is expected to resume skating this week, perhaps as early as Thursday. However, sources say he will not play against the Lightning Thursday evening, nor will he dress for the weekend game against the Devils.

Crosby has had soreness in his right ankle since originally suffering the injury in a January 18 game against the Lightning. He returned to the lineup on March 4 after missing 21 games, but after playing in just three games, he began experiencing soreness and has sat out the last three games.

Well, it sucks that he's going to be out for this weekend, but remember that it is MUCH better to be safe than sorry (← that's a Sidney fan's mantra right now), and I think Geno, Syko, and Malone can hold down the fort until Sid comes back. Also, Staal and Hossa worked well together in yesterday's game, so don't worry about the Pens.

On a personal note, my husband and I will be attending the season's final home game against the Flyers on April 2, so if Sid isn't back by then, I may need you all to remind me of this as I'm throwing a slight temper tantrum... :P

Thanks for the link, d!

Sidney Crosby - An Essay

First things first - I don't think any Pens fan could possibly forget that it was exactly one year ago today when Mario Lemieux made the sun shine once again...

Le Magnifique unveils plans for a new arena...

...then says the words we all longed to hear: "Tonight, I'm proud to announce that your Pittsburgh Penguins will remain right here! Thank you, Pittsburgh. Have a great night."

THANK YOU, SUPER MARIO. With everything in me I THANK YOU.

Also, I thought you might get a kick out of this: You may remember that I've mentioned that my supervisor is a rabid Sabres fan. The IT department here shares a huge open office. He sits in the corner diagonally from me. This is what he sees every day on the wall facing his desk:

Obviously the newspaper clip on the left is the local paper from the day after the Winter Classic. The shot on the right is Sid taking Miller to school in a shootout win (ironically) also exactly one year ago today. Just below the older picture is the Sabreslug I turned into a bloody mess to celebrate that particular win.

After last night's win, this is what I did to the dry erase board in our office:

Sorry about that big black square, but that's where all our cell phone numbers are listed.

Now, since this is his Show, let's get back to Sidney! ESPN has cracked open the vault for its 10^th anniversary issue. They've posted links to old articles about their 10 cover athletes for this month's issue. The Saint, as you know, is one of those elite athletes, and ESPN dug up an old essay that Sid wrote when he was 18 years old and in his first year in the NHL. Those of you who may remember this article should know that it is definitely worth re-reading because it's interesting to reminisce and compare Rookie Sid to Captain Sid. Don't feel bad if you missed it the first time around, though, because let's face it - how many people actually look to ESPN for hockey news? :P

Before I go any further, though, I want to tell you that today's photos of Sidney come to us exclusively from Good Friend of The Show Pensgirl. She took them at the 11-17-07 game against the Rangers. She was nice enough to give me several absolutely amazing photos, and I'll be using more of them randomly in the future. THANK YOU so much for sharing them with us, Pensgirl!!!

Without further ado, here's Sid's essay in its entirety:

I wanted to be a goalie growing up. I think every little kid does, because of the equipment. It looks like fun. But my dad discouraged me. He thought Id enjoy skating around and chasing the puck more than sitting in the net freezing.


I've never really played against anyone my own age. It's always been that way. I think it helped me. When I was young, I realized I had a gift, or maybe some talent other kids didn't have. I don't know if its nature or if it came from just playing a lot or having a passion for it. But you can have all the talent in the world, and without a work ethic, nothing will happen for you. That's something I've always told myself. I always wanted to go first. When I was 16 and knew I might have the opportunity to get drafted, I wanted to go No. 1. My parents always told me, if you want to go first, make it easy on yourself. Don't be sitting there on draft day thinking, am I going to go No. 1, No. 2, No. 3? Make it easy for them.


So it was nice when all those sacrifices that I made and that my parents made finally paid off. Draft day made everything worth it. I would have been happy to go anywhere. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to play with Mario. I trained with him here in LA last summer, had dinner with him a few times. He was really great to me, really down-to-earth. He even drove me to the airport for a 6 a.m. flight. I think his wasn't until 8, but he picked me up at 5. That's pretty amazing.


