Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Something funny to ponder re: Alex Ovechkin

I thought this was kind of a funny anecdote at the time, but I hadn't really thought more about it until my commute home tonight.

Last Monday (the 3rd), I was covering the Caps vs. Bruins game when the Caps won 10-2 and Alex Ovechkin scored a hat trick in the first period. In the locker room after the game, The Washington Post's Tarik El-Bashir jokingly asked Ovechkin if he was going to go get his free wings the next day from Austin Grill (when the Caps score six or more goals in a game, a ticket stub is good for a pound of wings "marinated in a dry rub and grilled" the next day at Austin Grill).

Ovechkin, funny enough, said that he was. "HA! That's funny," I thought. He does go get the wings, just like you or I would (or, at least, I would if I paid for tickets).

But Tarik reminded him that you needed a ticket stub to get one, and Number 8, dead serious, said how he had friends at the game so he will get their tickets and use them.

"Ahhh, makes sense," I thought, and that was the end of it.

But then today I thought more about it. Would he really going to go through all that trouble to save about seven bucks on a pound of wings? He makes almost $4 mil a year, and in about six months he'll be pulling down a cool $9 million. But free wings are free wings.

Here's to fiscal responsibility. Enjoy the wings, Alex.