#patrick Lemieux

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

🔸The Girl In The Audience

by Patrick Lemieux

The band had agreed prior to this to allow the company Mobilevision to film them in concert. The resulting film would be toured by the company for paying audiences. Two special concerts were planned for November 24th and 25th for The Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 19 year old Sarah Bernard had no idea that attending the concerts would result in her being immortalized on film.

“I attended both nights for the Montreal shows, and was fortunate enough to be up front both nights,” says Sarah, “My sister Cathy and her friend Christian Giddings got three tickets for both nights and invited me to go, as they knew I was a fan, so I was lucky in that sense.”

Sarah goes on to explain, “I had been a Queen fan since the mid-1970s, when I received my first Queen album. It was Sheer Heart Attack, and it was given to me as a gift. I would often listen to certain songs and associate them with certain memories in my mind, and listening to Killer Queen always reminded me of the first time I played the album and broke in my record player at my best friend’s house. The album that I played the most in the ‘70s, however, was probably A Day at the Races. I had seen Queen two times before the Montreal shows.

At the Montreal shows, Sarah was able to make her way to a priceless spot perfect for taking pictures. "I’m sure there were reserved spots up front for professional photographers and media people outside of the film crew, but most people around me were simply fans,” she says.

Throughout the concert film, which is edited together from both nights, Sarah can be glimpsed center stage in the audience, occasionally taking pictures. Unfortunately, she no longer has the photos she took at the shows. Sarah says, “They were not the greatest quality, but I was proud of them.”

Of the band’s performance, Sarah says of Freddie, “I recall thinking that he made it very hard to NOT watch him. He was a wonderful performer, and I was reminded of how incredibly he commanded the stage. It had been a few years since I’d seen them last, and I’d forgotten what a force he really was up there. In the two shows I’d seen before, I was not as close to the stage, but I was still enchanted by how he worked the crowd. It really was like he held us all in the palm of his hand. Like we were being manipulated, and we loved it! A feeling I’ve felt with very few other acts. Brian and Roger were just as swift and amazing as I’d remembered from the previous shows. Watching Roger drum was almost hypnotic! John always seemed like the quiet and reserved type in photos and magazines, but live on stage, he always shined!”

Sarah goes on to recall, “Towards the end of the first show, I had spent some time trying to get their attention for a wave or a smile, and I made eye contact with John who nodded at me and returned my smile, which made my night even better! I also remember getting goosebumps during a few numbers both nights and even in the two previous shows I’d seen. Most notably during, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’!”

At the end of “Love Of My Life,” the cameras captured a truly moving moment in Sarah’s reaction as she stands still and glassy-eyed amid the erupting audience around her. She remembers what was going through her mind in that moment, “Every time I heard ‘Love of My Life’, I felt a bit emotional. I had fallen in love with a man who I truly saw a future with, and who used to play a few songs to serenade me while we were dating. ‘Love of My Life’ was one of those songs, and both nights I can remember feeling like I was on the verge of very happy tears just thinking about my love. He was on my mind and in my heart at the time I was being filmed.”

Sarah didn’t know she specifically had been filmed in her moment of quiet reflection, “We did see the cameras at the shows, but I never really noticed them facing me. I assumed they were filming the crowd as a mass of people.”

“Those were my last two shows with Freddie”

Full Interview 👇

https://www.queenonline.com/features/the-girl-in-the-audience-fan-feature-by-patrick-lemieux

➡️ Patrick Lemieux is a Canadian artist and writer. He is co-author (with Adam Unger) of The Queen Chronology book, available at Amazon -

[offsidenewsco]

"The National Hockey League is often steeped in so much drama you could slap a Bravo logo over it and air it on television."

Brush up on your #NHLDraft history here.

[sunshine-gumdrop]

Help me. I'm finding this extremely sexy 😫

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Watching [101 Shorts Edition]

23. LES SOUFFRANCES D'UN OEUF MEURTRI Roland Lethem Belgium, 1967

22. CATHARSIS Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani Belgium, 2000

21. PANDROGENY MANIFESTO Aldo Lee and Dionysos Andronis Greece / France, 2005

20. THEOCORDIS Serge Cotret Canada, 2007

19. PANTELIA Micki Pellerano USA, 2007

18. PINHOLE FLAMES Amy Schwartz Canada, 2007

17. BURN Reynold Reynolds and Patrick Jolley USA. 2002

16. WESTERN SUNBURN Karl Lemieux Canada. 2007

15. CONVULSION EXPULSION Usama Alshaibi USA, 2004

[goaliekisses]

we had a breakdown over some Unwholesome slutty sid content yesterday so here’s some wholesome content from the athletic on sid

It was 2016 in Minnesota and an aggravated coach Mike Sullivan was searching for the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins following a loss to the Wild. Sullivan needed to speak with Sidney Crosby and was walking briskly on the event level of Xcel Energy Center.

Then, he stopped in his tracks.

Around the corner outside of the Penguins’ locker room, Crosby, minus his jersey but otherwise still wearing his equipment, was sitting on the floor. Speaking with a child in a wheelchair, Crosby sat so that he could better make eye contact. He often does this. Sullivan executed a U-turn while his captain sat with the child for 20 minutes, a scene that unfolds countless times across North America every season.

Thousands upon thousands of people have flocked to arenas for decades to watch Crosby play hockey since was a boy. Crosby’s greater mission, though, has always been to comfort the sick and unlucky among us with an uncommon grace and thoughtfulness that is uniquely his own.

“There’s never been anyone like him before,” former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said. “And there will never be anyone like him after.”

The widely held belief that the world of professional sports doesn’t showcase any authentic role models is inaccurate so long as Sidney Patrick Crosby walks among us.

“You always hear that saying,” Bobby Orr said. “You know, that so and so is a better person than he is a player. Well, the great thing about Sid is, he’s one of the five greatest players in history. There’s no question about that. But he actually is a better person than he is a player. Now, think about that. I love him.”

On the ice, he is a living legend. The massive legs, the impenetrable ability to protect the puck, the greatest backhand ever, the cannon-like burst of speed through the neutral zone, the rare playmaking ability, the tenacity, the intelligence, the determination, the precociousness as a teenager, the longevity as a thirty-something and the ability to score goals on hockey’s biggest stage are all indelible trademarks of his greatness.

The mythology of Crosby off the ice, however, may be even more worthy of inclusion in the history books and it is very much rooted in reality. He’s not just an ambassador for hockey, but an ambassador of kindness.

“He was like that even as a little boy,” said Troy Crosby, his father. “He was getting so much attention when he was little, and then as he became a teenager. It could have gone to his head. He could have gotten a big ego. All Sidney ever cared about was taking care of other people.”

Crosby made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005, in New Jersey. It was a zoo after the morning skate. Hockey was back after a year-long lockout, Crosby’s debut was being made in the New York area against Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur and it was Mario Lemieux’s 40th birthday. While he was the center of attention, Crosby, who had turned 18 two months earlier, wasn’t concerned about himself.

