Dabura

It's great to get these two points, but, damn, I must've been watching a different hockey game, because the Wings that I watched tonight looked very much like a team that does not have its s*** together.

Both teams were s***E. Howard and a last-minute surge gave us the edge.

Homer is killing me.

PP

Hey, let's keep going to the middle. Because it's working so well.

Feel the same way.

I don't mind it all that much, to be honest. *shrug*

Wait, national telecast or not? I'm hearing conflicting things.

Yes, plenty of other people are guilty of all the things for which people fault Crosby and use in their (probably altogether vain) attempts to somehow tear him down. And, were this just about the allegations in question, that'd be that. Thing is, though, it's not really about the allegations (not primarily, at least). It's not "Crosby's a DIVER!" It's "CROSBY's a diver!" Plenty of people pull the same s*** he pulls. But plenty of people aren't him. He is the face of the National Hockey League, and, by extension, the current face of ice hockey itself. People who bash him, what they're sore about is the fact that ice hockey's biggest star, the NHL's golden boy, the guy who more than a few have called the next Gretzky, is kind of a ****** bag. I'm sure he's actually a really great guy and all. But that's essentially moot. The issue is that The Next Great One, for whatever reasons, real or imagined, valid or inane, seems to have this way of inspiring intense loathing in one out of every, say, ten people - when, ideally, you'd like for it be more like one in every, say, hundred. In other words, you'd like for him to be more likeable - because, at the end of the day, this guy is (one more time!) The One. And we're stuck with him. For a long time.

Oh, hey, more of this "'fans'" business. Awesome.

Crosby is the poster boy for 1) the NHL, 2) hockey at large, and - and here's The Thing for an ever increasing percentage of peeps - 3) diving, bitching-'n'-moaning, and all that cheddar.

For the record, and just to be absolutely certain we're all on the same page here - the 1997-98 Wings were The s***.

Wow, maybe it's just my Blessed State of Intoxication, but I find myself agreeing with a lot of folks here tonight. Cheers!

Yes, but we're talking about Sidney Crosby. So much as sneeze on the little prick and it's the guillotine for you.

"Go, Pierre! Sic 'em, boy! Kill! Kill!" Anyway, this makes me almost sorta kinda maybe like the Flyers, and Hartnell, a little more.

The sentimentalist in me says yes. The ruthless Cup-hungry armchair GM in me (with the beard of a pirate, and eyes made of cold steel, and eyebrows of lava) says no. So I guess that's a no.

Cup or bust. All others answers = Wrong. Also, This, this, this.

edit bah

I'm not saying Babs should be berating them after every loss. It was a hypothetical counter-argument. Frankly, I'm hung-over, and I shouldn't have to talk myself into circles over a point as simple and reasonable as the one I'm making - that is, that, hey, maybe the boat needs to be rocked.

Proven championship caliber players who are playing like zombies. You're right, of course: a media call-out isn't Babs' style. But that's sort of the idea.

Again with the fans angle. It's not feeding drama-hungry fans. It's not addressing us through the fans (though it's closer to that than feeding drama-hungry fans). It's rocking the boat. I wouldn't be at all surprised if, behind closed doors, Babcock's tearing the team a new collective ass hole every night now. But, well - let's say that's the case. Let's say that, behind closed doors, he's tearing the team a new collective ass hole every time they lose now. The question being, Does it seem to be helping matters?

It's not feeding the drama-hungry fans. It's calling the players out.

I dunno, I can imagine Holland selling the "You're the missing piece" line pretty well.

4 8 15 16 23 42

That seals it. Someone on the team has dirt on him.