'Cause There Ain't No Cure For The Summertime Blues

Today seemed like a good day to dig into some of the stuff I've been holding and/or didn't have a chance to get to during the playoffs. But first (I PROMISE this is the very last time I'm going to bring this up) I have to reopen "The Great Malkin Debate." Now we've got two items that suggest we need to go back to GENO over GINO. First, Pengylady sent me this:

For what it’s worth . . . . After he scored the goal last night – the arena Jumbotron was flashing GENO. And I don’t think that article from the official site was by Penguins staff – it had an NHL.com byline.

Now I've seen "GENO!!!" flash on that Jumbotron with my own eyes (several times!), and yet I have no idea why it never occurred to me to refer to that when we were trying to determine how to spell Malkin's nickname.


Then, Pensgirl sent me this:

Not to drag out the Geno/Gino debate, but I happened to look over at my computer just now and the attached file was going by on my screen saver. It's one of the 'comic book' wallpapers the Pens put up on their official website. Talk about muddying the waters - if the Pens themselves are the best source, we now have both spellings coming from them!

This is the wallpaper she was referring to:

Click it to enlarge it.

This is another thing - I have this cycling through my Webshots so I've seen it probably hundreds of times, yet it never occurred to me to refer to it, either. GEEZ!! Anyways, since "GENO" is how the actual Pens staff is spelling it (and since "GENO" is preferred by the majority of you), it will remain GENO on TSCS unless and until I actually see Malkin himself writing it differently. CASE CLOSED, haha! ;)

Aisha V. sent me this hilarious video of Mad Max Talbot and Big Georges Laraque talking about Game 3.

Lexie101 was at the Mellon when BGL and Mad Max were taping that interview:

Max was nice enough to stop and give her an autograph and take a picture with her.

Stephanie S. sent in pictures of herself with her beloved Dallas Stars' goaltender Marty Turco as well as one of her standing beside hockey's Holy Grail:

Haha, Marty's kind of skinny. I wonder if he's got stems like our Flower! :P

Christine sent me an article that eased my mind a bit. Evidently Marian Hossa wants silver more than salary:

"If I wanted to make a couple more dollars, I would probably just re-sign with Atlanta," said Hossa. "...There's always a limit, but I'd rather take a little less and play on a good team, definitely."


...captain Sidney Crosby made it clear that he does not want to enter next season the way he did this one -- without a high-scoring winger to make best use of his talent as a set-up man.

Crosby, whose five-year, $43.5-million extension begins this fall, said yesterday that he is willing to drop his tag as the team's highest-paid player in order to keep his right-hand man in Hossa. [snoop: Another reason Sid is the Saint...]

"I want to play with him," Crosby said. "He's a great player. I hope it works out that he's able to stay. He's a great person. He works hard. I enjoy playing with him. As we played together more and got used to each other, things started to happen, and it was a lot of fun out there. It would be a lot of fun to keep playing with someone like that. I hope it works out."


...[Hossa said,] "Sid is an incredible player and even better person. But there's lot of players to be signed. We'll see what's going to happen. I'm sure Ray's going to do everything he can to keep everybody together."

That is freaking awesome. Of all the players set to become UFAs this summer, I hope Ray Shero can find a way to keep Hossa, Ryan Malone, and Brooks Orpik. They are my top 3. If Shero can pull out the magic pixie dust and keep them all, well, that would be FANTASTIC! But realistically, we should be preparing ourselves to say goodbye to a few of them... Leave your top 3 UFA "keepers" in the comments section below.

Finally, this one is for our Red Wings loving Friends. Our Friend Daily Su keeps a blog over at NHL Connect where she writes under the name MotleySu. Here's an interesting story she found:

WDIV sports babe in hot water! WDIV sports reporter Katrina Hancock is embroiled in controversy among Detroit sports fans.

Hancock followed the Red Wings to Pittsburgh to cover game six of the Stanley Cup finals. While there, she allowed herself to be interviewed by a KDKA reporter. He stated that she was the only reporter from Detroit willing to admit that Penguins fans are better than Detroit fans. She then admitted to that on camera.

Dissing your viewers is not exactly a smart thing to do...

The KDKA reporter followed her remarks by saying he had to promise Hancock the interview would never run in Detroit (I guess he never heard of the internet).

Internet bulletin boards and sports talk radio shows have exploded with fans calling for her head.

Interesting...

Seriously, even if she only has limited knowledge of modern technology, how could Hancock think that no one from Detroit would find out about this?! Haha, I can't wait to hear her mea culpa. :P

OH!!! One last thing before I let you go - I know most of the regulars here have already checked out RaleighSkyline.com (aka: the site with the stunning pictures of the Stanley Cup). BUT YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT AGAIN!!! At some point between when I first linked it and now, Matt Robinson added an absolutely unreal closeup photo of the Penguins' spot(s) on the Stanley Cup. It's amazing.