“He was giving these interviews and there were people everywhere” said Tom McMillan, the former Penguins’ vice president of communications. “But he noticed, in the hallway outside of the locker room, that his mom was being surrounded by reporters. He was worried about her. She was fine, but he was worried about her. So he comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, can you make sure my mom is OK?’ From the very beginning, he was worried about everyone but himself. He never changed.”

Including his salary and endorsements, Crosby has earned in the neighborhood of $200 million in his career. His father isn’t the only one who says Crosby hasn’t changed. His teammates agree. Team employees agree. Even living legends like Orr agree.

There is a simple explanation for this, Crosby insists.

“I don’t think money ever gives you the vehicle to treat anyone differently or to be disrespectful,” he said. “I get to do what I love to do and I’m very appreciative of that. I don’t take that for granted one bit, regardless of what my pay is. I get to do what I love. The least I can do is treat people well along the way.”

Crosby’s legend in the Penguins organization is such that his contributions to society draw biblical comparisons.

Literally.

“I always say that he’s like a child of God,” former Penguins broadcaster Paul Steigerwald said. “That’s how I’ve always seen him. He has a certain light in his eyes that I always notice. He’s a genuinely good soul. People often give credit to a person’s parents for raising a great kid. I totally get that and they did a great job. But I also see a natural soulfulness to Sid that is innate and not necessarily learned.”

Crosby is a role model, and he knows it. He embraces it.

“I’ve been around a while and I’ve met a lot of people,” Rutherford said. “I’ve never met anyone like him. He only does things for the right reasons. And he cares about people so very much. Other players of his stature don’t always act like this. But he’s different. And you see it most when it comes to the way he treats children.”

The Penguins are the NHL’s oldest team, thus, many players have children. During the Stanley Cup years in 2016 and 2017, it was commonplace for Matt Cullen’s children to be hanging on Crosby after playoff wins, as they would naturally gravitate to the best player in the world who just happened to be the nicest guy in the room.

Crosby, in fact, has been known to have spirited mini-sticks games with Nikita Malkin. And yet, his treatment of children isn’t confined to the children of his teammates.

One story lives in Crosby lore.

It was Jan. 11, 2014. The Penguins had just won in Calgary, 2-1, in the weeks leading up to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. After the game, the Penguins departed to their bus on a frigid Alberta evening.

While sitting on the bus, Crosby noticed a handful of teenagers standing behind a fence, which was located on a steep hill beside the Saddledome. They were chanting Crosby’s name and had signs wishing him well in the Olympics.

Upon seeing this, Crosby, dress shoes and all, sprinted up the steep, icy hill. He not only signed all of their jerseys but talked hockey with them for a few minutes before slowly coasting back down the hill.

“I’ll never forget seeing that,” Steigerwald said. “Who else does that?”

Not many people would do such a thing, it can be presumed. But Rutherford saw it every day while he was the general manager of the Penguins.

“The way he treats children is the single most impressive thing I’ve ever seen in my career,” Rutherford said. “When you see those groups of people who want autographs, you have to be careful. A lot of those groups have people that are there every day and looking to sell autographs. But I’ll tell you this about Sid: Never, not one time, has he ever passed by a child who wanted an autograph. No child is ever left behind. I’ve seen him sign autographs and then get on the team bus. Then, he sees a kid pop up who didn’t get his autograph signed. So, he always gets off the bus and makes sure the kid has an autograph and a picture with him. He understands the effect he has on people, but he’s the farthest thing from arrogant you could possibly imagine.”

Crosby is a regular at the UMPC Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. While the Penguins do occasionally orchestrate team visits that Crosby naturally takes part in, he’s a regular at the hospital. He does so on his own time.

No cameras. No reporters. No attention.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Troy Crosby said. “That’s the way he wants it. It means a lot to him to spend time with kids, just him and the kids. He doesn’t want people knowing about it and he goes to lengths to keep it that way.”

Crosby seems miffed when others are blown away by his character. To him, to be polite, generous and thoughtful is simply natural.

“Treating people the right way has always been important to me,” Crosby said. “Whether it’s your teammates, people you see at the rink, fans, kids, whatever. You’re supposed to be good to people in life. You’re supposed to be respectful. So, that’s what I try to do every day. It’s always been a very important thing to me.”

[swissboyhisch]

All-Star Love

Pairing: Matthew Tkachuck x Lemiuex!Reader

Summary: The NHL All Star weekend is always fun. But bring in a romance... Then that's when it becomes interesting.

Word Count: 1742

Warnings: None I think. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

A/N: This comes from a fanific I've written myself. I adjusted it for this but I loved this idea/scene.

THE MASTERLIST JOIN THE TAGLIST HOCKEY DISCORD

All-Star weekend 2020. This year it was being held in St. Louis. You had arrived on the Pittsburgh plane with Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Tristan Jarry since you were currently working with the team. Despite being Lemiuex’s child, you had earned yourself a position as an assistant coach at such a young age. You grew up playing the game. Now you were also the captain of the Canadian Women’s team. 

The last few years, you had attended the games alongside Sidney, who was an older brother after he lived with you and your family after he was drafted in 2005. It was a staple weekend in the season schedule. You had the chance to see all the friends and players you were close with and get to have some fun. Often you could even find yourself doing media stuff. 

This year the NHL had introduced the Elite Women’s 3 on 3. You were the youngest on the Canadian team by 5 years. They also have allowed the women on the teams to compete in the skills competitions. You had been placed into the Shooting Stars event. This meant that you were competing against your boyfriend, Matt, and his brother, Brady. Others in the skills competition include Mitch Marner, Patrick Kane, Tyler Seguin, David Perron, Hillary Knight, Danid Pastrnak and Ryan O’Reilly. 

Right now you were dressed in a pair of jeans and your team jersey. Standing in line waiting to be called to the stage where you’d be shooting from. With Mitch, Matt and Brady in front of you, the four of you were chatting and laughing. Each of you were excited to shoot off the platform. 

“Now your Gatorade Shooting Stars… from your St. Louis Blues, number 57, David Perron!”

The arena came to life, all cheering on one of the home team players. Perron, with his son in his arms, made his way up the stairs from ice levels. Handing out beanies and high fiving the fans as he went up to the platform.

“From the Toronto Maple Leafs, number 16, Mitch Marner.” 

Mitch followed Perron up the steps. Handing out hats as he went. Matt stepped forward to the bottom of the stars, looking up at all the fans. He had a hand on your lower back. Brady had let your stand next to your boyfriend whilst you three waited.

“From the Calgary Flames, number 19, Matthew Tkachuk.” Matt follows Mitch up. “From the Ottawa Senators, number 7, Brady Tkachuk.”

“The Canadian Women’s All Star, number 11, (Y/N) Lemieux.”

As you walked up the many stairs, you handed out rolled up t-shirts to fans. It was weird to have this many cameras in your face though. If you were honest, the walk up to the platform looked a lot shorter from the bottom. Especially the amount of stairs you had to climb. You reached the platform and waited for the rest of the players to join herself,Matt, Brady, Mitch and Perron. When everyone had gotten there, it went straight into the competition. First to shoot was Perron. He scored a total of 14 points. Mitch was next on the platform. He scored an awesome 22 points.