I don't think I'm just a one-way player. I think I'm an all-around player, like Peter Forsberg or Steve Yzerman. I'd like to be the guy who can take big faceoffs late in the game or block shots or hit a guy if he needs to be hit. Obviously, I think my strength is making things happen offensively and scoring goals. But I don't want to be known as someone who can just do that.


I'm not going to try to be another Wayne Gretzky. I don't think there's ever going to be another Wayne Gretzky. When people say I'm going to save hockey, I think of it as a challenge. I'm not going to shy away from it. I want to be the best, but I realize you can't be the best overnight. In your first year in the NHL, you take it one step at a time. There's going to be expectations and pressure. I'm ready to accept that and handle it. But I also think the NHL is going to be a lot of fun, playing in the best league in the world, competing and being challenged. That's what makes it so good when you succeed. I'm young and I know there are a lot of great players in the league. But I don't think its other peoples expectations that I have to live up to, just my own.


I've been a marked man since I started playing. It's always been that way.

A lot of thanks go out to another good Friend of The Show, Cassie C., for providing the link to the ESPN article. :)

One last thing for today then I swear I'm done: after seeing all 10 covers of the magazine, it appears that Sid wasn't the only athlete to fall victim to ESPN's photoshopping massacre. Check out A-Rod in particular - he looks just as weird as Sidney does...

(Click to enlarge.)

Video of Sid's ESPN Cover Shoot

Many thanks to Good Friend of The Show Cassie C. for sending this our way:

Okay - the Sid in the video looks NOTHING like the Sid on the cover:


YIKES.

Our injury depleted Penguins face the Sabres later tonight (still sans their captain, of course). There is a scheduled outage for Blogger at 10:00PM Eastern. I'm not yet sure how this will affect my ability to recap the game, since I can't stay up TOO late on work nights, so I'm just going to play it by ear...

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!

Sid's ESPN Magazine Cover Hits Newstands

Waaaaaay back in November, I told you about a photo shoot that Sid participated in for ESPN Magazine's 10^th Anniversary edition. Here's a refresher:

On Monday morning, Sid took part in a photo shoot for ESPN Magazine's 10^th Anniversary issue (which doesn't hit newsstands until March 2008!). Let's just say the wardrobe was a little out of character for Sir Sidney...

The stylists, Rachel Thomas and Khalilah Williams, showed Crosby two black jackets, one leather.

"I'll wear whatever you want, but I wouldn't usually wear this stuff," said Crosby, who arrived in jeans, a T-shirt, a gray hoodie and a Reebok ballcap.

If his RbK clothing line is any indication of his personal style, he's Mr. Casual with a preference for T-shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers over button downs, neckties, and loafers.

That wasn't the only "wardrobe malfunction" (← what a stupid term, eh?) of the day: Evidently, the theme for the photo shoot required Sid to be dressed in black from head to toe. He was given a pair of black slacks and a pair of black jeans, neither of which accommodated his tree trunk legs. He ended up wearing the jeans he came to the arena wearing, which will likely be darkened later using photo editing software for the magazine.

Well, it's finally March 2008 and the issue hits stands tomorrow! :) Good Friend of The Show Michelle B. hooked me up with this preview of the cover:

Okay. It might just be me, but does anyone else think it looks like they photoshopped the Saint so much that he looks like a mannequin or maybe even a comic book character? I don't know; I can't quite put my finger on it, but he definitely doesn't look like his usual self... Tell us what you think of the cover in the comments section.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has this to say about it:

The magazine staff selected 10 athletes who represent some aspect of the magazine's past 10 years or the next 10 years. While they didn't tell us directly, we're guessing Crosby represents the future.

Many thanks go out to Michelle for the picture, and I found the last Post-Gazette link on Empty Netters so I owe Seth a big thank you, as well!

Sid On ESPN!

In a span of no more than 2 hours, I received four emails containing a link to this story. It's an ESPN feature on the Saint. (I know! ESPN covering hockey?! The sky isn't falling, I assure you.) It features a video of Sid and his teammates during their recent trip to the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital. What strikes me most about the clip is that it seems like Sidney is getting just as much, if not more joy from the visit as the sick children are.

