Washington DC-
As a reporter we are taught to be neutral in the games we cover in order to write without bias. There isn't supposed to be any cheering or even reaction in a press box. Many journalists use the line, "I am not a fan, I am a reporter." That is all good and well, but I have met a lot of hockey writers over the past decade, and I can tell you is just not true.
And the ones who truly aren't fans, the ones who are miserable all the time while covering a sport like it’s traffic court, the ones who complain because some incredible play has messed up their story that they were going to write (I am looking at you Steve) well those aren't hockey fans nor are they fans of ANYTHING in life.
The ones who are more honest and professional say "That being said, I guess I am a fan of both teams"...which is way more accurate, because once you get to know these guys personally it can become hard to really dislike a hockey player or coach...
Sure, after a few drinks some will tell you the teams they don't like as much, but it’s never because that team is a rival of their team or they think some player is a jerk on the ice. A hockey writer who dislikes a team dislikes them because the team has been hard to deal with and have made our jobs harder in some way...
On the Caps and Knights...
But what about the two teams we are watching play for a Stanley Cup right now?
Last night at the arena, covering the Caps 3-1 victory, I couldn't find anyone in the press box who would say anything bad about either of these teams. These teams are both easy to deal with from a professional standpoint, and both are stocked with players, coaches, and team employees who you can't help but pull for...
I mean how can you hate Marc-Andre Fleury?
Here is player whose biggest problem in Pittsburgh was his teammates felt so terrible to see him lose that they played too cautiously at times. The fans of Pittsburgh are KILLING the TV ratings for this series because of how much they LOVE this guy. Pittsburgh has the 5th best numbers in the States on NBC for a series involving the Capitals.
How can you hate Barry Trotz?
Trotz may be one of the more honest coaches on the podium and loves his players and gets the fans. Trotz is the epitome of class. I have loved this guy since his Nashville days and he has ALWAYS been kind to me personally. I will always think of him and the Preds back when the Preds where being threatened to move to Hamilton...
How can you hate Gerard Gallant?
Disrespected so publicly when he was fired from Florida, and disrespected maybe even worse behind the scenes by Therrien in Montreal when he was one of has assistants, Gallant is the perfect outcast to lead this band of outcasts...
Who in their right mind could hate ANY player who was not protected by their team in the expansion draft?
Imagine your boss puts up a list of people he cares about and wants to keep around...And you aren't on it? You have worked your whole life to get this job, you actually achieve that goal and now the company says, "meh, we like the person...but whatever.." Sports fans love underdogs. It’s the plot to every great sports movie ever made from the Bad News Bears to Slapshot to my secret cult favorite "Youngblood' ("its just a game, Rob, It's just a game")
If generational superstars have a misfit and an underdog, that guy would be named Ovechkin. . He has always fallen behind Crosby in every hockey situation imaginable...in the world juniors, NHL, Olympics, World Championships....I bet he would lose a bubble hockey game to Sid or a game of NHL94....
And yet, he is a GOD in his homeland and flat out the best goal score of the past decade by a mile...no actually he has lapped the field. Since 2005 the great 8 has 604 regular season goals. Crosby is a close second during that span...with 411. Sorry, I meant a "not even barely close" second. The next best goal scorer in this generation is 200 goals behind Alex. The next best has scored only 66% as many goals. It is hard to argue against Ovechkin being the best goal scorer of all time...And yet, he is such a great team player that you can see how much more winning a Stanley Cup will mean to him. Because he shows emotions and how can you hate him for that?
So it will suck, I mean really suck, to see either team lose this series.
Even some Caps fans are feeling it. Last night, after I left the arena I heard one saying, "Why is it that the first time we get a chance to win a Cup we have to be Apollo Creed and knockout the lovable Rocky?" If the Vegas story is up there with the "Miracle on Ice" then the Caps are "literally" led by two of the best Russians in the game right now.
It was so apparent that last last night during the National Anthem some Caps fans yelled "Knights!" following their own "RED!" and before they yelled "OH!"
Also, not for nothing...that building was LOUD last night. Like Montreal/Nashville loud. I have yet to cover a game in Vegas, but this was as loud as any arena I have been in during the Cup Finals over the past 12 years.
And how can you hate a fanbase that has seen their team collapse in the playoffs so many times before?
So who are you pulling for?
Back with a rumor update later...