Whatever Crosby Wants, Crosby Gets

(Courtesy of a heads up from TSCS creator Jes Golbez) Many players have been less than pleased with the new RbK Edge jerseys, and not just because some of the new designs are desperately ugly. It seems that their new jerseys wick sweat away from the body as they were designed to do, but the moisture ends up collecting in the gloves and even the skates. But now that Saint Sid has complained, Reebok finally feels the need to take corrective action:

Never let it be said that Sidney Crosby doesn't have a whole lot of marketing clout. Whatever Crosby drinks, eats, or skates in will sell a whole lot more when his image is shown on TV consuming and using that particular product.

Of course, plenty of athletes have endorsed products without caring whatsoever how good the product actually is. When Wayne Gretzky shills for both Coke and Pepsi, you know he's full of crap.

Sidney Crosby, however, seems to have taken his endorsement duties a little more seriously, especially the new Reebok Edge uniforms, which have caused all sorts of controversy for their crappy designs and breakability in fights.

My question to Jes was, "After all the testing, how did they miss it?!" His answer? "Rbk and the NHL are so short-sighted, that is why. They wanted the unis to look 'cool' and sleek, but little did they know that hockey players are sweaty beasts." Good stuff! :)

Sidney gets what Sidney wants. Period.

Also on the docket today, I found a couple of articles I thought might interest you. First up, John Kreiser of NHL.com thinks there is stil room for Sidney to improve:

Sidney Crosby already is the NHL’s first teenage-scoring champion and the League’s youngest-ever captain. For the Pittsburgh Penguins to be as good as a lot of people think they are, Crosby will have to keep building on those accomplishments.

At age 20, Crosby is still a work in progress. Though he led the NHL last season with 120 points, he’s still growing, in terms of both maturity and skill.

Second up, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review released its season preview. They've uploaded the pages of the newspaper as it appeared in the print version. It is six pages of goodness under the headline "Their Time Is Now." (You'll need Adobe Acrobat reader to view the pages.)

My third item for you is something I found quite by accident. It's a survey that was posted in March on ESPN.com. If you'll notice, it was posted on the same day that Mario announced the Pens were staying in Pittsburgh. The survey is still active, and once you've filled it out, it displays the results. The last question asks who the greatest sports figure in Pittsburgh is. Not surprisingly, Mario wins this one by a landslide. What is surprising is that Sid comes in above legends Honus Wagner, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, and Willie Stargell. Looks like Sid is on pace to claim the number 2 spot in the future.

And finally, Greg Wyshynski of TheFourthPeriod.com tells us why each team in the Eastern Conference WON'T win the Stanley Cup. I'll leave you tonight with his take on why Pittsburgh won't win:

Why They Won't Win the Stanley Cup: Because it's like, what, at least eighth or ninth on Sidney's "Trophies I'm Going To Win" list? He still has to snag the Richard, the Selke and figure out how to retroactively win the Calder; then there's the Pulitzer Prize and the Best Actress at the Golden Globes. But a good start on the way to the chalice would be the Atlantic Division title, which the Penguins will win this season.

Uniform Improvement or Fashion Disaster? Disaster. I still hate the colorful fabric on the sides of the sweaters. It makes the players look like they're sweating out a Marti Gras decoration.

Worst Case Scenario: The outstanding young players on the Penguins simultaneously all hit a sophomore slump, and head coach Michel Therrien's formidable shortcomings are exposed. (But, going forward, his inevitable removal might be a best-case scenario).

Oh, and if you haven't already, don't forget to check out my predictions for the Penguins this season! I posted that today, too, and hopefully you'll take a minute or two to check it out. :)

LET'S GO PENS

The "Special" Patch

Remember that I told you the Pens' new jerseys would include a special patch? Okay. Now remember that I guessed that it would probably be for the Penguins' 40^th Anniversary? Yeah, well, I was wrong. The special patch is no more than the city's name and the number 250. Here's a great shot of it that was sent to me by Friend of The Show Yan G. from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec - which, if my four years of high school French serves me well, translates to "Three Rivers" (what a small world!!!):

Max models the new sweater at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills. (Click to enlarge for detail)

What an awful patch. It's plain and ambiguous. Tell me - how many of you knew (without anyone explaining it) that the patch is to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the city of Pittsburgh? UGH!!!

Am I totally wrong in my belief that the "special" patch should have been a patch commemorating the Penguins' 40^th anniversary in Pittsburgh? After all, we did come dangerously close to losing them this year - one would think that the fact that we were able to keep the Pens through that 40 year mark would be something worthy of an appearance on the new sweaters.

Sid's New Threads

Here's a look at the new (official) Penguins jerseys:

These are the real deal!

...and here's me, breathing a HUGE sigh of relief that the Skating Penguin remained untouched!!! Also, I am sooooooo glad that all those photoshop prototypes that people have been posting will FINALLY go away. Some of them were downright disturbing.

Here is an image of the now-former Pens' away jersey so you can compare it with the new jersey.

Personally, I like the new uniforms. I was really hoping they wouldn't change them. I must admit, however, that it was a bit anticlimactic that they aren't different and fresh, but at the same time it is a HUGE relief that they didn't weren't ruined, either.

Tell us what you think of the Pens' new sweaters!

New Jersey Sneak Peek

While visiting the Penguins website this morning, I saw the following two pictures. At different times, they were each attached to the story announcing that the new jerseys will be unveiled later tonight (6:30 pm Eastern). At 8:00am, this image was being used:


Then, my friend Jeff in Korea pointed out this next one to me at 10:00am:

This appears to be a closeup of the v-neck collar.

It seems as though they are using these images as teasers. Notice that the gold is conspicuously brighter (see second image) than the current Vegas Gold (see third image)...

The Penguins' current away jersey.

I'm hoping they will be using another new image in the next couple of hours. The suspense is killing me. I need to know if the Penguins will be butchering their uniforms as so many of the teams have been doing. (Although, I must admit that the Habs' new sweater is pretty nice, in that they didn't really change it all that much.) If I happen to catch anymore pictures like these, I'll edit this post and add them. Remember: you can drop me an email if you find any pictures (snoopyjode@gmail.com).

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Late Edit

Friend of The Show Adrienne F. sent in this picture. It was leaked a few months ago and is widely accepted as authentic since the Penguins organization "politely asked" many blogs to remove the picture when it first started popping up. Considering that there are less than 7 hours until the new sweaters debut, I've decided it shouldn't matter if I post it here:

A new sweater for Sidney?