It is astonishing to me that this kid is a multimillionaire, award winning, 20-year-old phenomenon, and yet he remains so grounded and so humble. It would be incredibly easy for anyone in his shoes to begin to buy into all the hype: Sidney Crosby is the face of the NHL! Crosby is "The Next One!" Sid the Kid is the best player in the world! That kind of talk could start to mess with someone's head. But somehow through it all, Sid understands that it is just that - talk. On that video, it is apparent that he is wise and mature beyond his years. He must have incredible parents. (You'll need to go to ESPN's website to view the clip; they don't allow embedding.)

Sid with a kid!

The story that accompanies the video covers all the things about Sid that you could possibly ever want to know. Seriously. EVERYTHING. It covers everything from the whereabouts of his pet (a dog named Sam who lives with his parents) to how he doesn't have time right now for dating (sorry, ladies, you're going to have to wait a while longer) and everything in between. There's entirely too much stuff in that article to discuss in one post here, but I do want to point out one anecdote in particular which involves his on-the-road roommate, Colby Armstrong:

"I'm going to throw him under the bus on that one. He loves Ellen DeGeneres," Crosby says. Right before a pregame nap? "No, it's right after. It's hilarious. To a T, we wake up from our nap and that show's coming on and she's dancing."

When Armstrong finds out Crosby has spilled the beans, Armstrong drags a reporter over to Crosby and announces loudly that he wants to do the interview over, that he's going to reveal Sid's affection for Chandler on "Friends." Crosby interrupts, revealing that not only does Armstrong love "Ellen" but he also likes to dance along to her show opening. The two players are in stitches.

[...]

Armstrong, not surprisingly, makes sure Crosby doesn't get any special treatment among the team. "Every little thing, I'm all over him about it. It's my only chance," Armstrong says. And Crosby gives as good as he gets.

For every comment Armstrong makes about the size of Crosby's butt ("It's kind of big"), Crosby will chide his friend about the way he eats and the noises he makes when he sleeps. "He rips me about the way I sleep because I'm a mouth breather," Armstrong says. "He rips me to my face in front of the whole team. Can you believe that?"

One question: Why is Army checking out Sid's ass?! And baby clothes in the locker?! Too funny! Big, big thanks to Friends of The Show Cassie C., Adrienne F., Alex M., and Ava H. who (in that order) each sent me the link to this story. :)

I'll leave you with one last laugh. Pensblog Adam sent me a link to this photo of Sidney immediately after he sustained his high ankle sprain. (And just so we're crystal clear here - the photo is NOT the funny part.) The funny part was the headline that accompanied it:

NHL Out Three To Five Weeks With Sprained Right Poster Boy

HA! What else would you expect from TheOnion.com?

Who's Now? Who Cares!!!

Well, folks, we didn't get the upset. Derek Jeter beat Sidney in their ESPN Who's Now face off (63.8% - 36.2%).

Actually, Sidney didn't stand a chance. The fans' votes counted only for 70% of the overall total, while the guest panel's vote counted for 30%. And (like you didn't see this coming) the panel gave all 30% to Jeter. So right out of the gate, the deck was stacked against Sidney. If I start going on about how much I hate ESPN, my head will explode so I'm just going to let it go. Sid, if it counts for anything (and if you're reading this - unlikely!), you're tops with all of us!

Hey ESPN: Who's now? THIS GUY.

Okay, on to more important matters. Thanks to a comment from reader Lisa-Marie reminding me of an earlier thought Jes had, I got an idea. I'm going to try something different and hold an election. Let me explain.

Jes is right: Sid the Kid doesn't work anymore. He's the MVP and the new Captain, plus he'll be 20 when the new season begins. He's a man now, and we need a new nickname for him. I'd like The Sidney Crosby Show to have its own unique nickname. We could call him "Sid Vicious," but that guy (allegedly) murdered his girlfriend - probably NOT an image Crosby wants to be associated with. The guys over at The Pensblog call him "Bing," and I don't want to copy them. So here's what I thought we could do: I will take emails from you with your suggestions for a new nickname for Sidney beginning July 12 until July 19. Then on July 20, I will post the best ones and give you a week to vote for a new nickname for Sid. I'll tell you my nomination up front: Sir Sidney. It's one of the nicknames given to Crosby by the voice of the Penguins, Mike Lange.

