The 42nd in our 118-part series, and the first of our two part mini-series.
Appreciating Sid Crosby
Like everyone who isn’t a Penguins fan or a participant in a national broadcast team for NHL games, we used to hate Sidney Crosby. We hated him before he was drafted (“What kind of name is ‘Sidney’? That’s an old-man name. Or a girl’s name.”), we hated him immediately after he was drafted (“Christ almighty! Could he look more skeevy than he does in those draft-day portraits with Mario?”), we hated him during his first game (during which he was outscored by Zach Parise in a head-to-head match-up that prompted Devils fans to hilariously chant “Parise’s better” — we really hope Zach didn’t believe that…), we hated him during his first season (how satisfying was it that he could be counted on to take a magnificently stupid penalty for whining at the worst possible time for his team?), and we reveled in Ovechkin winning his Calder Trophy. But then something wonderful happened. One random evening we were stuck with no better match-up on Center Ice than a TSN feed of a Penguins-Flyers game, so we gritted our teeth and settled in for an evening of trying to figure out which team we hated more.
Gentle Reader, it should, by all counts, have been insufferable. This was not just the standard-fare Sid slurpage: this was Pierre McGuire Sid slurpage. And it was Pierre McGuire Sid slurpage on a night when Sid decided he was tired of not leading the league in scoring. But something strange happened during that game — Sid got six points, and despite the fact that they were mostly on secondary assists (and despite the McGuire), we realized he is every bit as good as they say he is. We’ve never been big into superstars, preferring to proudly fly the flag of Pandonation. But even we could see we’d be worse off for letting the hate blind us to the wondrousness that is Sid.
We watched every Penguins game for the second half of last season, and what we discovered is that Sid is more than worth the hype. He does things, every night, that amaze us. Even on his worst night he is still worth the hype because his game is something unlike anything we’ve seen before. He has an incredible combination of pure skill, unparalleled ice vision, limitless hockey smarts, and pure physical strength. As if that wasn’t enough reason to enjoy watching him, he also has perhaps the most palpable intensity in the league today; watching Sid Crosby skate is like watching an embodiment of rage.
Meanwhile, off the ice, Sid is perfectly content to shoulder the load as the NHL’s messiah. He gets a lot of grief for the way he’s media-trained to within an inch of his life, but you can’t fault the guy for his endless patience with the media. Every single day he takes on every media request of his time, and he does so with graciousness and sincerity. Sure, he might be answering interview questions with carefully practiced “safe” answers, but he’s also relentlessly earnest. Sid is being expected to save the NHL, and he is more than willing to do so.
If you get beyond the easy complaints that he is hyped more than any other player in the league, and that he’s extremely polished with the media, it’s objectively very difficult to find something actually wrong with the guy. He’s a whiner? He took that criticism after his rookie year and turned himself into a bona fide leader on his team. He’s defensively weak? He seems more aware of the shortcomings of his game than anyone. He isn’t able to provide a believable answer to the question “What’s your favorite band?” He’s being honest when he says he doesn’t like music — they guy seems programmed to care exclusively about hockey, and frankly, that’s something we can relate to.
The long and short of things with Sid, as far as we’re concerned, is this: if we were to compile a list of our top ten individual plays in hockey from last season, every single one of them would be plays Sid made. His style of hockey is simply staggering in its inventiveness, it’s newness. The play that stands out the most in our minds was one in Toronto, sometime in February or March. It didn’t result in a point, and was so subtle it took HNIC several minutes of play after it happened to realize what we’d all seen — he skated around the net, protecting the puck from three defenders, and did this thing with his edges. With an absolute economy of motion he shielded the puck with his body and carved out a space on the ice that hadn’t been there before. Just the way he skated, the technique of it, the power and skill and creativity of it, was the single most astonishing thing we saw all year. And considering how many marvelous, wonderful, brilliant moments we were treated to in a dazzling year of hockey, that is saying quite a bit indeed.
I was going to make a joke about a line in the blog post but by the end it just didn’t seem fitting anymore. Wow.
Thus is the power of Sid.
