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!!!!

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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?

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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.