“Our next shooter, Matthew Tkachuk,” Nick started. “Your brother Brady is following you so we thought, hey, why not get one more Tkachuk up here. Why not bring up your Dad. Give it up St. Louis, for all-star Kieth Tkachuk!”

Yourself and Brady grin, tapping your sticks as you watched Keith join Matt on the platform, an arm around his shoulder with a wide smile on his face. Nick motioned for Brady to join them as well. You decided to give him a light shove as a joke.

“You should be up here as well,” Brady commented as he joined his brother and father.

You laughed at Brady’s comment. Sending a wink to Matt as well who had the biggest smile on his face.

Keith turned to face you, giving you a joking look, “I think we’re missing someone up here.”

“I ain’t no Tkachuck,” You reply. “Enjoy the moment, big guy.”

Matt stepped forward from where he was standing, holding his hand out for you. “Well, maybe we should change that, hey?”

“What?”

Keith, Brady and Nick stepped back from the platform and Matt grabbed your hand, pulling you to the centre of the platform they were standing on. Your hands flew to your mouth as you watched Matt slowly kneel to one knee and open a ring box. In the box sat the most perfect engagement ring you had ever seen.

“No way,” you breathed, looking at Matt who had the biggest smile on his face.

“You’ve been my best friend since we met all those years ago right here in this very arena. When little (Y/N) bumped into me as she ran to get away from her dad. You’ve been considered part of this family since then but I think I need to make it official, make sure you don’t stand out too much with that last name. Will you do me the greatest honour of changing your last name from Lemieux to Tkachuk?”

You nodded, too shocked to answer in words. The arena roared to life when Matt stood up and kissed you. He pulled the ring out of the box as you dropped your gloves. You cried as Matt slid the ring on your finger. Once he had sealed the deal, you lunged at him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders excitedly.

The players around them and on the bench, as well as the whole arena, were screaming and cheering. Mitch and Brady made sure they were heard over everyone else. 

“I can’t believe you,” You laughed as you pulled away from Matt. Brady was the first to hug you congratulations. He had the biggest grin as well. The smile gave him away. “You knew!”

“Of course I did,” Brady chuckles, “I helped choose the ring.”

Brady was interrupted when Keith pulled you into a hug. “I think you should just keep your last name, it’s more recognisable.”

“Tkachuk is better, that's for sure.”

Nick soon joined the happy group. You were tucked into Matt’s side like usual. Nick held his hand out to Matt who shook it happily before handing Matt a new jersey. It was a grey All-Star Canadian jersey like you were wearing. You grabbed it from Matt, checking the back which now had Tkachuk on it.

“Oh my god,” You grinned, pulling off your current jersey for the new one.

“Hey, have a look at the photo up on the board you guys.” There was a photo of Keith kneeling by the bench in front of a young Brady, Matt and yourself. You had attended the weekend with her father and hung out with the boys. One of the rare times you got to see the Tkachuk brothers as a kid. “How exciting is it to be on this platform being here, history in the making, with your sons and soon to be in-law?”

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Keith stated, smiling at you three. “They’ve earned being here. Matt and Brady grew up here, watched me play here. I mean, Matt met (Y/N) just outside the home change rooms in this arena.” At that, there was a picture of Matt, Brady and Taryn, the youngest Tkachuk, standing with Keith now on the screen.  “I love these guys. I know they love the Blues deep down.”

“Oh, we’re excited to have you here. 18000 people wanna know, how many pucks can Tkachuk chuck, chuck? So why don’t you have a go at this.” Keith took Matt’s stick from him as the three young adults stepped back. “Come on, Keith Tkachuk everybody!”

Keith shot the puck, nearly getting it in the 10 pointer net. “Not a lot of love for that arch there Tkachuk,” You chirped as he turned to give Matt his stick back.

He hugged the three of you before Matt stepped up to the platform. But only after a kiss from you. Keith’s arm wrapped around your shoulder as they watched Matt drop his gloves.

“How characteristic…” You giggles, stopping when he pulls off his Calgary jersey to reveal an old St. Louis Cardinals jersey.

“Who’d he fight?” Keith laughed. “He won’t touch you.”

“He’ll fight me,” Brady mumbled from beside you.

The three of you chuckled as you watched Matt take his first shot. As he took his next few shots, you listened to Brady and Keith chirp your boyfriend, well now Fiance. Matt ended up with 24, getting a 10 on his last one.

“Look at you go,” You smiled, pecking Matt when he switched spots with Brady. 

Brady stepped up to the plate. Matt pulled from under his dad’s arm into his. Having you stand in front of him with his arms around you. When Brady took his first shot, Matt laughed at the fact his brother didn’t do anything special as a tribute to their hometown. 

“Next up we have the last of the three musketeers.”

You stepped onto the platform, with a good luck kiss from Matthew. You had 7 shots to hit the targets laid out on the ice below. With the first shot you hit a 5. After your 6 other shots, you came to a total of 24 as well. Tie with Matthew. After everyone else had taken their shot, it was only Matthew and yourself that had the highest score. No-one had outshot you two. 

“Since you both scored an amazing 24 points, we go to a sudden death shootout. One shot. Highest score wins.”

Matt shot first, missing the arch but a hair. You shot next. The puck went flying over the arch. Actually hitting Jarry who was chilling at the end of the end with some of the other goalies. 

“Injure your goalie, why don’t ya?” Matt chirps as he steps up once again. 

Round two. Matt shoots and hits the 5 points. Only way for you to beat that was to score the same or hit the arch for 10 points. You took a moment before finally shooting the puck. It went straight into the arch. You grin, cheering as you turn to where Matt was standing.

“Better luck next time Tkachuk!”

He smiled, coming up to congratulate you. He pressed a kiss to your lips. “Next time, you’ll be a Tkachuk as well.”

TAG LIST:

@findapenny @mp0625 @hischierhaze @11zegras @lvrzegras @francesfarhadi @cixrosie @daisysthings

[andreisvechnikov]

NHL99: Sidney Crosby, icon of his era, never strays from his greater mission

It was 2016 in Minnesota and an aggravated coach Mike Sullivan was searching for the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins following a loss to the Wild. Sullivan needed to speak with Sidney Crosby and was walking briskly on the event level of Xcel Energy Center.

Then, he stopped in his tracks.

Around the corner outside of the Penguins’ locker room, Crosby, minus his jersey but otherwise still wearing his equipment, was sitting on the floor. Speaking with a child in a wheelchair, Crosby sat so that he could better make eye contact. He often does this. Sullivan executed a U-turn while his captain sat with the child for 20 minutes, a scene that unfolds countless times across North America every season.

Thousands upon thousands of people have flocked to arenas for decades to watch Crosby play hockey since he was a boy. Crosby’s greater mission, though, has always been to comfort the sick and unlucky among us with an uncommon grace and thoughtfulness that is uniquely his own.

“There’s never been anyone like him before,” former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said. “And there will never be anyone like him after.”

The widely held belief that the world of professional sports doesn’t showcase any authentic role models is inaccurate so long as Sidney Patrick Crosby walks among us.