All right, people! Put your thinking caps on and send your suggestions to snoopyjode@gmail.com.

A REMINDER TO VOTE FOR SID

Okay, people: The polls have now opened. You have until 6pm on July 12 to VOTE FOR SID. Then when you're done, delete the cookies using your browser and vote for him again (it works - I've done it). Vote from home and vote from work. Tell all your friends and coworkers to VOTE FOR SID. Let's absolutely crush Jeter. Simply click the "Launch Who's Now" button to vote. You may need to turn off any pop up blockers you have running. Wait for the page to load and it will resize itself. Don't try to resize it while it's loading; I did that and it didn't load the page correctly. Sid will be on the right side if it loads correctly.

"I'm Sidney Crosby, and I approved this message." *

I know what you're thinking. "ESPN is a joke, so why should we care?" I'll tell you why. We need to show them that Sidney isn't just some kid with a stick and that hockey is not irrelevant and that hockey fans don't appreciate the crap that spews from the mouths and pencils of ESPN "journalists." (I almost choked to death as I typed that word - Sportscenter is looking more and more like Entertainment Tonight every day, so I hardly think of them as legitimate sports journalists.)

Whatever else you do today, just make sure you remember to
VOTE FOR SID!!!!!




*As cool as it would have been, Sid didn't actually approve this message. Refer to the disclaimer in this site's header, as we aren't officially affiliated with him in any way. I just thought it was a funny line. ~ Jodie (snoopyjode)

Again: ESPN = Joke

I know I said I'd be looking at last Sunday's free agent free-for-all, but I didn't realize my colleague, Jes, would do a similar column over at his other project, Hockey Rants. He's already done all the work, so I'm going to take the easy way out and direct you to his "The Free Agency Madness. Get Used to it!" post for all the details of Sunday's action. Besides, I've got something for YOU all to do...

We previously established that ESPN is a terrible network at least from a hockey fan's point of view, but I just heard there is yet one more reason for us to hate it. This time, the network is having a blatant popularity contest called "Who's Now: Determine the Ultimate Sports Star" in which there are four regions of 8 sports stars. The winner of each match up will advance based upon fan voting (70%) and ESPN's three-person panel (30%). The panel members for this first round are Michael Wilbon, Kirk Herbstreit, and Keyshawn Johnson.

The only NHL star to appear in the list of 32 finalists is our boy, Sidney. Not surprisingly, Sid is ranked #7 of the "Billie Jean King" bracket. He's number seven, above only surfer Kelly Slater. No offense to surfers or fans of surfers, but you simply cannot deny that Sidney Crosby > Kelly Slater by a far greater margin than that.

And here's the good part: He's being pitted against Yankee superstar, fellow Gatorade pitch man, and Avon cologne mogul Derek Jeter. Ordinarily, I would say that Sidney doesn't stand a chance against Jeter, but there is a grassroots movement in the blogosphere to get all hockey fans, even [*gasp*] Sidney-hating hockey fans to vote for the Kid in order to pull a spectacular upset on Jeter.

Now for your assignment. First and foremost:
VOTE FOR SID ON JULY 11, 2007!!!!!!
Secondly, make sure to tell all your hockey loving friends!!! Get the word out. I know a lot of you run blogs of your own; if you don't want to write an entire post about it, just create link to this one. It's not about a win for Sidney; it's a popularity contest anyways. It's about upsetting the contest and showing ESPN that there are more than "just a few" hockey fans out there. This is a chance for us to make a little noise. We're going to be up against Yankee nation, but I think we can take on the fans of these guys. ;)

One More Reason ESPN Sucks

I don't know exactly when the nominees for this year's ESPY Awards were announced, but I just learned of this unbelievable snub just this morning:

Just take a wild guess who DIDN'T make the list of nominees for Best Male Athlete... Yeah, I am stunned right now. Can someone out there please tell me how you can win the awards for league MVP and top point scorer of the NHL, be voted the most outstanding player by your peers, and be named the youngest captain in NHL history - all in one season - yet NOT be a consideration for male athlete of the year?!

