Four months ago, the Steelers clinched a record-setting six Super Bowl victories. The passionate sporting town was known as Steel City, and still prefers that name as the town will always embrace football. But the calendar says May, which means football is out of season until September, which is four months looming. But now, the non-stop talk in town isn’t Ben Roethlisberger’s captivating throw to Santonio Holmes for a classical game-winning catch.
People are buzzing about Sid the Kid and the Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL’s most captivating hockey team to witness arguably the greatest player of our time since Wayne Gretzky. Not only the greatest superstar to bring life to an ailing sport, but the greatest rivalry to magnetize and embracing two eminence superstars that introduces stardom as much as the Steelers have done. Having populace admire players such as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin chances the complexion of a sport in which they have certainly done, felicitating sports followers. In this case it isn’t about hockey, but about embracing high-action packed drama, thrilling templates in today’s sports culture.
In Game 7, the 21-year old made a scene on the national stage, noticeably as much as Big Ben, a Super Bowl icon who shares some of that spotlight with Crosby, a Canadian bred on quest for his first Stanley Cup, in a town that has converted from steel into frozen ice to witness the Igloo present new life of NHL’s main attraction and menacingly the league’s Michael Jordan. He’s not nearly a comparison to Gretzky, and in fact he’s the greatest player to emerge in the history of the league on such a quick notice, accomplishing landmarks that not even Gretzky was able to reach at such a young age. Remember, this is only Crosby’s third year and in that span he has already been named team captain, becoming the youngest to lead among peers, known as Pittsburgh’s charismatic leader.
By virtue, the presence of Crosby emerged more than leadership. It has immersed amused fans, willing to relish an ailing sport and create a positive bias on an unimportant foreign creation. Witnessing a dramatic superstar or two for that matter is amply gratifying of rejuvenating the inferior NHL, which endears masses, caring more for alluring spectacles and breathtaking moments, other than boredom. At least until now, in the postseason, nothing has being boring, if anything it’s being an addiction for more extravaganza liveliness that Crosby proffered since making his debut, alongside Washington’s antagonist Ovechkin, a showdown never experience when Gretzky or Mario Lemieux worshiped stardom, two studs that posed as idols in their prime.
Now, its Crosby's and Ovechkin's turn to translate a bitter rivalry, a scene of epic classics and electrifying city consciousness to rename Pittsburgh when the calendar says mid May to Igloo City, at least the nickname of the Mellon Center suggests it is a proper name. Not only Steelers Country, but Crosby’s Country, where he has lifted spirit to a new level as the Penguins continuously storm to new heights, looming ever closer to a Stanley Cup trophy as Crosby and young-rising 19-year old Jordan Staal could become the youngest in history to participate in the Finals, since the scoring-threat Lemieux led Pittsburgh to back-to-back titles in the early ‘90’s. Since NHL’s crestfallen player’s lockout, they are the hottest team in the postseason, with an overwhelming and convincing 23-15 record, championship caliber prosperity that prolonged when the Penguins clinched the uttermost engaging series and indicated much optimism in the sport with an insecure status.
Well, not as long as there’s an eventful rivalry that interest us, such as Crosby vs. Ovechkin to earn immeasurable plaudits as one of the greatest sporting duels in the history of sports. But sooner than later, it had to come to an end in which only one was allowed to prevail as a legitimate winner. Still, it was a rivalry we craved, wishing for more amusing epic clashes on ice, wishing for more interesting ice wars, particularly at a time when sports faces discomfiture.
Of late, Major League Baseball topples with tattered steroid revelations and the NBA falters from officiating debacles, plenty of ignominy to make you turn your disgusted heads away from the troubling times to an impassioned modern era event, and maybe keep the sport cure from wilting. Good thing Crosby and the Penguins lasted a merciless ice war, both teams forcing seven games in the nature of intense and ambitious challenges. It was Crosby, who advanced on the Capitals’ ice, ousting Ovechkin with an early controllable 4-0 lead en route to a thrashing 6-2 rout, to clinch a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. And if they continue to dominate as they have, without a doubt, they will represent the East and will be a good-natured first option team to hoist the cup only a few weeks away. The Penguins quick start opened up a 2-0 lead in the first period with 16 shots to the Capitals, in which sizzling offensive intensity was the summary of the game early on, furtherance when the five games were decided by one goal, three of those confirmed in overtime.
After witnessing an interesting series, you saw the right team advance, which embodies the kid everyone embraces. Not only in Crosby's sport, but as a distinguished sports star who exemplifies sports in positive mode to renew the sport as we again revisit since Gretzky and Lemiuex. Players like Sid the Kid represents values of sports and restores essence as the Penguins are appealing, particularly if they add a third championship banner in franchise history.