“You always hear that saying,” Bobby Orr said. “You know, that so and so is a better person than he is a player. Well, the great thing about Sid is, he’s one of the five greatest players in history. There’s no question about that. But he actually is a better person than he is a player. Now, think about that. I love him.”

At 35, Crosby is the hockey chief of the world, and he lands at No. 4 on The Athletic’s list of the greatest players of the modern era of the NHL. He has won three Stanley Cup championships, two Olympic gold medals, has registered 541 goals, 1,469 points and, quite remarkably, has lived up to every bit of the hype. His legacy is perfectly safe. He simply keeps going at this stage because he loves hockey and is obsessed with winning. Mike Babcock once called him a “serial winner,” which is the perfect description of Crosby. On and off the ice.

On the ice, he is a living legend. The massive legs, the impenetrable ability to protect the puck, the greatest backhand ever, the cannon-like burst of speed through the neutral zone, the rare playmaking ability, the tenacity, the intelligence, the determination, the precociousness as a teenager, the longevity as a thirty-something and the ability to score goals on hockey’s biggest stage are all indelible trademarks of his greatness.

The mythology of Crosby off the ice, however, may be even more worthy of inclusion in the history books and it is very much rooted in reality. He’s not just an ambassador for hockey, but an ambassador of kindness.

“He was like that even as a little boy,” said Troy Crosby, his father. “He was getting so much attention when he was little, and then as he became a teenager. It could have gone to his head. He could have gotten a big ego. All Sidney ever cared about was taking care of other people.”

It was evident from the very beginning.

Crosby made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005, in New Jersey. It was a zoo after the morning skate. Hockey was back after a year-long lockout, Crosby’s debut was being made in the New York area against Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur and it was Mario Lemieux’s 40th birthday. While he was the center of attention, Crosby, who had turned 18 two months earlier, wasn’t concerned about himself.

“He was giving these interviews and there were people everywhere” said Tom McMillan, the former Penguins’ vice president of communications. “But he noticed, in the hallway outside of the locker room, that his mom was being surrounded by reporters. He was worried about her. She was fine, but he was worried about her. So he comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, can you make sure my mom is OK?’ From the very beginning, he was worried about everyone but himself. He never changed.”

Including his salary and endorsements, Crosby has earned in the neighborhood of $200 million in his career. His father isn’t the only one who says Crosby hasn’t changed. His teammates agree. Team employees agree. Even living legends like Orr agree.

There is a simple explanation for this, Crosby insists.

“I don’t think money ever gives you the vehicle to treat anyone differently or to be disrespectful,” he said. “I get to do what I love to do and I’m very appreciative of that. I don’t take that for granted one bit, regardless of what my pay is. I get to do what I love. The least I can do is treat people well along the way.”

Crosby’s legend in the Penguins organization is such that his contributions to society draw biblical comparisons.

Literally.

“I always say that he’s like a child of God,” former Penguins broadcaster Paul Steigerwald said. “That’s how I’ve always seen him. He has a certain light in his eyes that I always notice. He’s a genuinely good soul. People often give credit to a person’s parents for raising a great kid. I totally get that and they did a great job. But I also see a natural soulfulness to Sid that is innate and not necessarily learned.”

‘No child is ever left behind’ Charles Barkley once made considerable headlines for a Nike advertising campaign that stated, “I am not a role model.”

Crosby is a role model, and he knows it. He embraces it.

“I’ve been around a while and I’ve met a lot of people,” Rutherford said. “I’ve never met anyone like him. He only does things for the right reasons. And he cares about people so very much. Other players of his stature don’t always act like this. But he’s different. And you see it most when it comes to the way he treats children.”

The Penguins are the NHL’s oldest team, thus, many players have children. During the Stanley Cup years in 2016 and 2017, it was commonplace for Matt Cullen’s children to be hanging on Crosby after playoff wins, as they would naturally gravitate to the best player in the world who just happened to be the nicest guy in the room.

Crosby, in fact, has been known to have spirited mini-sticks games with Nikita Malkin. And yet, his treatment of children isn’t confined to the children of his teammates.

One story lives in Crosby lore.

It was Jan. 11, 2014. The Penguins had just won in Calgary, 2-1, in the weeks leading up to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. After the game, the Penguins departed to their bus on a frigid Alberta evening.

While sitting on the bus, Crosby noticed a handful of teenagers standing behind a fence, which was located on a steep hill beside the Saddledome. They were chanting Crosby’s name and had signs wishing him well in the Olympics.

Upon seeing this, Crosby, dress shoes and all, sprinted up the steep, icy hill. He not only signed all of their jerseys but talked hockey with them for a few minutes before slowly coasting back down the hill.

“I’ll never forget seeing that,” Steigerwald said. “Who else does that?”

Not many people would do such a thing, it can be presumed. But Rutherford saw it every day while he was the general manager of the Penguins.

“The way he treats children is the single most impressive thing I’ve ever seen in my career,” Rutherford said. “When you see those groups of people who want autographs, you have to be careful. A lot of those groups have people that are there every day and looking to sell autographs. But I’ll tell you this about Sid: Never, not one time, has he ever passed by a child who wanted an autograph. No child is ever left behind. I’ve seen him sign autographs and then get on the team bus. Then, he sees a kid pop up who didn’t get his autograph signed. So, he always gets off the bus and makes sure the kid has an autograph and a picture with him. He understands the effect he has on people, but he’s the farthest thing from arrogant you could possibly imagine.”

Crosby is a regular at the UMPC Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. While the Penguins do occasionally orchestrate team visits that Crosby naturally takes part in, he’s a regular at the hospital. He does so on his own time.

No cameras. No reporters. No attention.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Troy Crosby said. “That’s the way he wants it. It means a lot to him to spend time with kids, just him and the kids. He doesn’t want people knowing about it and he goes to lengths to keep it that way.”

Crosby seems miffed when others are blown away by his character. To him, to be polite, generous and thoughtful is simply natural.

“Treating people the right way has always been important to me,” Crosby said. “Whether it’s your teammates, people you see at the rink, fans, kids, whatever. You’re supposed to be good to people in life. You’re supposed to be respectful. So, that’s what I try to do every day. It’s always been a very important thing to me.”

On May 31, 2007, the Penguins made Crosby, then 19, the youngest captain in NHL history at that time.

The move seemed simple on the surface. He already had become the world’s greatest player and, as a teenager, had just claimed the Hart and Art Ross trophies. His maturity level was uncommonly advanced. He was already a rock star in Pittsburgh.

Easy choice, right?

“Not necessarily,” Crosby said. “It was quite uncomfortable, to be honest. I had never been a captain before.”

Say what?

Well, it makes sense. Crosby was only 16 and 17 when he played his junior hockey in Rimouski. In his younger days of hockey, he always played in older age groups because of his advanced performance. This was very much a new experience for him.

“I tried to learn things from other captains I had in the past and other people who had been captains,” he said. “But at the same time, I wanted to be my own person. I wanted to lead in a way that was natural to me. And you never stop learning. I’m still learning to be a captain to this day, honestly. But I think it was probably a good thing for me, looking back. It helped me grow.”

So did the presence of a fellow icon in the locker room.

