Miles to Go Before They Sleep

Years ago, when I was a high school kid avidly following my hometown teams in The Washington Post, I grew to dislike the writing of Michael Wilbon. But, as both of us matured and he became more of a national personality, my opinion changed and I often wondered what about him had irritated me so. Then, about 3-1/2 weeks ago, it all came rushing back.

I've been waiting for the right moment to reply to Wilbon's post Olympic comments that Sidney Crosby is "miles ahead" of Alex Ovechkin. With the next pending epic showdown between the two on the horizon in a few short hours, I figured now is as good a time as any. What bothered me about Wilbon back then was that he wrote as if he was the foremost expert about whatever topic he was dissecting - that only his opinion counted and that he was knowledgeable enough about whatever topic he was covering to be considered an expert. However, when it comes to hockey, he's not smarter than a fifth grader.

I can stomach the opinions of beat writers, columnists and radio hosts - even fans - who follow specific teams on a daily basis. Often I don't agree with them - and I have been known to call one or two an idiot on occasion - but at least they usually present enough evidence or have seen enough games or actually watch the sport they are talking about enough to have a somewhat educated opinion. Back in my high school days Wilbon would show up to cover the Caps in April, usually during some sort of complete postseason collapse, and pretend to be a hockey expert. He'd keep referring to all the Blackhawks games he had watched as a kid growing up in Chicago and make some ridiculously bold - and usually incorrect judgment - based on the four or five Caps games he had watched in the previous 10 days or so. Then, it would be another year before he'd write about anything hockey-related.

This year Wilbon decided to jump on the hockey bandwagon when all the non-fans tuned in to see the scintillating U.S. - Canada Olympic matchups, and after the stacked Canadian team - clearly one of the most talented rosters ever assembled - struggled mightily to overcome the youthful, inexperienced Americans for the Gold medal. It was after that game that Wilbon decided that he was once again a hockey expert.

There are two ways to look at the Ovechkin - Crosby rivalry. From a team perspective, clearly Crosby has the advantage with two Finals appearances and a Cup to his credit, although the argument could be made that until this season he had a better supporting cast. On the other hand, from and individual perspective, there's no argument that Ovechkin has accomplished more - scoring titles, Hart trophies, Calder Trophy, etc.

If you want to say that Crosby is the better player because of the Cup, I can deal with that. I happen to think that Ovechkin plays harder night in and night out and has a bigger overall impact on the game than Crosby, but that's my biased opinion. No matter what, you are going to have those who favor Joe Montana over Dan Marino because of the rings. That's understandable and defendable. The bottom line is, however, that every athlete mentioned in this paragraph is a first-ballot Hall of Fame talent and one of the greatest players their respective sports have ever seen.

The absurdity of Wilbon's opinion is that he made it based on Crosby's having also achieved an Olympic gold medal, while Ovechkin's undermanned, questionably coached Russian team was sent packing in the quarterfinals. What? You are going to say that a player is "miles ahead" of another player because his supremely talented team won a championship in two week, a one-and-done format in a sport that usually takes 2-1/2 months of pressure-packed playoff series to figure out which team is the best?

Seriously Mr. PTI, how do you think Canada would have done if you plugged Ovechkin into that lineup instead of him having to play on a team that has been known to give less that its best effort consistently over the past 20 or so years and that had nine players on its roster who aren't even in the the NHL?

Ovechkin vs. Crosby or Crosby vs. Ovechkin. As hockey fans we are fortunate and should be thankful that we will be treated to many more years of their amazing individual performances and head-to-head battles. It's Bird vs. Magic. LeBron vs. Kobe. Ali vs. Frazier. Whether you love Ovie or cheer for Sid, you tune in just to watch them. Those who say that Ovechkin is the best in the world have plenty of evidence in their favor, as do those who say Crosby is the greatest.

But once again Michael Wilbon, in trying to portray himself as hockey expert at a time when less knowledgeable fans had jumped on the sport's bandwagon, has shown how little he truly knows about the game. Hey Mike, stick to arguing with Kornheiser and leave our sport alone. And by the way, Tony is miles ahead of you as a columnist.

As for the rest of you, enjoy tonight's game!

Olympic Hockey Playoff Picture

Here it is, just the facts, courtesy of James Mirtle's blog. A breakdown to come later, but wanted to get this out there! See below for the playoff round seedings and upcoming schedule.

