Since you're only a fan during the playoffs, I'll rub it in a little.
I don't dislike the Capitals more than any other rival of the Penguins, but after Sidney Crosby was hammered and knocked out of Game 3 and then missed Game 4 (and didn't play as well as he usually does when he came back), I really really really wanted the Penguins to eliminate the Capitals again.
Here's an emotional report on it by Scott Van Pelt of BSPN, who even chokes up at the end. Van Pelt is one of the very few people at BSPN I respect.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19355394&sf77998798=1
And then there's this rant from a Russian sports writer about Ovechkin. I've noticed over the years that Ovechkin is way too one-dimensional, content to lull about waiting to unleash his world-class slapshot, and he excels at checking opponents very hard, but is indifferent to all the other aspects of playing 200 feet, especially defense. He's probably someone like Evgeni Malkin, another Russian who it's better to have as the secondary star on a team rather than the superstar a team is built around and relies on in crunch time.
Slava Malamud is the Official Russian Sports Writer
https://twitter.com/SlavaMalamud
I wanted to post this in another thread but given the size of the rant and how it could be buried I decided it was likely better to make a new thread;
1/ #Caps problems extend beyond a bad def pair, an underperforming goalie. The failure is endemic and systematic. It’s the result of choices
2/ fanboy owner Leonsis made in 2004 when he decided his business model would be not building a winner but servicing a marketable megastar.
3/ There’s nothing wrong with building a team around a star, but it has to be the right kind of star. Ovi just isn’t the “win first” type.
4/ I’ve known Ovi since he was 17. Kid was born with a silverware set in his mouth. Always told he is the greatest, teammates must be worthy
5/ but his demands on himself stay the same. He’s not the bloodied inspirational leader. He is the tousled-hair sexy charismatic ruffian.
6/ Yes, he’s the NHL’s favorite stripper who’s been giving the hockey world a lap dance for 13 years. Sorry, but the length of your erection
7/ hockey world, is unhealthy by now. You need to face the truth: the Caps personality-cult culture is counterproductive to winning the cup.'
8/ Fueled by innumerable fanboy blogs and media whipped into terrified subservience by CapsPR, the culture feeds on self, kills all dissent,
9/ and spurns all criticism. You know, Caps fans, that despite all the issues Oates and Hunter had, your main problem w/ them was trying to
10/ turn Ovi into a man of the system. You hate that. You want your boy toy wild and free. Everyone wants this of Ovi, even RUS coaches.
11/ Compare this to Crosby who will take any role on CAN w/o complaint. You call 87 a whiner, but who whined the loudest during the lockout,
12/ threatening to stay in the KHL? Who whines now, threatening to leave the league to get an Olympic trinket? While Leonsis bends over
13/ backwards to satisfy all his ridiculous demands. This is a guy who looks out for himself and his public image (Wild and Sexy Rebel,
14/ Patriot of Motherland). His only interest in the Cup is how his reflection will look in it. Problem is, Leonsis has the same priorities.
15/ He has dissolved himself and the team in Ovechkin’s 13-year-long marketing campaign. It worked out great financially. The price to pay
16/ is being humiliated every year by real winners. Congrats, Caps, you've sold lots of t-shirts. Congrats, Caps fans, you've been had.
17/ Oh, and that sound you’ve just heard is your window of opportunity slamming shut. I hope this wild ride on the Charisma Train was fun.
18/ Rant out. Enjoy your Redskins mini camp.