Lemieux and Crosby played together in only 26 games before a heart condition forced the oft-injured Lemieux to finally retire for good. On the ice, they only had a few magical moments together, as they rarely played on the same line. Lemieux was slowing down and at the very end.

But before he left, he taught Crosby a few lessons.

“More than anything, he taught me how to stay calm. He was so, so even keeled,” Crosby said. “It didn’t matter what the score was, good or bad. Mario was always the same. He always looked the same, spoke the same. I watched him a lot and I saw how level-headed he was. I think that probably comes to him more naturally than it does to me. I’m probably more emotional than he is. I’m an emotional player. But he taught me how to find that sweet spot. Getting to play with him for a handful of games was a big deal for me.”

Crosby, many will tell you, is the best captain they’ve ever had.

“He’s unreal,” said one of the newest Penguins, Ryan Poehling. “When I got traded to Pittsburgh last summer, I had a text from him a couple of hours after the deal. I remember thinking that it was pretty incredible that Sidney Crosby is reaching out to me that quickly. Then you get to know him, and you immediately realize that this is a special person, that he’s different than anyone else. You can’t fake it. You’re born with what he has, the way he treats people.”

Nowadays, it’s understandable that young players would place Crosby on a pedestal. He’s not only one of the greatest players of all time, but he also treats them as equals.

What might be more noteworthy is that, even when Crosby was essentially a child, he had the respect of his locker room from the beginning.

“He was 22 when I signed in Pittsburgh,” Mike Rupp said. “He’s the best player in the world, this hotshot that everyone is talking about. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. … I could tell you so many nice stories about Sidney Crosby, and they’re all true. But what I realized right away was that, more than anything, Sid didn’t want to be treated differently than anyone else.

Given who he is, Crosby can’t possibly be one of the guys. It doesn’t work that way. He’s Crosby.

And yet, he is one of the guys.

“He just wanted to have fun. Wanted to play mini-golf on the road. He had that little kid smile. He wanted to play the handheld video games on planes,” Rupp said. “He likes to be one of the guys. I think what I’m saying is, he’s not a nerd. He’s not an introvert. But he wants nothing to do with the spotlight because he’s so damn humble. He’s the ultimate captain.”

When you’re a superstar in Pittsburgh, you have certain privileges. Lemieux and Jagr had their share of coaches fired. Some were certainly deserving, of course. But Crosby would never do such a thing. It simply isn’t his way.

He doesn’t demand his friends play with the Penguins. This, in no way, is a typical superstar.

“I was Sid’s GM for a long time,” Rutherford said. “And I can tell you, he never once complained to me about anything. He never once told me to fire anyone, or to trade anyone, or to get anyone in a trade. Never.”

Not until he was asked, anyway.

“Here’s how much respect I have for Sid,” Rutherford said. “At the end of each season, whether we had won the Cup or not, he and I would get together. I wanted his thoughts on certain players on the team and around the league. But he’d never tell me to get someone. He’d never be pushy or demanding. I’d ask him questions about people, and he would answer in his own very polite, very special way. That’s just the kind of man he is.”

Those who coached Crosby often had similar stories.

“He was a dream to coach,” Recchi said. “His relationship with Sully, you know, it’s really special. Those two have a bond. But for all of us on the staff, it was incredible coaching Sid. He asks you lots of questions. He wants your opinion. He’s not going to walk into your office and tell you what to do, or tell you what’s wrong. He asks so many questions and he loves feedback. Not many stars are going to be quite like that.”

Crosby has stated that he’d like to play for a few more seasons, perhaps until he is 40.

It’s unknown precisely when he will walk away or what he will do with his life once he hangs up his skates. Many in the hockey world hope Crosby will remain involved with the NHL in some capacity.

The hockey world, after all, couldn’t possibly be the same without him.

“He just makes you smile when you see him,” Rupp said.

Crosby entered our lives more than two decades ago, a child then. A man now.

A very, very good man.

“He’s just a nice person,” Steigerwald said. “A nice, nice person. The best of the best.”

[thebtseffect]

Comp Reading Lists

In an attempt to self-study several areas and expand my own knowledge, improve my ability to do research, and keep current with fields of interest, I'm building my own "comps list" here of relevant books. There are so many academic articles that I'm not sure if I'll include them here, but I'd like to at least track my reading of books. Comps lists are typically for Ph.D. students studying for exams, but I thought it might be a useful tool for me too. If you have suggestions, I welcome them.

BTS Studies

BTS, Art Revolution, Jiyoung Lee.

BTS and ARMY Culture, Jeeheng Lee.

BTS: The Review, Youngdae Kim.

Philosophizing about BTS, Cha Minju.

Bumping into BTS, Ji Kim, Mick Shin, and Jane Do.

Map of the Soul - Persona: Our Many Faces, Murray Stein.

Fan Studies

Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Henry Jenkins.

A Fan Studies Primer: Method, Research, Ethics, Paul Booth and Rebecca Williams.

Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture, Mark Duffett.

A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies, Paul Booth and Rebecca Williams.

Exploiting Fandom: How the Media Industry Seeks to Manipulate Fans, Mel Stanfill.

Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, Jonathan Gray, Cornell Sandvoss, and C. Lee Harrington.

Fan Cultures, Matt Hills.

Fame and Fandom: Functioning On and Offline, Celia Lam and Jackie Raphael.

The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media, Lisa Lewis.

The Fan Fiction Studies Reader, Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse.

Loving Fanfiction: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Online Fandoms, Brit Kelley.

Fandom as Classroom Practice: A Teaching Guide, Katherine Anderson Howell.

Straight Korean Female Fans and Their Gay Fantasies, Jungmin Kwon.

Emo: How Fans Defined a Subculture, Judith Fathallah.

Squee from the Margins: Fandom and Race, Rukmini Pande.

Game Studies

Gaming Masculinity: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered Battle for Online Culture, Megan Condis.

Learning in Video Game Affinity Spaces, Sean Duncan.

Ready Player Two: Women Gamers and Designed Identity, Shira Chess.

Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, T.L. Taylor.

Metagaming: Playing, Competing, Spectating, Cheating, Trading, Making, and Breaking Video Games, Stephanie Boluk and Patrick Lemieux.

The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture is the Worst, Christopher Paul.

My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, Bonnie Nardi.

Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds, Celia Pearce.

Ethics, Psychology, & Philosophy

Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care, Joan Tronto.

Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction, Murray Stein.

The Ethics of Care, Virginia Held.

Research Ethics in the Real World, Helen Kara.

The Portable Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Kaufmann.

General Reading & Methods

Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project that Matters to You, Thomas Mullaney and Christopher Rea.

The Practice of Qualitative Research: Engaging Students in the Research Process, Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber.

Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation, Sonja Foss and William Waters.

Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Series Books, William Germano.

Learning to Make a Difference: Value Creation in Social Learning Spaces, Etienne Wenger-Trayner and Beverly Wenger-Trayner.

Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method, Tom Boellstorff and Bonnie Nardi, et. al.

An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method, James Paul Gee.

