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On Marc-Andre Fleury

Marc-Andre Fleury is likely done as a Pittsburgh Penguin. 

I don't exactly know why, but I feel like writing a little something about what I feel like he has meant to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

If your first thought is “Yeah, but Matt Murray’s save percentage is.....” then this post isn’t for you. I’m not saying that Fleury is better than Matt Murray or that the Penguins should keep him instead of Murray. The league has a salary cap and an expansion draft coming up, so keeping the younger and cheaper goalie makes sense.

However, that doesn’t mean I’m happy to see Fleury go. It’s actually quite the opposite. Yes, sports are about winning (and the Penguins are certainly winning these days) so it probably makes logical sense to say “Well, statistically Marc-Andre Fleury is or isn’t something or other” and then dismiss him. It’s easy to mock people who are sad to see him go as sentimental fools who care more about a “nice guy” than winning and then mention Matt Murray’s save percentage again.

This post isn’t about statistics.

This post is about a feeling. Yes, sports are about winning and losing and numbers, but they’re also about how they make us feel. We cheer because of how we feel. We get dejected when a team loses because of how we feel.

I remember the day Marc-Andre Fleury was drafted. I was two years old when Mario Lemieux was drafted and eight years old when Jaromir Jagr was drafted. I grew up watching those players, but I didn’t have the excitement of paying close attention to their entire careers. 

I was 21 when Marc-Andre Fleury was drafted. I remember getting an email from the Penguins’ mailing list that said the team had traded up to pick first overall. I was ecstatic. It was the first thing to really be excited about as a Penguins fan in a while. The Penguins were not good. The “glory days” were gone. Yes, Mario Lemieux was still there, but the team had only 27 wins in the 2002-2003 season. That year they traded away Alexei Kovalev, and Martin Straka had one foot out the door. 

I had watched Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Ron Francis lift the Stanley Cup. Now I was watching Rico Fata, Dan Focht, and Kris Beech. It was depressing.

When the Penguins drafted Marc-Andre Fleury, it was the first sign that there might be hope for the future.

And it wasn’t just hope. Marc-Andre Fleury brought consistency. Yes, it sounds weird to use the words “Marc-Andre Fleury” and “consistency” together, but it’s true.

Since Tom Barrasso left the Penguins, I had watched Ron Tugnutt, Johan Hedberg, Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Garth Snow, Sebastien Caron, etc. in the Penguins’ net. Yes, some of those players were quite good and some had some success in Pittsburgh, but none of them were around for long. When Fleury was drafted I knew that the team would finally have a goalie who would be there for a while. 

He was there for over a decade. He won more than any Penguins goalie in history. And yes, a lot of that had to do with the team in front of him, but a lot of it had to do with him too.

There were certainly ups and downs. Yes, he sat on the puck and pushed it into the net with his butt, he slipped and fell running onto the ice, he bobbled the puck a million times behind the net, he “played” against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012, and he lost his starting job to Tomas Vokoun in the 2013 playoffs.

But he also stopped Alex Ovechkin on a breakaway in 2009 and dove to keep the puck out of the net to win the Penguins the Cup that same year. He made 46 saves in his very first game with the Penguins (and lost). And, just this year, he stepped in for the injured Matt Murray and was vital to eliminating Columbus and Washington.

Marc-Andre Fleury isn’t the greatest goalie in history. But he’s not the worst, either. The people who attack him over-exaggerate his flaws, which causes his supporters to over-exaggerate his strengths. But, again, that’s not what this post is about.

Before Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, there was Marc-Andre Fleury playing behind Konstantin Koltsov, Matt Murley, and Mike Eastwood. He gave people a reason to believe. Those bright yellow pads were a beacon of hope.

I’m glad he got to play during this playoff run. I’m glad he got to raise the Cup with pride, instead of sheepishly holding it for a few seconds like he did in 2016. I’m glad Pittsburgh got to say goodbye to him at the parade.

And I’ll be cheering for him in Vegas or wherever he goes. Hopefully it’s not Winnipeg.

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Dad City

My wife has been off work looking after our son for the last 18 months. She’s going back to work next Monday. That means more “Dad City” on my part. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m taking three weeks off to be a full-time dad and then I’ll start up with my freelance stuff again after that, in addition to dad duties. Her mom will be helping after the first three weeks.

So, if you want to read as I blog about dad stuff, stay tuned.

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Should the Pittsburgh Penguins Put Sidney Crosby Out Of His Misery?

Sidney Crosby has one goal and four assists in 11 games this season. Or something. No one even counts his stats anymore because there's no point. All we know is that his NHL career is over. Those kinds of numbers would be fine for a puppy with a broken leg, but they don't cut it in the greatest hockey league on earth. It's obvious that Crosby isn't an NHL level player anymore. No one would argue that. But is he even worthy of life at this point? I'm not saying that to be selfish or because he continues to drain the earth's resources despite contributing nothing to society. That's true, but it's not why I'm suggesting Jim Rutherford take him behind the barn and humanely shoot him in the head. I'm saying he should do that because it's the right thing to do. Sidney Crosby, if he were able to speak beyond dry sports clichés, would agree. He's had a good run, but it's time to leave him on an ice floe and float him out into the ocean. Few would even care at this point. Maybe a few misguided people in Pittsburgh would get wrongly upset, but the world would recognize that the right thing had been done. We're all human beings and compassion is part of what separates us from the animals. The compassionate thing to do at this point is to put Sidney Crosby out of his misery. The world has Connor McDavid now anyway. Good night sweet prince.

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Boom.

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“Liberal Leader Jack Layton“

Sorry, I just found this funny.

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This weekend the Empire State Building became the face of extinction, with 40 stacked projectors illuminating endangered species on the skyscraper.

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Watch: In place of revenge, Kimmel suggests a great way to help animals and create positive change

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This must be a newer episode that I haven't seen. But it's funny.

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It’s a good thing I’m not going to see this tour. I wouldn’t want to die 22 times in one night.

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The Pope: Climate change is a real and present danger.

Republicans: Alright Mr. Pontihat, why don't you leave science to the scientists.

97% of Scientists: Climate change is a real and present danger.

Republicans: God said Adam and Eve not Adam and Barometer.

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I just saw two kids wearing Phil Kessel Leafs shirts

I guess they don't know that he doesn't speak to the media and may eat hot dogs.

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I thought this was a nice tribute to Satoru Iwata of Nintendo.

pic.twitter.com/TDBrzS4b9M

— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) July 13, 2015

Via Aaron Greenberg of Xbox

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Maybe my best Tweet ever.

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Is it just, like, a men’s rights activism meet-up?

Why We Need To Say Goodbye To Vaping

By the way: why not subscribe to Cracked on YouTube! That way you’ll catch our next video about the next dumb thing people are using to pretend to be dragons.

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The horrible murders that happened in South Carolina were, obviously, sad and awful. However, it's kind of nice to see that, despite the killer wanting to spread a message of hate and division, this sad situation resulted in something positive and thoughtful instead.

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Though Pachi is pretty great...

25 days to go until Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games begin!

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Honestly, despite mild attempts to find out, I'm still not entirely sure what the Pan Am Games are exactly.