Many thanks to Friends of The Show Pengylady, Pensgirl, Aisha, Lexie101, Stephanie, Christine, and Daily Su for the assistance with today's post!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Celebrating Stanley Season

I had an idea on my drive to work today for an interactive post. I thought it might be neat to see how everyone is supporting our Penguins this season. For instance, I have an array of penguin toys on my computer and 2 pictures on the wall of Sidney pwning Sabres goalie Ryan Miller at work, and at home... well, my house is a yearlong shrine to all things Penguins (the centerpiece of which is our pride and joy - a framed jersey autographed by Le Magnifique himself), but for the playoffs, I've got a little something extra above my TV for luck. I'll definitely get a photo for you soon...

Anyhoo, I thought I'd mention it to you all today and see if any of you wanted to send in pictures of your own Pens playoff shrines. Along this same train of thought, I just got an email from Friend of The Show Johnny B. He says, "This is hanging up where I work and has been on this cabinet probably since '92:"

DON'T LET ANYONE TAKE IT DOWN, JOHNNY!!!
(I know it's silly to be so superstitious, but I'm Irish so being superstitious is in my DNA.)

Now, you'll need a MySpace account for this, but I've found a free download of the Pens' theme song "The Boys of Winter." This version is a bit of a remix (it has a longer drum intro), but it is close enough. It will definitely get you pumped up before the games - especially since it's a FREE DOWNLOAD!!! :) :) :) :) :) I got both the regular version and this remixed version for free off MySpace a year or two ago, so I went looking for them again because I thought maybe some of you might want it on your iPods, too. (Just so you know, I did look for but could not find the regular version.)

I've got more stuff from our good Friends of The Show. First up, Cassie C. sent in an article that serves as a warning that Don "Grapes" Cherry will be coming to your television sets when he joins ESPN for the Eastern Conference finals as well as the Stanley Cup finals. Make sure you take appropriate precautions if you have High Definition TV. If you're not careful, this guy will blind you.

Laura H. found this video of KDKA reporter Alison Morris's trip to Cole Harbour to talk to some of Sid's old friends and teachers.

Darron B. sent in a link that she got from reading Mirtle's blog. It's a called Hockey-Reference.com. They need sponsorships of teams and players to keep the site going. Predictably, the Saint has already been sponsored. (DAMN IT!!!) But my second choice is Mad Max Talbot. His page happened to be available, so now Mad Max's page is now sponsored by TSCS! Truthfully, it was a toss-up between Colby Armstrong and Mad Max because I love them both equally, but the deciding factor was the fact that Mad Max is still a Pen. Well - that, and nobody does a better McLovin impression than Talbot! (As of right now, our sponsorship doesn't appear on the page because it is awaiting approval from the owner of the site. It is not supposed to take any more than a day for approval to go through, so keep checking back on it...)

And I'll leave you with more fan photos today. Lara M. sent me some photos of Round 2 Game 1 against the Rangers. Enjoy!!! (Click on the pics to enlarge them.)

Sid is so good, he doesn't even need to keep his eyes open to shoot.

Pre-game warmups

BGL during pre-game warmups

Scoping out the competition in pre-game warmups

The National Anthem

Sid wins a faceoff

Jags

First period action

Sid streaking by with the puck

Don't forget to send in some pictures of your Pens shrines!!! If I get enough, I'll start posting them tomorrow. :)

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

Mad Max's Thoughts on The Ice Bowl

Good Friend of The Show Eric B. from the Sidney Crosby Spotlight hooked us up with two sweet links. The first story is from WPXI.com. It covers Sid's appearance on the cover of Men's Fitness magazine which, by the way, hits newsstands tomorrow.

"Sidney Crosby exemplifies the combination of fitness and passion to which our readers aspire," said Men's Fitness editor-in-chief, Roy S. Johnson. "And he's the best hope for a sport that is in dire need of a star. If anyone can help hockey recover from its recent challenges, it's Sidney."

Indeed. I think he's already done the sport a world of good - considering that even my football loving parents will occasionally tune into a Pens game - especially if I'm in attendance - to watch Sid work his magic. (I don't know if I can convey how HUGE that is. They've never watched hockey before Sid, even though I've gone to dozens and dozens of games prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh.)

That's a lot of pressure for a 20 year old...

