DangleD13

Where do things go from here?

My biggest gripe with the marketing of Sidney Crosby, is that he has to be called "the next Gretzky, or the next Mario" (I'm not calling him this, and I dont have a recent link, but you all know you've heard or read that SOMEWHERE since hes been in the league.) Why can't he just be Crosby? Why were we as hockey fans being told he was the best before he had done anything? Say what you will in aurgument, but if he would have earned his hype, without the help of Bettman, Mario, and the media, I think the league would have a little more respect for him. As far as I'm concerned, this isn't Sids cup. I think Max Talbot, Malkin, and Jordan Staal layed claim to it while Sid was in the dressing room dressing his wounds.

I was listening to 97.1 The Ticket on my way home from work last night, when a Pittsburgh fan called in. He proceeded to state his case about why the Penguins would win, and how the "hockey gods" wouldn't allow Hossa to "do Pittsburgh like that" and win a cup. Typical penguin stuff. What the radio host said next kind of interested me. He said "If Sidney Crosby acted the way he does in Pittsburgh, in a Red Wings uniform, most of the fans here would have turned their backs on him already, why do you think the fans in Pittsburgh havnt yet?" And he said something about how they have waited for him long enough to get a cup, blah blah, ect. It got me thinking. What would you think of Crosby, hypothetically speaking of course, if he dawned the Winged Wheel instead? Nothing else changed about the way he plays, and handles himself on and of the ice, except that he plays here?

Of course. By no means am I asking if anyone would want him on this team.

Im not complaining about the officiating, but with all the noise Pens fans have been making about the way our team played Games 1, and 2, after watching Game 3 - as far as I am concerned we're even.

I second that. Love Hudler.

I really want to believe this, but without solid proof I cant. Not accusing you of anything though, I promise.

Hossa doesn't seem like the kind of player to let the "boo birds" get to him. Im sure that place will be loud everytime he touches the puck though. The "Pronger Treatment" if you will.

Anyone else hear the Michigan State fight song over the P.A. after Abdelkader scored? Awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvbW78aAoTo

Not to mention, when #5 decides its time to put up the gloves - Z will make a better Captain than Crosby could ever dream of being. I gotta agree with Emma too.

So, I decided to take a quick look at the forums over on LetsGoPens.com, and before I get into this - I understand that every team is going to have biased fans, and its not uncommon, and so on and so forth. I would suggest anyone looking for a laugh to take a look. You will find anything from "Osgood is the biggest cocky douchebag on the detroit team." to "We were victims of bouncing boards." And anything in between. Again, I understand that we have the same kind of posts on here, but I couldn't believe how many I just saw.

http://www.thepensforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/...?num=1243871896 I just love how they think just because we happened to get a few lucky bounces against them in the finals - our entire game has no skill, is filled with cheating, and has the refs on our side. I almost wish they could get a bounce or two themselves so we can see the hypocrisy. Some of them honestly believe they saw Z take the puck out of the net with his hand, and will not be convinced otherwise.