[sergeifyodorov]

the real question is can we put sergei and stevie in the mix too. or are there others better suited from the pre 2005 era

sergei and stevie's Sacred Rival was the avs which was a lot less to do with the deep intertwining of their origins (eg. sid and ovi debuted in the same year b/c of the lockout, davo is a born and raised leafsfan while auston was drafted by the leafs the year after) and a lot more to do with patrick roy just being kind of a massive bitch. also part of the important 1991 lore is that sergei LEFT stevie which is straight up not gonna happen for any of the other four pairings. lets be honest

in that method the closest parallel i can draw to stevie and sergei is mario lemieux and jaromir jagr -- the good canadian boy/mysterious, partying slav; the second-fiddle picking it up in the good canadian captain's absence; the second-fiddle leaving to become a journeyman, but neither of them ever winning again in the absence of their partnership.

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

🔸Mid-June 1977 - Queen records a new version of 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy' for their forthcoming 'Top Of The Pops' appearance

Today - June 16th, 1977 - Queen Story!

Top Of The Pops, BBC Studios, London, Uk - Queen performs 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy' (using the pre-recorded new version)

Source: ➡️ The Queen Chronology (2nd Edition)

by Patrick Lemieux

👉 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy'

Written by Freddie Mercury

Taken from album 'A Day At The Races' released in 1976

📸 Pic from 'Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy' promo video

[powerplayunit]

Evgeni Malkin and the chip on his shoulder that led him to greatness.

Jan 7, 2023

Evgeni Malkin learned some hard lessons well before he became an NHL superstar. He learned quite a few after becoming one, too.

Malkin, one of the greatest Russian-born players ever, was not a must-see prodigy from one of his country’s hotbeds for talent. Though he took to the sport at a young age, he went relatively unnoticed abroad until his 2004 draft-eligible year — and even then, despite ultimately becoming the second player selected in that draft, he was clearly behind longtime rival Alexander Ovechkin.

“We liked what we knew of him,” said Craig Patrick, the former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager who selected Malkin after the Washington Capitals took Ovechkin in 2004. “We’d done our homework on Malkin, and I even told someone that he might end up being the best player in that draft. I believed it, with his size and skill, and I always liked the idea of a centerman being somebody you built around.

“But even while we were scouting him, you had the idea that a lot of teams were unsure about Malkin,” Patrick said. “You looked at him and liked his size. You watched him play, and he dominated. But I remember thinking we thought we had a franchise player if he fell to us, and that wasn’t a consensus opinion.”

It didn’t matter what other NHL clubs thought of Malkin. With Ovechkin, a white-hot hyped prospect being a lock at No. 1, Patrick wasn’t about to let a 6-foot-3, 190-plus-pound center with a playmaker’s vision and a goal-scorer’s touch get past the Penguins.

“I’m lucky,” said Malkin, the No. 26 player on The Athletic’s list of the top 100 players in post-1967 expansion NHL history. “Pittsburgh is the perfect place for me.”

Pittsburgh and Malkin’s hometown of Magnitogorsk share an industrial heritage and blue-collar DNA. Even Pittsburgh’s usually gray skies and brown waterways reminded him of home. That the Penguins were owned by Mario Lemieux, a star whose brightness reached even Magnitogorsk, only endeared his future club more to Malkin.

If only he could get to Pittsburgh.

And that’s the first lesson of Malkin’s story: To get what you want, you’ve got to take control.

Malkin doesn’t much care to talk about the details surrounding his clandestine escape from his Russian national team in the summer of 2006. That’s because in leaving that squad behind — literally sneaking away from teammates at night during training camp so he could board a plane to a country that would grant him a travel visa to Canada — Malkin also had to suddenly abandon his family and friends.

His family was small, consisting of his parents and brother. His friends were few, a byproduct of growing up in a small town. Still, Malkin was 20 when he left everything he knew behind to chase an NHL dream. He did know, on some level, that being forced to break free of Russia’s grip on his career and life would forever change his relationship with his home country.

But he had no choice.

After the Penguins drafted Malkin in 2004, front-office personnel from Metallurg, Magnitogorsk’s prized hockey club, made a surprise visit to Malkin’s house. Under the guise of congratulations and celebrations, they pressured him into signing an extension to stay with his hometown squad. His departure, they said, would ruin Metallurg.

Malkin was 18. He was torn between beginning his dream of playing in the NHL and, as it was explained to him, being the downfall of a civic treasure.

Metallurg personnel refused to leave Malkin’s house until he signed an extension. That extension delayed his NHL debut by two full years.

It’s no coincidence that when Malkin finally was granted the chance to play for the Penguins, he scored in his first game. Then, he scored in his next five games.

“Never seen anything like it,” Sidney Crosby said of his then-new teammate’s historic burst onto the NHL scene. “I think that was the first real sign we all had how special Geno would be.”

Malkin went through so much to reach the NHL. His agent, J.P. Barry, hatched the plan for him to sneak away from the Russian national team during a training camp outside of Russia, a voyage that took Malkin to Toronto, Los Angeles and, finally, Pittsburgh. The whirlwind adventure dragged his emotions between excitement, fear and regret.

“My dream was to play in the NHL,” Malkin said. “This was not how I wished to get there.”

But even after a Calder Trophy and a sophomore season in which he finished second — to Ovechkin — in the Hart and Art Ross Trophy races, Malkin still had to lean on something he learned as a child to help him get to a point no Russian-born NHL player had gone before.

And that’s the second lesson of Malkin’s story: Pain comes before pleasure.

One day during a practice for his youth team in Magnitogorsk, Malkin fell hard onto the ice. His wrist was fractured. This happened a couple of days before a big travel tournament, which Malkin had eagerly anticipated because he felt his team could win. He had never won a championship to that point, and he wanted that first title.

His coach wanted Malkin to play, even in a limited capacity. So did Malkin’s dad, who believed his son could still help the team despite his right forearm being in a cast.

Malkin’s mother said no. And because she ruled the roost, that was that.

Except it wasn’t.

Young Evgeni Malkin, with the help of his father, persuaded his mother to let him travel with the team for moral support. She obliged, never knowing that Malkin had stashed his gear in one of the vans transporting players to the tournament. Without media coverage of any kind, there was no way for Malkin’s mother to monitor the weekend tournament. She simply believed her son had gone to cheer on his mates.

To her surprise, he returned home a few days later in tears — and with a mutilated cast. Malkin had played, cutting the cast at his wrist so he could better handle the stick. But his tears weren’t from physical agony, but rather because none of it — the sketchy plan by him and his dad, the betrayal of his mother’s wishes, the struggle to play with one healthy arm — had been worth it.

“We didn’t win,” Malkin said. “I played my best, but I was not in my best condition. But I could play (and) I should play great if I can play. I was not my best and we lost. I can’t forget even now.”

By his third NHL season, Malkin was in the conversation as one of the world’s best hockey players. Also in that group were the two men who would forever overshadow him: Ovechkin and Crosby. Even though Malkin won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer in the 2008-09 season, all eyes were on Ovechkin and Crosby for the first Penguins-Capitals showdown of the stars’ era in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Malkin was seen as a supporting character, even though he scored an overtime goal in Game 5 in Washington that proved pivotal to winning the series. The Penguins won in Game 7, also in Washington, and returned to the Eastern Conference finals, which they’d won the previous season in a series where Malkin injured his ribs.

