Pittsburgh Penguins 2014-15: Be Careful What You Wish For

My mother always told me to be careful what I wished for….

And while I’m quoting my favorite people, some cool Springsteen lyrics also read: “Don't you know before you choose your wish son you'd better think first
'Cause with every wish there comes a curse"
                        -Bruce Springsteen, “With Every Wish”                 

 

So just remember Pittsburgh sports fans as this Penguin season unfolds…

You…….asked……..for …. it.

 

“Who are these guys?”

“I can’t name 5 players.”

“We’re rebuilding.”

“This is going to be a down year.”

These are all things I’ve heard lately as the season approaches.

This from the same people who were up in arms last year (and rightfully so..) after the Penguins were eliminated after another lackluster playoff performance.

“No more country club hockey!!!”

“We’re soft!”

“Bylsma sucks. He can’t adjust.”

“Get rid of some of these prima donna high priced bums.”

As you wish……….

 

Last night the Los Angeles Kings raised their Stanley Cup banner…..for the SECOND time in three years……No flash….no president’s trophies for best record….no high profile players bigger than the game…..and EACH time they came into the playoffs at the bottom half of the playoff standings and fought their way to championships or close…..

I bring this up because I am POSITIVE that as soon as the Pens are hanging around in 2^nd or 3^rd place in January and February and losing some games to the Islanders and Hurricanes at home that people around here will be livid and asking for the heads of the coach and the GM.

When in all reality they got exactly what they wished for…..

Let the team gel and find it’s comfort level around Sid and Geno.  Shut your mouth and watch them grow together so that in April they are ready to go and fight for a championship.

Many of you are too young to remember the Lemieux Cup years. Well let me do the research for you. The two years we WON the Cup back to back in 1991 and 92 we were 3^rd and 4^th in the division……and in 1993 when we had probably the best Penguin team EVER….we lost to the hard working over achieving New York Islanders……..

I think the moral of the story is obvious.  It’s what I hate about hockey and I made that all too clear on social media last spring (sorry…..).  Talent and skill is not the top priority in the NHL playoffs....but that is the reality of the situation, and the Pens have dealt with it……and if history is an indication it is the way to go…ask the Pens of the 90’s…and the Kings of today…..

So please…..when it’s 10 below and the Pens are playing on a Wednesday night in February and they come out flat and lose to the Florida Panthers in front of a sellout crowd….get your hand OFF of the keyboard…and just shut your virtual pie holes and wait for April, May…..AND June…..

Sid is going to take this TEAM to the top. Write it down. When it counts WE will be the team overachieving……you asked for it…..and you will get it.

I’ll see you next Fall at the Consol when the Pens raise their 4^th banner on Opening Night…. Let someone else have the President’s trophy.  Fans in some other city are wishing for that…..they can have it….and the curse that goes with it.

We are taking the Silver.

Don’t get to comfortable Elvis………..Let’s Go Pens!!!!

Penguins and Bass fishing

This damn blog was supposed to be focused a great deal on sports way back when it began, so I would like to take advantage of the current Penguin crisis to get back on track.

For the one or two of you who remember (me included), I had a very similar message/rant after the playoffs last year.  This year I’m going to get it out there BEFORE the end. And yes there is a better than decent chance that tonight could BE the end. Game 7’s are a coin flip as we all know here in the Burgh…..(see 93, 95, 10? etc..etc…). Hell throw in Fransisco Cabrerra too. It’s all the same nightmare.

Why is this year’s message similar? Why shouldn’t I just cut and paste from the spring of 2013? Because nothing ever changes…and I’m NOT talking about the Penguins or their management…I’m talking about hockey. As much as we may WANT it to change it never will. No matter what they say or do in the regular season, hockey will always remain the only sport that has a different brand of play in it’s post-season.  NO OTHER sport changes.

This isn’t sour grapes. These are facts.

Imagine pass interference NOT being called very often in the NFL playoffs…..putting away the whistles after the 2:00 warning. Antonio Brown is tackled at the five before he can catch the game winning TD but….it’s the playoffs…… They would have to physically replace referees after games at Heinz Field…and I would be in jail.

Imagine an umpire cutting his strike zone in half during the World Series? Or (gasp) NOT calling a foul on LeFlop James in the NBA championship……

Imagine pitchers beaning players on the other team when their team is down 6-1 in the 8^th inning of game 6 to “send a message” for game 7…….oh that’s playoff baseball folks!!!!