I don't know whether to feel bad for them, or find them clever. From this post: http://www.thepensforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/...m=1243825448/15 Gary Bettman (conference call) : Hi, Mario, Ray and Dan, it's Gary. I wanted to discuss with you our plans for the Stanley Cup Finals. We want this series to be extended to ignite some viewership and ad revenues and also gate revenues. Remember our phone call before the Capitals series? Same thing. Mario : So what is the plan, Gary? Gary Bettman : Here's what I'm thinking. Let's allow Detroit to win Games 1 and 2. Do the city and fans of Detroit a favor as they are going through some rough times with the U.S. Automobile Industry collapsing. Give them something to feel good about on their home ice. Dan Bylsma : How are we going to accomplish this? Gary Bettman : I figured you would ask. Play your game, don't change anything about it. We're going to have Bil McCreary refereeing this series and he's known league wide to be a pretty bad referee... Mario Lemieux : You aren't kidding. Garry Bettman : We're going to put the whistles away for the first 2 games, allow Detroit to do what they do, you know, clutch, grab, run pick plays, interference, slash's, hooks, crosschecks. Allow Kronwall to leave his feet for hits and anything else. We're just going to turn a blind eye to it. We address the officiating committee and told them to call at least 1 or 2 penalties for each team in the first 2 games to make it seem like the refs have a heartbeat. Oh and make sure you guys DO NOT complain about the refs in the media. Therrien f***ed up our plan last year. Dan Bylsma : Even if you put the whistles away, what happens if we get the lucky bounces? Gary Bettman : I was going to get to that. The End boards as you know at the Joe Louis Arena are basically like rubber. the puck bounces off of them faster than Ted Leonisis's man **** bounce off his belly... Mario Lemieux : Gary Bettman : Tell Marc-Andre to allow a couple of those to bounce off of him and in. Practice it with him in the morning skate. Have players shooting pucks off the end boards and work on Marc-Andre's positioning to allow them to bank off of him. You can spot Detroit a couple of goals that way and with all of the obstruction and interference Detroit runs, you guys will have a hard time scoring without penalties and power play opportunities. Dan Bylsma : That sounds good for one game, but what abot the other? Gary Bettman : We're going to talk to Ken Holland and Mike Babcock about this. Basically your run of the mill, run interference in the offensive zone to create shots, have Tomas Holmstrom inexplicably fall a few times around the crease into Marc-Andre. Any infraction against Detroit in your zone, we're going to allow and hope that it leads to a couple of real nice opportunities for Detroit. Mario Lemieux : After Game 2, what is the plan? Gary Bettman : Well, the series goes back to Pittsburgh for 2 games. Basically we're going to allow your offense to crank it up and score some goals. We'll get your Power Play some chances. That's really the whole key there. If we put Detroit on the Penalty Kill too often in those first 2 games, there's no way that they will win. It's their achillies heel. I mean it's really bad. Mike Yeo can figure it out, it's that bad. So, we'll get you guys some Power Plays, some momentum, you'll have the home Crowd. Just keep playing your game, it's likely going to give Detroit problems even when we advise the officating crews to not call anything. Ray Shero : Wouldn't it be an advantage for Detroit after Game 2 since they'll be getting Pavel Datsyuk and Kris Draper back? I think it would make more sense for us to win Games 1 & 2 since it would be more expected and then for them to tie it up with those guys coming back. Gary Bettman : We thought about this as well but we decided that a better storyline would be how the young Pittsburgh Penguins lead by Sidney Crosby overcame adversity being down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup finals came back and won it. It works better than a team a team that was up by 2 games and blew that lead because they couldn't close out the deal to a Geriatric Swedish team that has injuries. Ray Shero : Makes sense to me. Gary Bettman : Ok, good. I'll talk to you guys after Game 3 when I concoct up the final plan for this series. It might seem slow, dull and boring at the beginning but it's going to get real good. It has to be, our ratings suck. did you see that reruns of Reba are higher than all of our games on Versus?

Haha! Good find! Maybe someone should tell Babs.

Yeah, I posted the link above for his goal last night, if you turn it up and listen closely, you can hear it. They play it and then go into "the sweet escape" for the crowd.

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Ahahahahahahaha brilliant. Put me down for the first line RW.

We could get the same "bad bounces" in our end, and I'd be willing to bet money that the likes of Lidstrom/Rafalski/Kronwall ect. would clear it out before it got to the back of the net.

So sour. I like the "detroit has 1 legit goal all series..barley" post. Cant say I'm not smiling.

Sorry if im stupid for not knowing this, but can someone explain to me how the boards at The Joe are any different then the boards in Pittsburgh?

Another one I really got a chuckle out of: http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB3/v...f=1&t=36673 "Anyone that thinks Osgood played well is offbase. He gave up more rebounds than I've seen in a playoff game in years. His D bailed him out by clearing most of them, and he did have some nice first saves, but he was nothing special tonight. He got every possible bounce toight. The law of averages takes effect during a seven game series."

Its really not that hard to find..., but here it is anyways: http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB3/v...f=1&t=36692 http://www.letsgopens.com/scripts/phpBB3/v...f=1&t=36673

Speaks for itself.

To be honest, I'm pretty torn right now. Not trying to sound too cocky, but I kind of wanted to play the Pen's again - just to kill the hype around Crosby. Keep the Pen's from getting their revenge. But I personally feel like both teams are significantly playing better than last year. I feel like they might give us a run for our money, but I trust our supporting cast (Helm, Cleary, Sammy, Hudler) more then the Pen's if our big time guys are shutdown. Like anyone can shut down Franzen haha. If I had to choose another team, It'd be Boston. But for now, Im saying Wings in 6.