"I'm not nominated for Athlete of the Year?! Come ON!!!"

I'm not saying Sidney would be a shoo-in to win athlete of the year; I don't know enough about any of the other nominees to make that claim. All I'm saying is I don't understand how he wasn't even a nominee, considering all he's achieved this season. It is a slap in the face for the all of hockey. We all know the brass at ESPN and the brass at the NHL don't exactly love each other, but for the ESPY Select Nominating Committee to snub an athlete as deserving as Sid is outrageous. Would ESPN do this to an athlete from the NBA, NFL, or MLB if circumstances were similar? Doubtful.

All is not lost, though. Sidney does make an appearance as a nominee for Best NHL Player. (Imagine that!) You can vote for him at ESPN.com to at least help make sure they get this particular award right. Just scroll down to find the NHL award - there are no other hockey nominees in any other categories.

And since I'm complaining about the lack of any real NHL presence on the list ESPY nominees, I've got one more issue. I can't believe the moment when Mario stepped out onto the ice at the Mellon Arena on March 13, 2007 and announced to the world that our Penguins would remain OUR Penguins didn't get a nomination for Best Sports Moment. For me, that wasn't just the best sports moment of the year, that was the best sports moment of the decade.

Thanks again, Mario!!! You truly are Le Magnifique.

Sidney Crosby: Doing It for Himself.

Wayne Gretzky had Marty McSorely and Dave Semenko, Mario Lemieux had Ulf Samuelsson (injuring opponents in the most dirty way) and Kevin Stevens.

Yeah, Gretzky had real protection while Mario Lemieux often to put up with more crap than he should of.

Sidney Crosby? He's got...Jarkko Ruutu... Yeah, it's up to Sidney to basically defend himself from all of the extra attention he gets in a physical manner.

Damien Cox has a special for ESPN that looks at this very issue.
Article Link:

If you were to believe the recent hysteria, most of it emanating from a fairly (but not wildly) rough-and-tumble match between Pittsburgh and Montreal last week, you'd think Crosby is under an unrelenting assault by NHL muggers, forced to walk the gantlet every single night against opponents determined to dismember and disembowel him with fiendish fouls and dark, medieval practices.

Well, it's kinda like that, except not really.

Compared to the abuse Bobby Orr and Maurice Richard and Mike Bossy dealt with over the course of their splendid careers, young Mr. Crosby is being treated with velvet gloves.

People love to repeat the silly NHL cliché that players used to respect each other in the good old days and don't now, but talk to players who played then and they laugh at the very notion.

To them, modern NHLers are all chummy, well-fed union brethren who share golf games, and sometimes accountants, between playoff contests. Back in the day, they'd have fights in All-Star Games. These days, the only sign of anger in the midseason "classic" comes when somebody misplaces his BlackBerry.

For once, Cox has it right. Today's players arent' nearly as goony and cheap as the the players in previous eras. There isn't nearly as much hitting and contract and fighting, and the most dangerous thing seems to be errant high-sticks, rather than serious kneeings and slashes.

Still, Sidney gets a lot of extra attention every game, and just about no protection from anybody on his roster. What happens when somebody really nasty goes after Sidney?

Still, there are those who believe Crosby's very life is in danger every time he steps on the ice, and to remedy the situation, the Penguins need to immediately acquire a, ahem, "policeman."


For those unfamiliar with hockey talk, that's another word for a complete moron who likes to fight and can't play at all and steals the job of a real athlete who is good enough to be in the NHL but has to toil in the minors. A cement head. A thug. Cro-Magnon Man on blades of steel.


This isn't a new matter for discussion in hockey. Rather, like the beanball in baseball, it's a vestige of cruder times that just won't go away, no matter how the sport matures and develops and evolves.

One can be a policeman and still be a good player, just like Bob Probert, John Ferguson, and Paul Laus.

You can read the rest of the article if you like, but only if you like Cox's total assholery.