The Confluence
I’ve figured it out: Crosby is toying with all of us
by Tony on 12/04/09 at 10:40 AM ET
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I’ve gotta be some sort of glutton for punishment.
But what the hell, I’m gonna write an opinion-based article on Sidney Crosby. On Kukla’s Korner. God help me.
What could go wrong ??
The doubters (read: haters) were having a field day. Crosby was going through a “record slump”. He hadn’t scored in five games. What a frickin’ bum.
One guy writes that Crosby is hurting the Penguins, mostly because of the penalties he was taking. Another guy wrote a while back that the Penguins should trade Crosby. Articles talking about how Crosby was frustrated.
Hey, even yours truly isn’t completely innocent in regards to giving Crosby constructive criticism. Back in my days at MVN, I wrote an article a couple of years ago during Crosby’s extreme pass-first days that basically said he was hurting the team because he was passing up so many good scoring chances (sorry, don’t have the link anymore).
Of course, never mind that a quarter of the Penguins’ starting lineup was injured, including Evgeni Malkin, as a result the Pens lose four straight. Never mind that Crosby, now in his 5th NHL season, still hasn’t been given that elusive “scoring winger”. Maybe if Bill Guerin was five years younger. Maybe if Marian Hossa would’ve stayed. Maybe if Ziggy Palffy would’ve stayed in the NHL. Maybe if Mario would’ve kept playing.
But just as soon as the “What’s wrong with Sidney Crosby ??” articles had reached their pinnacle, Crosby steps it up a notch. Or two.
After being somewhere around 25th in the NHL in scoring only a couple of weeks ago, don’t look now but Crosby is now 3rd with 36 points, four behind Joe Thornton.
But Crosby generating points isn’t exactly a new concept, he did win the Art Ross a couple of years ago, if you remember. The stat that’s generating the pleasant surprises around the Penguins blogosphere is the goals. Crosby has 19 goals already, on pace for near 50 this season.
It’s difficult to put your finger on the reasoning behind the increased goal totals for Crosby. Many say it’s the new one-piece stick that he uses, some say he generates a harder shot with it. Some say it was the talk that HCDB had with him going into the season to shoot more. It could very well be a combination of those two, who knows, really.
But I have a half-assed theory (bear with me): To make an NBA reference, in my opinion, Kobe Bryant has the ability to flick the switch and turn it on whenever he wants to. And to a certain extent, Crosby has that ability. It rarely fails, when the Pens are on the road, and the crowd starts their “Crosby sucks” chants, he shuts them up. [ By the way, don’t you think by now those fans would realize those chants simply energizes him more ?? ] When the MSM and blogs fire up the criticism, he shuts them up.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Crosby sits in the bowels of the Igloo with his teammates and chuckles his buttocks off reading his critics. And it won’t stop, it’s the nature of fandom. The complaints of whining and diving will continue, no matter how much those claims are wildly over-exaggerated.
And you know what ?? Let them continue to spew their hatred. As we’ve found out in the last few weeks, it only makes him stronger.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
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