It's official...
After watching the last 24/7 episode I have made up my mind to reject this ridiculous NHL-created rivalry-that-isn't Pens-Caps nonsense. Honestly, this thing has been deliberately manufactured by the league to put butts in seats and I'm just not going to fall for it anymore. We had a perfectly good and intense rivalry with Philadelphia before this foolishness came along: both teams came into the league the same year, we've been (mostly) in the same division all this time, we're in the same state, we built on a hatred that already existed between both cities and we have a nice, healthy playoff history going on. The Philly-Pgh rivalry evolved naturally and it's suited both teams perfectly fine for 40 + years. Hell, I'd even say we have mini-rivalries with the other teams in our division as well just because of the playoff history with all those guys. Those just happened and happened entirely on their own.
If the Caps are anything to us, they have been that team we always beat in the playoffs and nothing more. Honestly, we've beat them (I believe) 7 times out of 8 over the years. That's not a rivalry, that's embarrassing. Yet, the NHL in all its wisdom seems to insist that, as a Pens fan, I should really care about this. Why? Because of the non-rivalry within a non-rivalry between Ovie and Sid? If anything, the bad blood seems to be between Ovie and Malkin, so that really doesn't convince me. Because OMG SID AND OVIE ARE, LIKE, SO DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER? Really? This is the basis for a rivalry? Then why not one between Chara and St. Louis? Talk about different - 5'7 vs. 6'9...hoo, boy...it doesn't get more opposite than that. I remember the NHL vainly trying to build Lemieux-Gretzky into a rivalry back in the 80's. Granted, they didn't have the publicity machine they have now, but they did attempt it. Unfortunately for the league, neither guy gave two shits about the other: no hate, no friendship, just...nothing. Neither was one for trash talk so they never went there with each other, plus they were in different conferences and hardly faced each other anyway. Try as they might the NHL just couldn't make that one happen and for that I am very grateful.
The NHL needs to stay the hell out of rivalries and for sure to stop trying to create them. Frankly, I don't care enough about the Caps to hate them with a burning passion. They're just a bunch of annoying douchebags - not the team we couldn't beat for 13 years in the Spectrum (Philly), not the team who deliberately broke Mario's wrist (Rangers), not the team who continually trapped us out of the first round of the playoffs in the late 90's/early 2000's (NJ), not even the team who rallied from a 3-game deficit to beat us and go on to win the Cup (Isles). Or how about the ultimate: meeting the same team for all the marbles -in the Finals- two years in a row (Detroit)? We suffered major disappointments at the hands of all those teams which built up some righteous hatred. You can't say that about the Caps: they've been our Whipping Boys. Historically speaking, we haven't hated them - we've pitied them. That's not a rivalry in my book.
IF the Caps give me a very, very good reason to hate them, then it's on. But, frankly, they aren't worth my time and effort right now and NO, the Winter Classic loss doesn't count. Talk about a overhyped sideshow. Don't get me wrong, I like outdoor games very much and I like a bit of spectacle, but the fact is that it's still the regular season and it's still only two points. It sucks to lose that game because it's special, but it's still just a regular season home loss...nothing to get vengeful over, for god's sake.
Bottom line is the Caps haven't impressed me enough to be worthy of my hate. So I'm going to flip the NHL the bird and ignore this "rivalry". 24/7 was a brilliant series for many reasons, but if it had been done with Philly-Pittsburgh or Edmonton-Calgary or Montreal-Toronto then it would have done a much better job of selling me a rivalry.
Now on to the rest of the season. It will be nice to just play some games without being constantly compared to those clowns in red for a change.
Until the playoffs, anyway. But we'll just have to see about that.
If the Caps are anything to us, they have been that team we always beat in the playoffs and nothing more. Honestly, we've beat them (I believe) 7 times out of 8 over the years. That's not a rivalry, that's embarrassing. Yet, the NHL in all its wisdom seems to insist that, as a Pens fan, I should really care about this. Why? Because of the non-rivalry within a non-rivalry between Ovie and Sid? If anything, the bad blood seems to be between Ovie and Malkin, so that really doesn't convince me. Because OMG SID AND OVIE ARE, LIKE, SO DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER? Really? This is the basis for a rivalry? Then why not one between Chara and St. Louis? Talk about different - 5'7 vs. 6'9...hoo, boy...it doesn't get more opposite than that. I remember the NHL vainly trying to build Lemieux-Gretzky into a rivalry back in the 80's. Granted, they didn't have the publicity machine they have now, but they did attempt it. Unfortunately for the league, neither guy gave two shits about the other: no hate, no friendship, just...nothing. Neither was one for trash talk so they never went there with each other, plus they were in different conferences and hardly faced each other anyway. Try as they might the NHL just couldn't make that one happen and for that I am very grateful.
The NHL needs to stay the hell out of rivalries and for sure to stop trying to create them. Frankly, I don't care enough about the Caps to hate them with a burning passion. They're just a bunch of annoying douchebags - not the team we couldn't beat for 13 years in the Spectrum (Philly), not the team who deliberately broke Mario's wrist (Rangers), not the team who continually trapped us out of the first round of the playoffs in the late 90's/early 2000's (NJ), not even the team who rallied from a 3-game deficit to beat us and go on to win the Cup (Isles). Or how about the ultimate: meeting the same team for all the marbles -in the Finals- two years in a row (Detroit)? We suffered major disappointments at the hands of all those teams which built up some righteous hatred. You can't say that about the Caps: they've been our Whipping Boys. Historically speaking, we haven't hated them - we've pitied them. That's not a rivalry in my book.
IF the Caps give me a very, very good reason to hate them, then it's on. But, frankly, they aren't worth my time and effort right now and NO, the Winter Classic loss doesn't count. Talk about a overhyped sideshow. Don't get me wrong, I like outdoor games very much and I like a bit of spectacle, but the fact is that it's still the regular season and it's still only two points. It sucks to lose that game because it's special, but it's still just a regular season home loss...nothing to get vengeful over, for god's sake.
Bottom line is the Caps haven't impressed me enough to be worthy of my hate. So I'm going to flip the NHL the bird and ignore this "rivalry". 24/7 was a brilliant series for many reasons, but if it had been done with Philly-Pittsburgh or Edmonton-Calgary or Montreal-Toronto then it would have done a much better job of selling me a rivalry.
Now on to the rest of the season. It will be nice to just play some games without being constantly compared to those clowns in red for a change.
Until the playoffs, anyway. But we'll just have to see about that.