Great game last night, regardless of who you root for. I'm not sure the U.S. could do that again against Canada, but I thought the same thing in '96. Yesterday produced some of the best hockey you'll ever see. And I would be remiss to not mention the Ovechkin game-changing hit on Jagr. He provides that intangible physicality and all-out effort that often has been missing from Russian squads in past years. If you get a chance, go back and watch the hit on video and look at the priceless reaction of the players on the Russian bench. When can you remember a Russian team ever showing that much emotion or excitement on the ice? This team has as good a chance as anyone heading into the playoff round. The rest of this tournament should be amazing. Enjoy!

Thanks to James Mirtle for posting this information:

1. United States
2. Sweden
3. Russia
4. Finland
5. Czech Republic
6. Canada
7. Slovakia
8. Switzerland
9. Belarus
10. Norway
11. Germany
12. Latvia

Qualifying Round (Tuesday):
G1: Czech Rep. vs. Latvia
G2: Canada vs. Germany
G3: Slovakia vs. Norway
G4: Switzerland vs. Belarus

Quarterfinals (Wednesday):
Q1. United States vs. Switzerland/Belarus
Q2. Sweden vs. Slovakia/Norway
Q3. Russia vs. Canada/Germany
Q4. Finland vs. Czech Rep./Latvia

Semi-finals (Friday)
Q1 vs. Q4
Q2 vs. Q3

Bronze-medal game (Saturday)
Semi-final losers

Gold-medal game (Sunday)
Semi-final winners

Respect (or Lack of Respect) is a Two-way Street

As the Caps prepare to make a run at NHL history with the NHL Olympic break approaching, I wanted to take a look back at the NHL’s game of the year – Sunday’s improbable 5-4 nationally televised comeback victory against the hated Penguins.

The victory certainly brightened an otherwise dreary, snowy afternoon in D.C. while – for those who believe such things – presumably ruining Super Bowl Sunday (am I allowed to write Super Bowl without paying a licensing fee to the NFL?) for Commissioner Bettman and the NBC broadcast crew.

I try really hard to respect the Penguins and their captain, who clearly is one of the best players in the world. While I would never root for Pittsburgh, I’d really like for the Alex Ovechkin-Sidney Crosby rivalry to be the modern day equivalent of Magic-Bird. But the composition and character of Crosby’s team, his unwillingness to give any opposing player credit for even the slightest bit of success and the Pens’ overzealous and blinded fanbase make that impossible.

I’ve given Brooks Orpik’s post-game comments a few days to sink in an attempt to take the emotion of the moment out of the equation and see both sides more clearly. This is not the first time that “Hooks” has uttered something after a bitter loss that just makes you shake your head. To Orpik’s credit, he is a player with a limited skill set who plays a hard-nosed style and has figured out what it takes for him to survive – and even succeed – at the NHL level. Unfortunately, some of the tactics it takes for him to do that certainly stretch the limitations of the rules. He uses his stick like a hatchet in front of and behind the net, takes late runs at players in an attempt to get them off their game and draw retaliation penalties and has figured out how to clutch and grab discreetly to avoid a penalty and so that players with more ability cannot humiliate him.

Orpik also has mastered the mental side of the game – better known as gamesmanship – by frequently spouting absurdities intended to either turn the media and public’s attention away from his mistakes and shortcomings or to get inside the head of an opponent. He ran his mouth last year after Sergei Gonchar’s self-inflicted knee-on-knee collision with Ovechkin (yes, Gonchar was running from him like a cat being chased by a pit bull) in the playoffs, hoping to get Ovechkin off his game, and did the same Sunday after taking a clear and stupid penalty that cost his team the game in overtime.

Orpik is smart enough to know that most likely the road to the Stanley Cup runs through either Mellon Arena or Verizon Center this year and that these two teams may meet as many as nine more times before all is said and done. So anything that he says that gives him a mental edge over the more talented Capitals, specifically Alexander Semin, can prove to be a big advantage. He also understood that his penalty cost his team the game, so to uphold the Penguin tradition of diminishing another team’s effort, he had to deflect the attention given to his bad penalty and the Caps’ tremendous effort by basically calling Semin a faker, actor, embellisher – choose your description.

“He does it all the time,” Orpik said. “The kid’s a baby. He does it all game long. I’ve got zero respect for the kid.”

