A Very Scrappy Christmas

Oh, hell no.

I saw this garbage on NHL Snipers. AskMen.com has ranked Sidney Crosby the 34th most influential man in the world. Yes, in the entire world.

As much as I can't stand him, you won't hear any argument from me that Crosby is perhaps the most influential active player in the NHL. He's the undisputed face of the league. He's the anointed one. He's the guy everybody has an opinion on, love him or hate him. The mere mention of his name in hockey circles encites adoring raves or vile rants, depending on the audience.

But you mean throughout the entire world, filled with policymakers, philosophers, movers and shakers, and just important people in general, that Sid the Kid is the 34th most influential?

Give me a fucking break.

Post Numero Uno

The very first post of the blog I've been contemplating the creation of for the past several months: The Scrappy Octopus. Truth be told, the biggest hang-up I had was that I couldn't think of a name awesome enough to be worthy of writing about the best team in hockey. I kept mulling over creative plays on words, but nothing really stuck until I thought of combining one of the best traditions in all of sports--octopus-throwing--with one of my favorite characteristics of hockey players (and people in general): scrapiness (is that a word?). Hence, The Scrappy Octopus (the "the" at the beginning is to give it a little pizazz, to make it official...you know, to put some stank on the entire idea).

So, here it is. The first post. So much pressure...

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Well, to break the ice, I suppose I can introduce myself and explain what the purpose of this thing is. In case the vermilion-adorned octopus in the banner didn't grab your eye, I am a Red Wings fan. I love them more than life itself. I love talking about them. I love thinking about them. I love reading what other people write about them. As a matter of fact, during the roughly 3/4 of the year that comprise the hockey season, I turn into a mindless drone, capable of conversing about non-hockey-related topics for only brief interludes--basically just enough to keep myself gainfully employed. So, I figured, what the heck? Instead of alienating people I know personally with my nonstop, ad nauseum hockey obsession, why not give a good ol' college try to this blogging thing? It can only improve my personal life, right? We'll see how this experiment goes...

Oh, and speaking of the banner: If it looks like it costs $5, that's because it pretty much did. It cost me the $4.45 I spent on a tall "harvest moon" latte at the local coffeehouse, where I went to obtain quality internet access (dial-up at mi casa = major fail). Also, don't be fooled by the fancy shmancy font on the banner, either; far from being classy, this blog strives to be super tacky and uber offensive, so get pumped about that. If at any point this blog comes across as educational or useful, you should ask for your $5 back.

So...30 +/- minutes until the puck drops on the first meet-up with the Pens since...eh, still don't wanna talk about it. Sadly, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sidney Crosby won't be on hand today. That's ok, we still have this:



Oh, and maybe we'll get lucky, and those two trolls Chris Kunitz and Sergei Gonchar will cease stabbing our goaltender between whistles. And while they're at it, maybe they'll both go eat a dick.

Welcome to The Scrappy Octopus!

Let's go, WINGS.