Friday, October 31, 2008

Alexander Semin pretty much thinks Sidney Crosby sucks...

Greg Wyshynski, who I frequently see in the press box at Verizon Center and have talked to a couple times (NAME DROP NAME DROP NAME DROP ... I'm sure he couldn't pick me out of a one-person lineup) has posted an interview with Alexander Semin, from Russian to English by way of Sovetsky Sport's Dmitry Chesnokov.

And Semin didn't hold back when it came to everyone's favorite flightless fowl.

What's so special about [Crosby]? I don't see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there's nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... [Kane] is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.

I think that if you take any player, even if he is "dead wood," and start promoting him, you'll get a star. Especially if he scores 100 points. No one is going to care about anyone else. No one is going to care whether he possesses great skill. Let's say you put someone in front of the net and let him deflect pucks in, and he scored 50 goals; everyone will say "Wow!" and then hand him a $10 million per year contract. That's what they like here.

Yeah that's also a pretty nice swipe at North American hockey and the NHL in general, but I think us Washingtonians are willing to look past that and commend Sasha Semin for throwing some message board signature material our way.

Read the full interview here. It's worth it.
 

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Capitals 2008-2009 Season Preview: Multimedia Style

I'm not sure if this is the world's longest Capitals season preview or not, but at over 2,500 words AND a 25-minute podcast to boot, I think Abram Fox and I really came through with a thorough look at the Caps upcoming season for DC Sports Box.

Most of the message board posters and stat geeks and people trawling the Web all day for new Caps info aren't going to learn a whole lot, but there's plenty of info for the casual hockey fan or someone not really familiar with the Caps. And the podcast includes more opinion and even some predictions for the season.

Check out the preview article here:
Capitals Season Preview: High Expectations for '08-'09

And listen to the podcast here:
2008-2009 Season Preview podcast
 

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Bruce Boudreau Mercedes Commercial

I'll give him credit in that it's better than the Eddie Jordan commercial (also for American Service Center) where the salesman, who somehow is a worse actor than either Jordan OR Bruce Boudreau, has to sell the Wizards coach on a Benz before the 24-second clock runs out.

For your viewing pleasure:


Is it bad that my first thought was, "We may be getting a little ahead of ourselves..."?