Okay Brooksie let’s see, what does the fact that Semin might embellish a penalty every now and then have to do with what happened in overtime? Semin carried the puck out of the corner and curled toward the high slot before feeding a pass across to a teammate. At that point, after the pass had already been received, you decided to take a late run at him and clearly hit him in the mouth with your stick. Not only did you take yourself out of position and hang your defensive partner out to dry in an effort to hit Semin late, but you further cost your team by failing to control your stick. Oh, right, I forgot, Semin’s the villain in this situation. Even though it wasn’t an outrageously violent high stick, the last time someone tried to brush my teeth with a Sherwood, I recall that it didn’t feel too good.

Maybe Orpik’s right. I mean if Crosby had taken a stick to the chops with the game on the line – yes, the same Crosby who carries on a running dialogue with both referees throughout every game – I’m sure he wouldn’t have flinched and would have toughed it out without trying to make sure he got the penalty call. By the way, the Penguins weren’t known to many as the “Pittsburgh Diving Team” throughout the years thanks to the fine acting of players such as Lemieux, Jagr, Kovalev and Straka.

The bottom line is that Orpik made a game-changing mistake, and as a professional should stand up and take accountability instead of discrediting his opponent or blaming the officials. That’s not his style, and it’s not the Penguins’ style, which starts to get at the heart of why the Pens are despised around the league.

The best part of this whole situation, and what completely destroys Orpik’s credibility, is the fact that the Penguins were handed a completely bogus penalty call in their favor with 4:08 left in regulation and couldn’t capitalize. Matt Cooke’s stick broke while making a pass in the offensive zone, and the referee stationed nearly 100 feet away beyond the blue line decided it had to be the result of a slash even though the official six feet away saw the play clearly and correctly and called nothing. The nearest Cap was Jeff Schultz, who picked up the penalty, and he was a good four feet behind Cooke. Schultz couldn’t have reached Cooke’s stick if he had tried.

Where Orpik miscalculated this time around was in thinking that Semin would even give two thoughts to his comments. After listening to Orpik’s tirade toward the officials, teammate Bill Guerin decided to give Semin an earful, too. Semin skated away with a blank look on his face as if to say, “What in the world is that guy talking about?” Call me crazy, but I’m guessing that Semin didn’t lose any sleep over the prospect of being left off Orpik’s Christmas card list next year.

Penguins’ supporters wonder why they and their team are hated throughout the league. The way this game ended is Exhibit A. Whether it’s Crosby running his mouth all game long and looking like he’s going to cry every time he gets hit or one of the players throwing a post-game tantrum to discredit an opposing team’s effort (recall Crosby whining about the hats being thrown on the ice for Ovechkin’s hat trick in the 2009 playoffs), there just isn’t much to like.

Pens’ bloggers and message-board lurkers have come out with their guns blazing this week, saying that they have no respect for the Caps’ organization from the top down, that Bruce Boudreau is a tool who makes preposterous post-game comments, that the NHL screwed the Penguins on the scheduling (what?; remember the Caps’ lost “home ice advantage” in a not-so-long-ago playoff scheduling snafu?) and that Ovechkin is surrounded by more talent than Crosby or else Sid would be blowing him away in the scoring race (keep in mind Ovechkin has played alongside the likes of Jeff Halpern, Dainus Zubrus, Chris Clark and Victor Kozlov, among others, over the years).

I guess all of this gum smacking is just part of the culture in Pittsburgh. Early in Sunday’s game the Pens’ fans in attendance were running their mouths saying that Crosby is better than Ovechkin, that “this game is fun” and that the Caps were simply being outclassed. One savvy fan noted that Ovechkin was intimidated by the Pens and was avoiding hits, later to add, “Oh yeah, he’s a great player all right. Since he can’t beat us on the scoreboard, he’s just going to beat us up.” Hmmm…I guess he beat them up and outscored them, exactly why he’s the best in the world.

As the score inched closer, the trash talking switched to Stanley Cups won, history and so on. Then, at the end, there was silence. The most beautiful sound of all. Silence that has been followed by three days of trying to make a case about how the Caps are whiners, the game was given to them, the schedule was unfair, Ovechkin is overrated, yadda, yadda.

Seems like a lot of energy to waste on a team that you don’t respect and can’t challenge yours. It’s almost obsessive, don’t you think?