The second story Eric sent is from The Peru [Indiana] Tribune. Author Tom Davis takes yet another look at the Crosby v Lecavalier: Who's the best hockey player? battle. The two superstars are constantly compared to determine which man is the best player in hockey today. The problem that I have with the comparisons is that Lecavalier is seven years older than Sid, thus he has six more years of experience in the NHL (and one year in Russia, during the lockout). I always see sports journalists saying, "Sid will be better than Vinny." Okay then, a more accurate comparison would be made if Sid's current record would be compared to Lecavalier's record when he was 20 years old. Even the comparisons between Sid and Alexander Ovechkin make more sense, despite their 2 year age difference, because they entered the NHL in the same year, so they have the same number of years' experience. But the comparisons to Lecavalier seem ridiculous to me.

Don't get me wrong; Lecavalier is definitely one of the best hockey players in the league. But here is a little food for thought: Sid's point total for his rookie season was 102 in 81 games played, and his point total after his sophomore season last year was 120 in 79 games played. Lecavalier's point totals for his first and second seasons in the NHL were 28 points in 82 games played and 67 points in 80 games played. Enough said. You can weigh in and leave your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.

Who's better? Who's best? Who cares!

Speaking of the Sidney Crosby Spotlight, while checking out his site, I noticed that Eric found this great article by Kevin Allen of USA Today talking about how Sidney has helped "the Penguins plow through the league":

When Crosby scored that outdoor goal, it was if everyone suddenly remembered that this kid is going to own this sport for another two decades. He will beat you indoors or outdoors. He will beat you on a smooth sheet or rough ice. He will beat you with good or bad wingers. He will beat you when it snows. He will beat you when the wind blows. He will beat you like a rug. He will crush you like a bug.

The Seussical Allen goes on to list other reasons for the Pens' recent success - bumping Mark Recchi off the roster (and then the team) and starting Ty Conklin in goal, among other factors.

Another good Friend of The Show, Alex M. posted the link to this video of Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey talking about NBA megastar (the word "superstar" just isn't strong enough, haha) LeBron James's reaction to being compared to the Saint:

And finally today, I give you the inspiration for this post's title. I'm going to attempt to use the Google and the Yahoo! translation tools to figure out what Mad Max Talbot had to say about the 2008 Winter Classic. Between the two tools, I THINK I have a handle on what he's saying, but if any of our French-speaking Friends out there spot a mistake, feel free to post the correction in the comments section or shoot me a quick email. (Thanks to good Friend Mike H. for alerting me to Max's Winter Classic journal entry!)

Missed Appointment With Buffalo

My [high ankle sprain] injury not being healed, I missed the party outdoors in the football stadium of the Buffalo Bills on January 1^st. It was a dream for me to take part in it, so there is no need to tell you that my disappointment was great.

I was really hoping to be able to take part in it. I worked very hard to be there and during my rehabilitation, I was anxious that I would not be able to be there. I started to relax when I realized officially and accepted foremost in my mind that I would not take part in it.

I had a glimpse of the experience by participating in the training the day before. It was super. Moreover, I am in the photograph of team. During the game, I was sitting near the players on the bench, so I felt like a part of this historical moment.

During the breaks, Marc-Andre [Fleury, also out due to his own high ankle sprain injury] and I bombarded the mascot of the Sabres with snowballs. [snoop: I personally did not see this happening. If I had, I definitely would have taken a picture or tried to get a video of it.]

Max (l.) and MAF (r.) take a break from torturing Sabretooth at the Winter Classic.

If it had snowed a bit less, it would have been perfect weather. I do not believe that the players were cold. Certain odd things occurred, in particular when shots were stopping on the ice. It was rather amusing to see Sidney Crosby losing the puck in snow.

The crowd was so involved in the spectacle. The guys told me that they were impressed by the fireworks and the flyover of the four large [blackhawk] helicopters before the meeting. It was a unique event.

I think that there will be possibly other games played outside. As [the] Penguins are very popular, I would not be surprised if we were invited to take part in more of them. I know that there are five or six interested cities, including Montreal. I also know that Penguins would like to play Heinz Field, the Steelers' home stadium.

Another Penguins outdoor game?! If it comes to fruition, whether it's at Heinz Field or at Beaver Stadium, I AM SO THERE, MAX!!! :)

Big thanks go out to our GOOD FRIENDS who sent me the links that made today's post possible!!!

Pre-Game Randomness

Tonight the Pens face the Boston Bruins at 7:00pm Eastern. Until then, here are a few things I got from some of my good Friends of The Show to keep you busy. First up, is an article by Eric B. of The Sidney Crosby Spotlight. You'll remember that Sir Sidney won the Lou Marsh award earlier this month. Eric explains what the award is, tells us a little about the man for whom it has been named, and gives us a list of past winners.

