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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The Home of Sidney Crosby"

Sid makes no secret of the fact that he hails from the maritime town of Cole Harbour, NS. Now, his hometown returns the favor. From The Chronical Herald Metro:

"There is no place like home," the pro hockey player wrote in an e-mail that was read aloud Monday afternoon by regional councillor Harry McInroy at the unveiling of two new signs on the outskirts of Cole Harbour.

Decorated in shades of green and adorned with gold lettering, the bright and shiny signs say "Welcome to Cole Harbour." But they wouldn’t be complete without the black and white banners underneath making a major statement: "Home of Sidney Crosby."

Though Sid could not be there because of the playoffs, his mother Trina, younger sister Taylor, and father Troy accepted the honor on his behalf.

"I am always proud to tell people I am from Cole Harbour . . . and feel fortunate I grew up in such a great place," the young hockey hero wrote.

"I appreciate all the support I have received from the community and as someone who has had to travel a bit because of hockey, I will tell you there is no place like home," he wrote.

"I will do my best to represent it well."

I think the ultimate Thank You to the town would be for Sidney to have his photo taken underneath one of the signs while hoisting the Stanley Cup high above his head! :) BIG thanks to Friend of The Show Gwennoline for sending me the link to that piece.

Elsewhere in the NHL: After last night's game 7 victory, Montreal Canadiens fans rioted. They set police cars on fire and looted. ThePensblog.com has pictures and videos of the melee. Just a thought - if you're the number 1 team in your conference, but the number 8 seed forces you to a game 7, well, that's not something to be all that proud of, let alone so pumped that you start a riot...


The Capitals have forced a game seven in their series against the Flyers. If the Capitals prevail, we'll be seeing "CROSBY v OVECHKIN" in our newspapers for the next week since we'll be facing the Caps. But if the Flyers win, Jaromir Jagr is in for what will no doubt be the booing of a lifetime when the Rangers come to the Mellon. Personally, I'd kind of like to see the Pens go against the Caps, but either way, we're taking this show on the road out west, so it ultimately doesn't matter who our opponent is. ;)

Speaking of the Caps, Friend of The Show Jenn C. from National PassTime sent me this graphic. It is a comparison of Sid against Ovechkin that takes a look at how these superstars perform when playing against one another. It comes from the digital version of The Hockey News:


This brings me to this next picture. Friend of The Show Pensgirl took this photo of a message posted on the jumbotron by a fan at the March 9, 2008 Pens v Caps game. Recall that this was an AWAY game. Here's what she had to say about it:

Between how the nickname/no-nickname was applied, and people's tendency to put the "better than" thing first, I am certain this was a Caps fan who screwed up an attempt to say Ovechkin is better than our [Saint]. HAHAHA!!

Sid may dominate Alex on the ice, but there's one area where Alex is clearly the undisputed champion:



Sid's chin = pwned!!!

Many thanks go out to Jenn C. for the "Sid v Alex" graphic and to Pensgirl for the jumbotron picture!

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