Def Leppard and Hockey

Did you catch Def Leppard singing at the hockey celebration in Detroit yesterday on the Versus channel? It was quite a show.

Now, from a historical perspective, you'll agree that Def Leppard is the 2nd or 3rd best band of all time -after Van Halen, of course, and perhaps a statistical tie with Led Zeppelin. Now, I'm talking rock bands here. This does not include those boy-bands, like that 1960's version of Nsync. What was it called, the Beatles?

So anyway, I heard them sing Let's Get Rocked (Adrenalizer), Animal and Pour Some Sugar on Me (Hysteria), and Foolin' (Pyromania). Now, there's no doubt that they were singing live. Let's face it - they're in their late 40's. At this point, I'd make a good frontman for the band. Overall, though, I think they did a good job. Though the singing was not up to their vintage 80's peak, their guitar and drum playing was probably even better than it was 25 years ago.

I do want to point out that those Limeys did make one HUGE faux pas. They brought out the Cup. Joe Elliott (lead singer) grabbed the Cup and carried over to the podium and placed it upside-down. Dolt!!! I think it was Darren McCarty who ran over to the podium and flipped it around to which Elliot replied, "What do we know? We're just a bunch of soccer guys."

Oh, well. At least hockey season has started.

On a funny note - there was an article on Fox Sports about Alexander Ovechkin and the importance of hockey mom's. The article pointed out that like Sarah Palin, Ovechkin's mom made many sacrifices for her son.

A friend of mine emailed me and asked why they didn't mention Sidney Crosby in the article. I told him that the article was about mothers and I think that Crosby was raised by a same-sex couple in San Francisco.

Red Wings are Champs!

In case you weren't watching the NHL playoffs on NBC (why wouldn't you be watching them?), you saw the Detroit Red Wings defeat Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins last night at The Igloo.

In a psychotic ending to game 5, Pittsburgh was able to notch a game-tying goal with 34 seconds left in regulation. The game went into triple overtime (that's an NHL requirement - all overtime games during the playoffs must go to triple overtime) and Pittsburgh ending up winning, forcing game 6 in Pittsburgh. Too bad. That guy with the white gloves was already shining the cup and had it on the stand.

No matter. Last night at The Igloo, Detroit jumped to an early lead. Sidney Crosby got board checked and got a boo-boo, requiring him to go sit on the bench and relax for a while. With Detroit up 2-0, Pittsburgh got a goal and the crowd woke up from their slumber.

Marc Andre Fluery quickly followed up with a goal by his butt into his own net (thanks, Chris) to allow Detroit to take a 3-1 lead. Pittsburgh rallied back and got another goal to make it 3-2.

With 5 seconds left, Pittsburgh got the puck in front of the net and Hossa skimmed it over Osgood and it crept inches from the line into nowhere as time expired. Everyone stood around in confusion for a few seconds before Detroit goalie Chris Osgood jumped up screaming, "Martin O'Malley sucks and we just won the Stanley Cup!!!"

I'm glad I was able to stay awake and see the whole game. However, it would have been more exciting to see the Red Wings skate around with the cup on their own ice. How exciting is it to have a bunch of grumpy-ass fans booing while you're hoisting the ultimate trophy in the air???

Now that hockey season is over, ESPN can dedicate an extra 5 seconds to the NBA. I'm sure they are relieved. Because they don't get to talk about the NBA enough. Everyone cares about Kobe Bryant winning. If you don't, well then you're just stupid. ESPN knows what you like more than you do. Boo-yah. "Here are the top 10 slam dunks of the night! Boo-yah!"

More Sidney Crosby

Because you can never be told too many times that Sidney Crosby is the greatest athlete since Atlas.

NHL.com's Dan Rosen likes Sidney Crosby so much that he wrote an article about Sidney's shaving habits and how much his teammates like him.

As my friend Chris said, "Why is this news?"

It's news because people are clamouring for all things Crosby. I will not rest until I find out his favorite color and his 2nd grade teacher's name. Is he good at math? Does he prefer Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino? Chocolate or Vanilla? Does he put his left skate on first or his right skate?