                                                            ******

So here’s my message, or better yet, my QUESTION to the fans here.

What is it that you want???

We’ve  been blessed for the last 3 decades with many of the greatest players to take the ice. No team has a banner like the one at Consol listing all of the scoring titles won by Penguins. No one. Not even close.

Is that what you want? Do you want to have that pride and the ability to talk trash on any opposing fan? “Hey pal, Do you have an 87? No. Do you have a 71? No. Do you have a 66? No. Do you have 68? No.”

Or do you want the Championship banners?? Do you want the entertainment year around and also year in and year out of watching the most talented players? Or do you want players you may or may not remember years from now that win you more Cup banners than the THREE we have in the past THIRTY years despite all that talent??

I can’t name too many New Jersey Devils from all of their Cups other than Matrin Brodeur. Do you think New Jersey fans care???

So, should we keep 87, 71, and put our money into 15 other blue collar hard working players?? Would it be fun to finish 5^th or 6^th and then scream our heads off at Consol in the playoffs when our guys are hitting and frustrating another teams stars?.... and Fleury or another goalie are “stealing” games with 45+ save performances??? Honest questions. What are YOUR answers?

*****

It’s not just that we don’t have a good locker room or don’t have leadership. There may be some truth to those statements but let’s not kid ourselves…you don’t lose a 7-game series because of those flaws. The talent disparity between the Pens and Rangers is ridiculous.

Hockey won’t change.  CBC and NBC will never accept a completely skill based sport. They’ll never take the “tough” element out of the playoffs. They’ll continue to throw the typical crap out here during their coverage and glorify those types of players.

When the Pens retaliated the other night they were “frustrated”……When Boston reacted last night they were “sending a message” because it was their tough guys.

So which is it? Which do you want? And don’t give me “both”.  Teams like the Pens of the early 90’s, Wings of the later 90’s, and the Hawks today are the exception…they had or have so much talent they overcome these things occasionally OR maybe like our Cup team in 2009 they hit on the perfect mix and chemistry.….

I KNOW you have to play the games and how the teams look on paper doesn’t matter. I get that. But when it happens every single year it gets ridiculous. Look at every other sport. The team that wins is ALWAYS a talented top tier team. ALWAYS. I defy you to find an example where that’s not the case.

It’s getting to the point in hockey where there IS NO point to having the most talent.

So which do you want? Should Shero dismantle and retool the team with ball busters that have a skill level one or two notches below what we are used to here? Or do we continue to plug away with all-world type talent. I’m not sure what I would even answer.

All that said……here’s to us scoring 7 goals tonight and watching King Henry the Ass Clown get pulled, and then moving on to beating the Bruins and Hawks to be Cup champs. There is the usual optimistic part of me that truly believes that is going to happen. I get made fun of for it all the time.

Of course I’ll delete this post immediately should that happen……

Most likely, though, we all know the drill.  Tonight is too predictable. The Penguins will come out on fire, possess the puck for the first two periods, completely dominate, but get stoned by Lundquist.

Then somewhere in the middle of the 3^rd a ref will make a horrible call or the Rangers will get one of their typical Flyer-like bounces in the crease off of someone’s jock strap and we will lose 2-0 after an empty netter.

We’ve all been watching for too long not to know I’m probably right.

Maybe I should start watching Bass Fishing? Are there playoffs in Bass Fishing? Do the best bass fishers win championships or do opposing fishers tackle them while their fishing in the playoffs…..maybe I’ll check that out after tonight.

Please Read: FR Strong - You Think You Know...

I know I haven’t used this blog in forever but what I need to say is far too long for a facebook post or tweet.

Also, before I get back into annoying my social media circles with constant Penguin/Pirate/general rant updates, I wouldn’t feel right by many people if  I didn’t address the significance of the events of the past week first, before I began to get silly.

A while back on here I posted a clip (though in a much more light hearted vein then) of Jim Mora telling reporters who were trying to tell him how to do his job, “You think you know. But you don’t know.”

Well, before the events last Wednesday there was a great deal I thought I knew, that I clearly did not.……

You think you know how MANY, who IS, or who EVER thinks about you, but when everything happened last week it turned out I had no idea.