But seriously, what were you going to say? Come on… no holding out now!
Just for you Pookie…
He does things, every night, that amaze us.
He does things, every night, that amaze us.
Schnookie just admitted, “Yeah, I sort of thought that when I wrote it…”
Sid does prove there’s a huge difference between being overhyped and being overrated. I can’t blame anyone for resenting the force-feeding frenzy of Kidney Kool-Aid that is a nationally televised Penguins game, but there’s no question he’s every bit as talented as people say he is. Honestly, if not more. I wish I got to see him play more often, but, alas, no Center Ice for me.
And just in case you were wondering whether this Reason We Love Hockey is an acceptable alternative to the Sid interview liveblog: It isn’t.
And just in case you were wondering whether this Reason We Love Hockey is an acceptable alternative to the Sid interview liveblog: It isn’t.
Hold yer horses!
And you’ve totally hit the nail on the head with the overrated/overhyped dichotomy.
As for the nationally televised Penguins games, didn’t it feel like Red Wings games out numbered the Penguins games by at least 2-1?
I love that kid, too. I was kind of taking the hype with a grain of salt his first year, too, but it is hard to take your eyes off him when he’s on the ice. I didn’t see that many games of his, but this season I’m going to remedy that.
When he came to town for the All-Star Game, the midday dork that watches hockey (sadly, that actually narrows it down — in fact, you can leave off the midday dork part) was whining on the radio about how hard it was for him to get an interview with Sid. “We’re the #1 station for thousands of miles around! He’s supposed to be the ambassador! The NHL needs to get this guy up front so they can sell their game!” he whined.
He just didn’t get that the kid has a thousand other guys saying the exact same thing. And for Pete’s sake, Sidney did do an interview with him. And he was, like you say, Schnookie, gracious and attentive and helpful.
Media slugs bitch about how his answers are so rehearsed, but he gets his practice in actual interviews! They ask the same questions over and over and over and then complain because he doesn’t have a new answer every time. Try askin’ a new question, moron!
Sorry for the rant.
Also, I think I’ve mentioned before that you could have a drinking game when he’s interviewed and do a shot every time he says “accaawwwmplishment.” :D
(But he’s so nice, and so careful about not sounding conceited that he calls his own accomplishments “nice” and others’ accomplishments “great.”)
Hold yer horses!
Pommerdoodling!
They ask the same questions over and over and over and then complain because he doesn’t have a new answer every time. Try askin’ a new question, moron!
Amen!
Patty, I’m sorry to tell you, but I think that Pens game in Dallas after the All-Star Break was my favorite non-Devils game all season. That, and the following game in Phoenix, were just extraordinary.
Hey, we in Dallas even kind of enjoyed it, Pookie. So don’t feel bad. :D
Gah! Another entry stolen! Almost word-for-word!
But seriously, love this kid. LOVE him. If you tune out even a little bit of the hype and just watch the kid play, he’s breath-taking. And God bless his parents because in addition to being breath-taking, he’s sweet, humble, and polite. Every once in a while I realize again how young he is and it boggles my mind. He’s a freakin’ baby and he’s handling himself so, so well.
He’s a freakin’ baby and he’s handling himself so, so well.
Because he’s a freakin’ baby wooden robot boy! Just kidding. Breath-taking is so the word. And I think we’re both stealing each other’s reasons left and right! Great minds…
Patty, I’m sorry to tell you, but I think that Pens game in Dallas after the All-Star Break was my favorite non-Devils game all season.
On NHL.com they’ve got a feature with videos from various milestones from the past season. I watched Modano’s 502 and 503 and was reminded how they didn’t mention it in the building that he had just become the highest US-born goal-scorer.
Then I remembered that that Pens-Stars game was when Recchi got his 500th goal. It was so cook, because they did announce it in the arena and when he came back out for his next faceoff the Stars fans gave him a standing ovation. The linesman backed away from the circle so he could acknowledge it and I think that’s when he realized it was for him. Very sweet. And, I thought, classy by us. :D
(Modano’s goals were in Nashville. That was kind of important to the story. Sheesh.)