First off, I want to send my congrats to Team Canada on their first gold medal on home turf (home snow?) in men's moguls.
Anyway, Olympic hockey - the highlight of the competition in my eyes - begins today, so I thought I'd check the status of our sport from the mothership, NHL Network. Since the NHL isn't really functional at the moment, we just get the usual radio shows and one other feature replayed extremely redundantly while a large portion of NHL players are fighting for their countries in Vancouver, British Columbia. That program is:
Sid the Kid vs. Alexander the Great: The Olympians.
Oh boy. This comparison has been made since they both broke into the league in 2005. It was old then. It's ancient and inaccurate now.
Sid the Kid, or Pittsburgh Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby, is a native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. He was drafted first overall in the lockout lottery in 2005, and has been the face of the league since. Not only does he have many awards to his name, Crosby has near-singlehandedly saved the Penguins franchise from financial destruction, and in 2009 became the youngest captain in history to hoist the Stanley Cup after beating the Detroit Red Wings. The only reason I'm not bitter is because I called it at the beginning of the season. This year, Crosby is participating in his first Olympic games, but is no stranger to representing Canada in international play.
Personally, I would hardly consider Crosby a "kid." He's accomplished much in his career, though he's only twenty-two years old.
Alexander "the Great" Ovechkin was taken first overall by the Washington Capitals in 2004. The Moscow, Russia native's rookie season was delayed due to the NHL Lockout, but it didn't slow him down any. Upon breaking into the league, Ovechkin was awarded the title of Rookie of the Year, narrowly beating out Crosby, and has since won a slew of scoring titles, but as of yet, his name does not appear on the Stanley Cup. This season is looking up for the young Capitals team, as Ovechkin was named captain last month, and the team sits atop the league standings. Ovechkin has represented Mother Russia in the 2006 Olympics in Torin, Italy, but the team missed out on receiving a medal.
Alexander is great, if I do say so myself.
I made the mistake of watching the program, in which the NHL Network played up the comparisons between the two immensely different players, and, like the rest of the national media, made Ovechkin look like the bad guy.
Crosby thrives on making the play, whereas Ovechkin is more of a goal scorer. Cosby is known for his two-way play, and excels at being a face-off center. Ovechkin, who usually plays left wing, is an explosive offensive force, scoring goals from insane angles and positions on the ice.
Hockey fans have been hearing this since day one. The part that really baffled me about the comparison was that the NHL Network had the balls to compare their off-ice lives as well. Crosby is extremely private, and his agent, Pat Brisson, makes most of his deals for him. Ovechkin adores the limelight, and is constantly spotted out on the town in DC hamming it up and being his usual, colorful self. He doesn't even have an agent - when he signed his thirteen-year deal with the Capitals, he had his mother with him.
Crosby, though the face of the NHL, has few endorsement deals (his most recognizable deals are with Reebok, Tim Horton's, and Gatorade), whereas Ovechkin has elevated himself to walking billboard status. And he's seen as the bad guy for that. If you ask me, the NHL should be kissing asses and thanking lucky stars that they've got such an available and current spokesman.
Crosby is seen as a wholesome, blushing figure; Ovechkin is the party-hearty bad boy. A suspension last month further projected the aggressive, ruthless appearance.
But the program had taken this to a whole new level, pitting the home countries of the superstars against each other - presumably for gold. While this is the match-up that I'm looking for, I feel like the NHL Network could have presented it as Canada vs. Russia, not Sid vs. Alex. We get enough of that during the season.
On another Still-relating-to-the-Olympics-but-not-even-remotely-close-to-hockey note, congrats to China's pair skating powerhouse of Shen/Zhou on their gold medal last night, and also to China's Pang/Tong on a nearly flawless free skate program which elevated them to a silver medal. Oh, and a shout-out to the participating members of the Battle crew: Sandra, Dick,
Jamie, Dave, and Scott. Can't wait 'til next season!
Tonight at 7 pm EST, it's men's hockey! Canada vs. Norway. GO CANADA!
Note: I have no idea why my line breaks aren't showing up, sorry.
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