I can not tell you how overwhelmed I was by the texts, posts, messages, calls, and thoughts and prayers in general that I received this week. I feel guilty that I haven’t been able to tell each and every one of you how much every single message meant. The out pouring was very humbling and I was choked up all week as it washed over me every day. I can’t thank you all enough for everything. I hope you know it is things like that that made everything ok.  If I haven’t had a chance to respond or even just “like” your comment J please know how much it meant to me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The Lord used you all week to comfort me. 

You think you know how you are going to react in certain situations, but no matter how many times you may imagine them, you just don’t know….

Much of  Wednesday the 9th is a blur. I went from complaining about what I thought was a false fire alarm at 7AM to running back in the building and down a blood covered hallway in the span of less than a minute.  I was fortunate enough to be outside the wing where everything happened when I came out, so I could go back in to find a student, who I saw through a window slumped over a desk.  I had no idea what was happening. I hope that had I known what was really going on my reaction would have been the same, but I Just. Don’t. Know.   As is normal, I have reviewed events many times and wondered what else there is that could have or should have been done.

As it turned out, I was luckily able to assist and sit with a student of mine who had been stabbed in the stomach, of all things, until the EMTs finally took him.  I can’t mention his name but he was the most brave, calm, composed, and polite kid during the worst moments of his life. I thought I knew what a seriously injured 16 year old kid would be like while losing blood in a classroom without friends or family around……..but I had no idea.

 I will never forget his maturity and bravery in that situation. I was more angry and frustrated than he was with EMT’s who would come in and then leave after assessing his situation.  It turns out his liver, stomach, and pancreas were all damaged. He still can’t eat solid food…..and the first thing he wanted to do when he awoke in the hospital? Write thank you notes……This is the youth of the world….not the ones that get headlines on TV.  Today he was released from the ICU and should make a full recovery.

I thought I knew how I would react as the adult in such a situation. I thought I could check my emotions until it was over……but I kept seeing my own son laying there, losing blood, losing color, and losing the ability to breathe deeply….. and I imagined the parents during that time period and my heart broke for them over and over.  If only I could conjure up mental telepathy or something so they could know their son was being so strong and as composed as any adult at the scene.

So many talking heads out there want to know how we at the school could not see this coming.  I always thought I’d know if I looked into the eyes of a student every damn day for 150 straight days in my classroom that I would know or see something….anything…that would lead me to believe he was capable of such an atrocity. I’m good at my job right? I know kids right?  Turns out……I didn’t know. 

I, and all of Alex’s teachers, will kick ourselves every day for a long time for not seeing something.  I pray to God every day for his parents and how they must feel for not seeing it either. I can’t even imagine……..no one can.

Anyone……any expert who tries to read from their expert handbook and tell me or his parents what signs we should have seen is spouting nonsense.  Anyone who even dares to tell me that “armed teachers” would have made a difference better damn well hope I am NOT armed if they are near me. No weapon in the world would have been used to fire into a hallway of hundreds of kids to find the ONE running though them with knives.  No one knows the answer or the possible solution for what happened.  NO ONE.  There is no handbook for this.

You may think you know what’s best to do tomorrow when 1300 kids come into the building dealing with this in 1300 different ways…..but you don’t.  I will be winging it.

 

I will tell you what I DO know, though. 

Good is greater than evil.

There is MORE good in the world than there is evil.

 I’m positive of that even more now than I was BEFORE all of this. It’s just that evil gets the headlines and the air time.

All this incident did was shine a light on all of the love that is in our community, and in our world.  God doesn’t send a kid up the hall stabbing his classmates.  God lives in and uses the thousands and thousands of people that reacted to ONE evil act to help the healing that needed to happen. Our world is flawed. God is not.

Even though it seemed impossible before last week, I know that I love my children even more today than I did last Wednesday.

I know that both you and I care way too much about insignificant things on a daily basis. (Except for maybe the Penguin playoffs coming up….or whether the Pirates are going to start hitting soon.)

I’ve gone on long enough but I felt the need to share once and for all my thoughts, and to thank you once again for your thoughts and prayers for me and our school community. I will never forget it.

Lastly, I encourage you to go and to tell those close to you how you feel.  Tell them how much you love them….for you may think you know that you have plenty of time for that…….but honestly?  You really don’t.

Now......Let's Go Pens!!! Let's go Bucs!!!!