This is important information!

Ugh! Someone get me a Diet Coke. I feel like belching.

Sidney Crosby

Sidney Crosby, apparantly, is the greatest hockey player ever. Well, maybe since Wayne Gretzky.

How do I know so? Because NBC and ESPN told me so. I'll give credit to NBC - at least they show hockey games. Outside of their daily exaltations to Sidney Crosby, ESPN dedicates 15 seconds to hockey every other Wednesday by allowing Barry Melrose to remind people which cities still have hockey teams.

Gary Bettman said it himself. "Sidney Crosby saved hockey from imminent demise. Without the Penguins in Pittsburgh, the space time continuium would have collapsed and we would have all met our maker."

This is absolutely ridiculous. First of all - hockey has not been saved. I love hockey, but it's not popular in the United States. Americans love hockey as much as the Brits love dentists.

So I got to snooping around on the Internet. What other ludicous things are sports writers saying about Sidney Crosby? Here's what I found:

Here's an article I found on Yahoo Sports:

By Dell PoiraL, AP Hockey Writer 11 hours, 41 minutes ago
NEW YORK (AP)—Evgeni Malkin looked every bit like an MVP at MSG and pushed the Pittsburgh Penguins to the brink of the Eastern Conference finals. Only hours after Malkin was announced as a Hart Trophy finalist, the second-year forward showed why.

He scored two power-play goals and added an assist in the Penguins’ 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the series.

"I’m definitely proud of him," said captain Sidney Crosby, last year’s Hart winner. "As a teammate, you always want to see other guys do well. He did that all season. It was a great accomplishment. But I cannot believe that the official scorers attributed the goals to him and not me."

Apparently, this comment has led the league to review its policy on how it credits goals in games. Based on current rules, Crosby was not credited with any goals last night.

NHL spokesman Craig Rothscover said, "We are looking into ways to credit more goals to Sidney Crosby since he is the greatest hockey player of all time. NBC and ESPN will agree with that statement."

Some suggestions presented by the NHL include crediting goals to Crosby when he is on the ice when a goal is scored, regardless of which team scores the goal.

However, this leaves officials in a quandary with how to attribute goals to Crosby when he is not on the ice. An anonymous source said that the league is also considering giving Crosby credit for goals scored if he cheers while on the bench.

The most radical suggestion, by far, but certainly a fan and media favorite, is to credit Crosby with any goal scored, regardless of the teams that are playing. If this rule would have been in place last night, not only would have the young superstar scored 5 goals for the Penguins, but also the 3 scored the Rangers, and the combined 10 goals scored by San Jose, Dallas, Detroit, and Colorado.

According to Barry Melrose of ESPN, "This is a win-win for hockey, the media, and hockey."

Other things that I found:

Game 1 against Ottawa - Crosby led the Penguins to a victory over the Senators. Oh, and by the way, Gary Roberts had 2 goals. (Crosby's stats line - 0 Goals, 0 Assists, +/- 0). What a hero!

Crosby already leads other candidates for the 08-09 MVP trophie. The season starts in October.

After Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins to victory in the Stanley Cup Championship, he will then refocus his powers during the off season to end the war in Iraq, eradicate cancer and diabetes, raise New Orleans above sea level, end poverty, and defeat Snidely Whiplash once and for all.

Sidney Crosby announced today that they way to end Global Warming will be to have more people watch him play hockey on the ice. Ice is cold, so cold will make things less warm, thus ending global warming.

According to my good friend "George" (who pretends to be a quasi-British subject and a Republican despite matching more closely with Hillary Clinton in every political compatibility quiz), ABC News reported that scientists have discovered that Sidney Crosby went back in time and constructed the pyramids in Egypt. The team of scientists translated a newly discovered plate of hierogliphics that say, "Sidney Crosby, the God of Ice, constructed these pyramids while serving a 2 minute minor for slashing."

From Yahoo Sports in March:

Sidney Crosby leads the league in goals scored with 24. Close behind him are Alexander Ovechkin with 65, Illya Kovalchuck with 52, and teammate Evgeni Malkin with 50.