Next up I've got something from Loser Chris of Taking One for the Team. He takes an in depth look at how the NHL's biggest names perform during shootouts. Also on the site: this week's fight of the week.

That's not exactly his specialty...

Mike H. sent in this article about the upcoming Winter Classic on January 1. The whole article outlines plans for the game, but the most interesting part is the last paragraph:

Something you might want to watch for: At practice Tuesday morning at Madison Square Garden, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was practicing a play where he put his right toe on the puck, skated forward on his left skate and whipped the puck, with his right toe, behind his left leg straight onto teammates' sticks, 10-15 feet away. Crosby said he has never tried the play in a game.

WOW!!! That would be incredible to see. Mike summed it up best in his email:

Your husband plays, right? Ask him what it's like when you accidentally step on a puck while skating... to imagine anyone doing it *on purpose* and getting away with it is pretty mind-blowing!

INDEED! The Kid is constantly reinventing the game of hockey, and I don't think we've even begun to see the best of someone who could do this before he even turned 18 years old:

And finally, here's a little something that my friend Jeff H. sent me. It's an excerpt of a book called [*takes deep breath*] "Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports Fans' Burning Questions." WHEW! That's a mouthful! The ridiculous title gives a hint of the humor used in the book. Anyhoo, author Todd Gallagher travels to the NHL offices in Canada and asks the question, "Could a morbidly obese goalie shut out an NHL team?" The answer may (or may not) surprise you. The very fact that I got a few laughs out of it is the only reason I won't make fun of the Wall Street Journal's lack of editing in this article. Can you spot the typo? Here's a hint: it's related to tonight's game. I'll be sure to post the answer in tonight's recap. :)

Tonight's Game

OK. I just got a call from my electric company saying that they'll be turning off my power for a few hours due to an emergency situation tonight. How does this affect you? Well, apparently I won't be able to watch the game tonight, so no recap. I'm charging up the portable XM radio as I type, but I don't know how that's going to work out. I can't even go to any of my friends' houses to watch it because the outage is scheduled for most of the surrounding cities. So right now I'm not sure how the recap for tonight's game will go... :(

Anyhow, you can check out this Yahoo! Sports mailbag. It's chock full of Crosby-hate. One reader questions Sid's leadership skills because Sid didn't defend Mark Recchi during his last week as a Pittsburgh Penguin. The reality there was that anyone with two working eyes could see that Recchi didn't fit in with the fast paced Penguins team.

Another reader relates a story from the Mississauga Sportchek Sidney 360 Reebok clothing line press conference. "Just want you to know that after Sidney Crosby did his little spiel...he ditched 15 fans waiting for autographs. ...there was no craziness; he just ditched us, didn't even say hi." We'll give this reader the benefit of the doubt and proceed as if that statement is 100% fact. Where is it written in stone that athletes and other celebrities owe any one of us anything, whether it be an autograph or even just an acknowledgment? Sure, it's always nice when they do this, but it is done as a courtesy - it is not mandatory. Haven't you ever had a bad day and just wanted to do your job and then just go home and not be bothered? Is Sid not a human being like the rest of us? How about cutting him a little slack once in a while, GEEZ! By all accounts, this is not Sid's usual M.O. He's generally very cordial and will oblige when asked for pictures or autographs. However, having not yet met him myself, this is just hearsay.

I guess if you're Sidney Crosby you've got to learn to take the good (Art Ross, Hart, and Pearson awards) with the bad (constant scrutiny). By the way, if any of you were there, tell us what you saw either in the comments section or you can drop me an e-mail. A shout out goes to the guys at ThePensblog.com for finding that article.

Despite those moves, he's still only human.

If you need a stocking stuffer for a Penguins fan that likes to eat, you could get him or her "Goal Scorers and Gourmets," a collection of the Penguins' favorite recipes:

In addition to learning more about your favorite Penguins’ players, coaching staff and team management, you’ll also find a collection of their favorite recipes – as submitted by the ladies in their lives.

Good Friend of The Show Cassie C. sent in this sneak peek:

Questions asked of Sid:
What is your favorite midnight snack? Cereal
What is your favorite childhood meal? Shepherd's pie
One item that's always in your refeigerator? Orange juice

Here's the recipe the Saint contributed to the cookbook (well, actually his mother Trina did):

Meatballs
2 lbs. ground beef
1 cup ice water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons chili powder
1 to 3 teaspoons curry powder
steak seasoning blend, to taste
Garlic salt, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat over to 300 degrees F. Add water and soy sauce to ground beef. Mix spices together and add to meat mixture. Roll into balls and bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

It's full of goodies like this. It only costs $10.00 plus $4.00 shipping, and all proceeds go to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Thanks for the preview, Cassie!

