Big Lead Sports Bar

6/15/2009

PITTSBURGH: A POST-CUP TIMELINE

A lot of things have happened since the Stanley Cup Finals ended on Friday night. Here's a briefing on some of the highlights to this point:

FRIDAY:
-Sidney Crosby "snubs" Nick Lidstrom in the postgame handshake line, a charge Crosby denies. Kris Draper, who apparently still is alive, spoke out against Crosby, making a bigger deal out of it than Lidstrom himself. Detroit fans claim Crosby is classless, which is ironic for a group of people that cheered when Crosby was injured and booed the Penguins receiving the Cup.

-Back in Pittsburgh, the locals are celebrating accordingly. Clearly, they're not worried about Nick Lidstrom.

-The Penguins arrive home in the middle of the night. Geno Malkin stuffed the Conn Smythe Trophy in his car in a way only Geno Malkin could.

SATURDAY:
-The Penguins surprise everyone and take the Cup to Diesel and Mario's in the South Side. Techno was played. The Cup was out a window. It was everything you would expect and hope to happen.

SUNDAY:
After a long night, the Cup travels to the Bucco game, flanked by 16 players and one Bylsma. The game's result? Pittsburgh beat Detroit, winning the series. How poetic.


MONDAY:
-It's revealed that Mario Lemieux sent a few text messages, first to Ray Shero, after the 5-0 loss in Game Five:

"We are a family and in this together. We don't need anyone that is only with us WIN or TIE. I really think this is our year. Let's forget about tonight ... It happens. We will win Tuesday and win the Cup Friday."

and then to Penguin players the morning of Game Seven:

"This is a chance of a lifetime to realize your childhood dream to win a Stanley Cup. Play without fear and you will be successful! See you at center ice."



It's OK if that gave you chills. I've got them, too.

-Another day, another championship parade in the city of Pittsburgh. The attendance is reported at 375,000, which amazingly would top the attendance of the Steelers' parade after SB43. And thankfully, none of the players awkwardly impersonated Lil Jon and sang at this parade.



-The team also shot a formal photo with the Cup. Nicely done, boys.



-Here's a quick reference guide for Marian Hossa. You really should click this link.

-And finally, as emailer Steve B. points out today, this Ron Cook article should furthermore sit alongside the infamous Gene Collier "season is over" column. Cook's piece, from February 27, 2009, is entitled, "Penguins fans will miss Whitney soon". Ummm...probably not.

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9 comments:

AJ said...

I'm pretty certain that Dan Potash was on acid at the parade.

There was one shot of him during WPXI's parade coverage that was classic. During a live shot of Alby, Potash just sort of floated by in the background on a truck while striking the funniest pose ever. I wish I had DVR'd it.

nuthinhere said...

I think the Detroit fans were booing Bettman, at least thats what it seemed like on TV.

diggler said...

i love how some of the red wings are saying crosby is immature and classless. i saw him being congratulated by babcock and osgood. soooooooo.... crosby was still on the ice, right? me thinks it was lidstrom who ran off and cried like a b*tch. gosh, these red wings' tears taste almost as good as the seattle seahawks' tears in 2005.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

It seemed like the Wing Dings cleared out kind of quickly after their demise, the Pens hung around and watched them celebrate last year..... Good practice for Hosebag.

I just love how the Wings and their fans and NBC think they are so perfect and professional and above everything. They ran their mouths every game and they got away with a lot of cheap shots i.e. Draper butt ending Staal in the face, Fraznen taking out Sid, etc. But everyone is supposed to bow down to them? I don't think so, just because EdZo said so doesn't make it true.

All that snubbing talk is merely sour grapes from a bunch of senior citizens with a sense of entitlement who didn't get their 5 cent discount on a cup of McDonald's coffee.

Steve said...

It'd be interesting to compare how long it took between the final second of the game and the last handshake to be made between this years final game and last years.

I have a feeling it took a lot longer for the dead wings to get around to finishing hand shakes than it did the Penguins.

Like Crosby said: "Waiting is the easiest thing to do." Especially when you've lost and have nothing better to do or anywhere better to go anyway.

Lidstrom seems to understand completely why things happened the way they did, so Zetterberg and Draper can both suck it long and hard.

Anonymous said...

Lidstrom actually never spoke out about the handshake. He just wrote it off as Sid being excited and mobbed/congratulated by everyone else. So if he doesn't care, why should anyone else?

I'm surprised to hear the whining about penalties. I actually thought the no-calls favored Detroit most of the series. The injury excuse is funny too. Detroit won the games that Draper and Datsyuk missed due to injury. Maybe Draper wasn't all there when he was on the ice, but Datsyuk played fine. And what about Gonchar's torn MCL he played on all series? How's that for playing through injuries?

I've come to the realization that you can't win a championship without someone complaining how you didn't deserve it. It just goes with the territory. I'll take it.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

I always agree with Steve and Nipsy and I am going to agree again.

I think i said this when we won SB XLIII..... it's lonely at the top. One day after the Super Bowl, ESPN was blowing on the Cowboys proverbial dice.

Michael Katz said...

Mariotti agrees: It's a Pittsburgh world.

M_Shale said...

mariotti is no less of a choad because he wants to talk up pittburgh. frankly i like the hate we are stirring up. the pens could have a long run, the steelers might put up another trophy. hell the "things were better in the 70s" may even have to shut up at some point.