The pain of those injured ribs is not what haunted Malkin in the summer of 2008. It was how that injury limited him for the remainder of the 2008 Eastern finals and in the Stanley Cup Final, which the Penguins lost to the Red Wings. He used that memory — a nagging feeling that he somehow had let down not only his teammates and the city of Pittsburgh, but everybody who knew him — as motivation throughout the 2008-09 season.

Even his Penguins teammates didn’t know what was about to happen.

“I was ready,” Malkin said. “I had something to prove.”

Believe it or not, the Penguins were vulnerable to an upset by a Hurricanes team they would ultimately sweep in the 2009 Eastern finals. Pittsburgh had come off a couple of emotional series wins against the Flyers and Capitals — the franchise’s two fiercest rivals — and was looking ahead to a rematch with the Red Wings in the Cup Final.

“I thought we could get them,” said Jim Rutherford, who was the Hurricanes’ general manager at the time. “(The Penguins) might have been a more talented team than us, but I thought we could get at least one of those early games in Pittsburgh, and then make it a long series.

“I still think I was right. Malkin just wouldn’t allow it.”

In the first game, at Pittsburgh’s old Civic Arena, Malkin scored and set up a goal in the Penguins’ 3-2 victory. It was Game 2, though, that will forever be remembered as what Crosby called “The Geno Game.”

Or, as former Penguins winger Bill Guerin said: “You never think a series is over after Game 2, but it was over after Game 2. Nobody was stopping Malkin, and everybody knew it.”

The signature goal of the historic season is the stuff of legend in Pittsburgh.

Malkin blew open a tight game as part of a three-goal, one-assist performance that announced to the hockey world that he would be the one administering the pain this time.

The faceoff was in the left circle, the prime spot for Malkin to win a draw. When the puck went forward, it looked in real time as though Malkin had been beaten cleanly. He hadn’t.

“(Malkin) pushed it forward, got it behind the goal, swooped around and then he turns around and lifts a backhand,” said Max Talbot, Malkin’s right winger throughout that postseason. “The guys on both teams were stunned — all except Geno.”

“I had no clue he was going to try it,” said Talbot, who had the best view of anyone on the goal that is now affectionately known as “The Geno.”

“I remember thinking, ‘We lost the faceoff,’” said Ruslan Fedotenko, the left winger on Malkin’s line during the Penguins’ 2009 Cup run. “It was only after he scored that I realized what Geno had done.”

For coach Dan Bylsma, time seemed to stand still. He needed to watch a replay to realize what had just happened.

“The degree of difficulty of that entire play is off the charts,” Bylsma said. “To try it — forget doing it, but to try it — in an Eastern Conference final takes confidence that I would have never had, and I don’t think you’ll find many players that would even think about it.”

Added Crosby: “No, I don’t think I would. But that’s Geno. Man, he was awesome in that series; that whole playoffs, really.”

Malkin described the goal as “not too great.” Really.

“Everybody sees spin-o-rama and I score, but my job was to push the puck to Max and then I go to the net,” he said. “The puck went too deep and I have to get it — then, you know, it’s, like, ‘I do it myself.’

“After I spin around, the puck was on my stick good and it was time to shoot. That’s it! So people tell me about that goal, but I don’t know — I think I scored better ones. It’s not my best, but everybody loves it.”

“Not my best,” he says, but the goal in Game 2, which the Penguins won, is what Malkin considers “my most important.” The performance in that series — six goals, three assists in a four-game sweep — “was maybe my best hockey,” he said.

“But I play good against Detroit, too,” Malkin said. “I had to. I owed the team because we lost the year before.

“When you don’t win, it’s hell. When you get close and lose, everything you feel is empty, everything hurts. But pain, you know, can be good. It teaches you.”

With two goals and six assists in a seven-game classic against the Red Wings, Malkin helped steer the Penguins to the Stanley Cup. He was voted the Conn Smythe winner, becoming the first Russian-born player to win that award.

And he finally won a championship.

“I’m lucky, maybe, my first championship is the Stanley Cup,” he said. “You always love your first.”

Two more Stanley Cup titles later, as well as the Hart Trophy for the 2011-12 season, and Malkin is among only a handful of players to have won the Calder (for rookie of the year), Hart (for MVP), Ross (for the single-season points title), Smythe (for playoffs MVP), Ted Lindsay (for player-voted MVP) and the Stanley Cup.

None of those awards, nor his multiple Cup wins, was enough to earn Malkin a spot on the NHL’s 2017 list of the 100 best players of all time. The slight crushed him, bringing back feelings from his youth that he would never be seen as a great hockey player because the greatest Russian hockey players came from Moscow or Saint Petersburg, not places like Magnitogorsk. He also couldn’t help thinking back to all the talk early in his career about how the NHL belonged to Ovechkin and Crosby, even if Malkin was right there with them in terms of production and achievement.

“It hurt me deeply,” Malkin said. “What must I do to be seen as one of the best players? I think I am.”

Sergei Gonchar is one of Malkin’s closest friends. He’s also Malkin’s former teammate with the Penguins and with the Russian national team. He’s admittedly biased, but…

“I have Geno in the top three of Russian players,” Gonchar said. “There’s Alex, and I think Geno is a better overall player, and there’s Sergei Fedorov, and Geno might be better than him by the time he’s done.”

Gonchar might be a little biased, but he might actually be underselling Malkin’s legacy. It’s certainly debatable and it’s clearly close, but of the nine Russian players who made The Athletic’s NHL99 list, Malkin lands second — behind Ovechkin and a shade ahead of Fedorov at 33. For good reason.

Over his career, Malkin has been worth around 46 wins, which is second among Russian-born players behind only Ovechkin at 60.6. Part of that difference is a matter of Ovechkin suiting up for 300 more games than Malkin. On a per-82-game basis, Malkin has averaged 3.85 wins per season while Ovechkin is only narrowly ahead at 3.90. Nikita Kucherov (3.91) and Pavel Bure (3.87) also rank that highly, but neither has the longevity of Ovechkin and Malkin.

“Alex and Evgeni will always be talked about together — in Russia and the NHL,” Gonchar said. “It’s good company.”

Malkin lived with Gonchar during his earliest NHL years, but Gonchar first noticed Malkin’s desire to stand out among Russian players when they spent the 2004-05 NHL lockout playing for Metallurg. Then, Gonchar said, Malkin was “this big, talented kid who talked about being seen as great among Russian players but also becoming one of the best players in the world.”

“He did it,” Gonchar said.

Malkin needed his first NHL season to acclimate himself to the North American lifestyle as much as its brand of hockey. Even then, as he was rolling toward consensus top rookie honors and proving Patrick’s prediction correct — that the Penguins had found a franchise pillar in Malkin — the comparisons to teammate Crosby and rival Ovechkin weighed on Malkin.

“Evgeni doesn’t seek the spotlight, but he deserves more of it than he’s been given,” Gonchar said. “He never said it bothered him, but if you know him you could tell it did because he wanted to be the best.”

Malkin had one more lesson to learn early in his career, and it’s one he has had to carry with him throughout: Only worry about what you can control.