The Pens face the Flyers tonight. I may or may not have a recap for you... Either way: GO PENS!!!

Sid - The Kid

Here's a little bit more of the stuff I got over the weekend. (I've still got a couple more things that I'll post tomorrow. If you've got a tip, by all means, send it my way!) I'll start you out with something I found this morning. Does Sid - the young captain, the award winning phenom - get to have any time to be, well, a regular 20-year-old kid? That's what Eric Duhatschek of TheGlobeAndMail.com wanted to know:

Crosby needs to be so careful and so guarded about everything he does that you wonder, at the age of 20, at a time when many of us had one foot planted in adulthood and one in adolescence, does Sid ever get a chance to be a kid anymore?

"Yeah, every day, away from the rink," answered Crosby. "It's important — you have to have fun. I feel pretty fortunate to be on this team, especially with the young group of guys that we have. I remember my first year, I was on the team and I was pretty much the only young guy and it was a lot different. I was used to junior — hanging out with your buddies after practice, going to lunch or going to movies every day. Here guys were going home to their families, so you wouldn't see them. So to have a young group, I feel really fortunate. I think we're all growing up together, which is kind of nice."

Duhatschek writes that the media attention that Sid receives is different than the media attention that Wayne Gretzky received, in that Gretzky only had to deal with a handful of reporters compared to the dozens that follow Sid around in the locker room and record and/or photograph nearly his every move. So much so, in fact, that the Penguins' staff actually had to make the request that all cameras be turned off when the Saint removes his hockey pants. ARE YOU SERIOUS? They actually had to ask people NOT to film Sid without his pants?! WOW.

At least she didn't mention her five hole.
(Photo was taken at the December 8^th game at Vancouver.)

Moving on, new Friend of The Show Joeri L. sent in this article that makes the case against the current Penguins team being comparable with the 1980's Edmonton Oilers. Author Andrew Podnieks compares the teams, coach to coach, captain to captain, goalie to goalie. For starters, he hardly thinks Penguins' Coach Michel Therrien has the "remarkable dual qualities of paternal and dictatorial strength" that former Oilers' Coach Glen Sather did with his young Oilers team. But that's certainly not the only weakness in the Pens/Oilers comparisons that Podnieks sees:

Worse still, the Penguins did not help Crosby's progress when they named him captain this past summer, the youngest captain in NHL history. On a team with two highly-respected veterans - Gary Roberts and Darryl Sydor (not to mention the recently demoted and respected veteran Mark Recchi [snoop: Remember that Recchi is now an Atlanta Thrasher.]) - the Penguins could not have taken a bigger gamble. Indeed, not to name Roberts captain was to waste one of his trademark strengths - leadership. This is not yet Crosby's team, in the emotional sense. Of course, he is their best player, and all too often teams lazily pick their top point-getter as their captain, but Crosby has enough to handle every day - the media, the comparisons to Gretzky, the tag of "NHL Saviour" - without having to wear the "C". This added "honour" is an artificial one, one he has not yet earned, and one that simply does not yet feel right.

[...]

To compound matters, Marc-Andre Fleury has been a disappointment in goal, playing like a junior star who is unable to make the transition to the NHL. The days he draws comparisons to Oilers greats Grant Fuhr or Bill Ranford seem a long way away. And, although Malkin has lived up to his expectations, many of the young players from last year who seemed to be emerging into a force to complement Crosby and Malkin have failed to deliver this year, notably Jordan Staal (two goals so far), Colby Arsmtrong (two goals), and Erik Christensen (three goals). It might be fair to call Crosby and Malkin the new Gretzky and Mark Messier, but the rest of the Pens have yet to prove themselves to be worthy of comparisons to Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, and Kevin Lowe.

So what do you think? Feel free to voice your opinion on Podnieks's assessments in the comments below.

In other news, a 12-year-old Canadiens fan from Wedgeport has won a trip to see the Penguins play the Ottawa Senators in Pittsburgh. (Also note that author Tina Comeau repeatedly misspells the great city's name as "Pittsburg." UGH.)

Would you have ever guessed that most Canadians would rather receive a phone call from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper than our guy Sid? It seems that more people preferred to talk with the Prime Minister than Sir Sidney, pop star Avril Lavigne, or news man Llyod Robertson. Now you should get on over to The Sidney Crosby Spotlight and vote for the person from whom you would rather receive a phone call. I'll be sure to let you know when Eric tallies the results. I'm guessing that since both he and I run Sidney sites, the vote will probably go in the Saint's favor, but I guess stranger things have happened...