Pens Bashing for the New Season

What happens when you mix a forum full of Rangers fans, years of bitterness, and general fed-upedness?

The verbal stoning of a roaming Penguins fan, of course.

Many Rangers fans on the forum defended the Penguins fan.  Quite a few jumped down his throat some more.  The amusing quote was that the Pens had used the “welfare cheat model” of rebuilding their team.  I generally agree with that.  Years of sucking horribly, drafting Malkin, Crosby, and Staal.  Oh, and Fleury.  There, a perfectly good team just fell into your lap.

I do want to present the fact that this is not necessarily the Penguins fans’ faults.  Nor is it the fault of their players.  However, I do continue to dislike the franchise and most of its components. 

I’ve written about this to an extent already.  I dislike the Pens because they get marketed more.  They have more attention paid to them.  And this isn’t just after they won the Cup this year.  They got more attention than the Wings two seasons ago, even though it was the Wings who won the Cup.  Do the Wings have nationally televised commercials?  Does Lidstrom (arguably the best defenseman in the league)?  Does Zetterberg?  No, no, and no. 

Ovechkin doesn’t even get national TV time.  Where is his Gatorade commercial? 

It’s just upsetting to not see your team get the attention it deserves.  Two of my best friends are Devils fans.  I have a handful of good friends who are Flyers fans.  Sabres fans?  Yes.  Wild fans?  Yes.  Bruins fans?  Yes.  Isles fans?  Yes.  Penguins fans?  No. 

It is pretty much impossible for me to engage in a conversation with a Penguins fan without the “Crosby phenomenon” popping up somehow.  Without them telling me that Fleury is an “elite” goaltender.  If you put Malkin and Crosby into the Rangers lineup…guess what?  The Rangers probably sweep the Wings in the Cup final.  Why?  Lundqvist>>>>Fleury.  By himself.  If the Pens didn’t have Malkin and Crosby and Staal, would Fleury be able to carry the team by himself?  Would the team get past the first round of playoffs?  No. 

For God’s sake, it was the luck of the draw for years in the draft and I’ve dealt with that.  If Crosby had ended up on the Ducks?  The Ducks would be getting this attention.  The Penguins would have gone bankrupt and moved to Kansas City.  Or something similar.  Instead, Bobby Ryan went to the Ducks.  Did the Ducks get attention when they won the Cup?  No.

It’s really the League’s fault.  Obviously.  They’ve marketed everything terribly.  If things were more fair, to fans of EVERY team, I’d be okay with the Penguins.  I would.  The Pens have the best forward in the league (Malkin, FYI, not Crosby), but the Rangers have a top-3 goaltender.  I’m happy with the extra decades worth of history and class, too. 

Give Lundqvist, Savard, and Iginla some commercials on NBC and I’m a happy camper.

Poor Marc Savard.

~ by fromsiberiawithlove on July 19, 2009.