“I’ve learned many lessons in life,” Malkin said. “Some help me with hockey. Others help me with life, you know?

“I would like people to know my story and see you can overcome disappointment, pain, and be a champion.”

[ao3feed-hockey]

NHL Parliament Edition

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/mHhKr3G

by pscherepanov

In which somehow the NHL becomes a parliamentary mess, and the hansard records show to prove it.

Based on the Westminster system of government, used in the UK, Canada and Australia. Each team is their own political party, coalitions are formed from non-rival teams. Largest party (biggest fan base) gets first shot at forming a government, if not it progresses until one is formed.

The lower house is the Legislative Assembly, consisting of those elected who are currently playing (as of 22/23). The upper house is the Legislative Council, which consists of those who are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Governor is the NHL Commissioner, who acts as the head of state. Team Captains and Alternate Captains are selected to the Cabinet.

*** indicates a change from the Assembly to Council

Words: 835, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Men's Hockey RPF

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Jack Hughes (b. 2001), Trevor Zegras, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Carey Price, Jamie Drysdale, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Jason Robertson, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Henrik Lundqvist, Troy Terry, Wayne Gretzky, Roberto Luongo

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Parliament, Hansard, its a shitshow ik, Not Beta Read

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/mHhKr3G

[thattngurl]

I’m so happy everyone is mad about the draft. Because it yet again exposes all the hypocrites in the hockey fandom. Y’all can google Eric Lindros and use a SA survivor as a gotcha but can’t google Billy Tibbetts, Mario Lemieux and Dan Quinn, Gordon Stuckless and Maple Leaf Gardens, Erin Skalde and the Pens, Dan Carcillos reign of terror, Patrick O’Sullivan and Alex Burrows, Alex Burrows and Jordin TooTooo, Pat Delorenzo Jr, Jeremy Jacobs, Doug Gilmour underage baby sitter he raped, the homophobic or racist tweets from y’all’s faves and sometimes their partners, all the instances of Blackface, rampant domestic abuse and sexual abuse, harassing female security guards with PTSD, DUI’s, convictions, rampant racism from players and coaches, Wags harassing each other, etc - the list goes on and on but y’all want to ignore it and pretend it begins and ends with the Chicago Blackhawks trash asses and that’s why I don’t take y’all seriously. Cause most people wouldn’t care about Kyle Beach if he’d played for another team - he’d be a footnote like the other people who’ve been violated in this league that y’all don’t care about. Hell had the Blackhawks not gotten the number 1 draft pick y’all wouldn’t be talking about him now. Mario Lemieux is worshiped by so many who are “disgusted” by this situation so that’s how I know y’all just be using the words “rape culture” as a slap in the face to us actual survivors anyways.

[bloggingbrin]

Manifestos ✊

Manifestos of the modern age Is a book that was kindly lent to me by one of my professors. All of the manifestos in the book are available online.

I'm currently reading 1 or 2 manifestos every day during breakfast. Read them with me.

1974 - 1999

[x] 1974-computer-lib.md

[x] 1985-GNU-manifesto.md

[x] 1986-hacker-manifesto.txt

[x] 1987-unstable-media.md

[x] 1991-cyberfeminist.md

[x] 1996-02-indep-cyberspace.md

[x] 1997-05-11-The-ABC-of-Tactical-Media.txt

[x] 1997-05-29-Piran-Nettime-Manifesto.txt

[x] 1997-web-independant.txt

[x] 1999-Hackerethik.txt

[x] 1999-LowTech-manifesto.md

2000 - 2009

[x] 2001-07-hacktivismo-declaration.md

[ ] 2001-agile-manifesto.md

[ ] 2002-12-30-Wireless-Commons-Manifesto.txt

[x] 2007-Zero-Dollar-Laptop.md

[ ] 2007-avant-pop.md

[ ] 2007-ubuntu-manifesto.md

] 2008-01-21-anonymous.txt

[x] 2008-05-lo-fi-manifesto.md

[ ] 2008-06-The-Uppsala-Declaration.md

[x] 2008-07-Guerilla-Open-Access.md

[x] 2009-02-powr-broccoli-kopimi.txt

[x] 2009-03-cult-of-done.txt

[x] 2009-11-werebuild.txt

[ ] 2009-glitch-studies.md

[ ] 2009-piracy-manifesto.txt

2010 - 2015

[x] 2010-01-02-Slow-Media-Manifesto.txt

[x] 2010-09-Open-Design.txt

[x] 2010-Dead-Drops.txt

[ ] 2010-Hardware-Hacker.txt

[x] 2011-02-03-A-DIY-Data-Manifesto.txt

[ ] 2011-Bitcoin-Manifesto.md

[x] 2011-Critical-Engineering.txt

[x] 2012-02-15-we-the-web-kids.txt

[ ] 2012-06-03-iterative-book-development.txt

[ ] 2012-10-03-cryptoparty.md

[ ] 2013-04-user-data-manifesto.txt

[ ] 2013-09-EPP-manifesto.md

[ ] 2013-10-04-computer-users-rights.md

[x] 2013-11-manifesto-for-the-truth.txt

[ ] 2014-03-balconism.md

[x] 2014-05-29-feminist-servers.txt

[ ] 2014-10-cybertwee.md

2015+

[x] 2015-01-21-Critical-Interface-Manifesto.md

[ ] 2015-01-new-clues.md

[x] 2015-03-additivist-manifesto.txt

[x] 2015-07-xenofeminism.txt

[ ] 2015-08-29-User-Data-Manifesto-v2.txt

[x] 2015-08-we-lost.txt

[ ] 2015-art-after-failure.md

[ ] 2015-open-web-index.txt

[x] 2016-02-perfect-medium-user.txt

More manifestos

Here are some manfiestos I found interesting that I believe are good:

1998-12 Mieke Gerritzen - Manifesto for Creative Growth

2007-07 Clay Shirky - Love, Internet Style

2016-? Rejecta manfiesto

2018-05 Laurel Schwulst, My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge. What could yours be?

2018-12 Patrick LeMieux & Stephanie Boluk, What should we do with our games

2020-12 Cortney Cassidy - A soft manifesto

2022-05 Eric - Impossible Games Manifesto

[sunshine-gumdrop]

Old timey hockey is unhinged! I'm in a rabbit hole...

1984 Pittsburgh vs Vancouver

Mario Lemieux's pummeling Gary Lupul 19 after he got under his skin!

Here is 1984 first draft pick Pittsburgh

Lemieux and the Pens had failed to reach a contract agreement before the draft, and it was to express his displeasure that he refused to go downstairs on the floor and wear the Penguins jersey.

After the draft, look at his 99 ring!

Also, he kinda did salvage penguins till 2005 when penguins drafted another hockey prodigy.

1984 Mario leaving for Pittsburgh

Major Clark Kent energy also I can't believe I'm thirsting over Mario lemieux, but he has a very nice bum....

Here guy lefleur after his 1000th point acknowledging the fans behind him a 15 year old Mario lemieux

And finally, if Patrick Roy didn't pan out for Habs, here is Sidney's dad

80s