Smokey Maverick

I simply cannot get enough of this clip.

This animated gif, ladies and gentleman, is what life is all about:

Pens. Win.

Playoff Hockey. Nothing else compares to this beast. It transform the most respectable, well-earned-grey-haired-men, with polo shirt properly tucked into his pressed khakis into a hooting and hollering mad man. The intensity is simply unmatched.

For as much as I despise the ever newsworthy Double-M (Hey, in his business, whether he upsets you or tantilizes you, if we are talking about him, he is a success, no?) said it best: ”There is no kneeling and running out the clock in hockey. There is no intentional fouling while in a 10 point deficit in hockey. There are 6 allowed players per team, two nets and a puck – and the clock”

I’d have to agree with the man here. Playoff hockey is the most exciting post season sport, bar none. Sure, NFL playoffs make a good run at that title – with one sixty minute game judging if you go home or continue on to play another grueling game. However hockey effectively extends that drama to a seven games series.

What’s that you say? NBA has a seven games series? Yes yes, and with those series, I agree, much drama is extracted – however, no one can convince me (though many have tried and failed) that basketball is a physical sport. I get it, you can bump and get elbowed in basketball – but in comparison to hockey, it does not match its intense physical play, it’s tough, unwritten rules of manliness (and on top of that, it doesn’t hurt that the Pens are as star-fueled as Eta Carinae).

Let’s face it – hockey playoffs is how sport champions are meant to be decided. Intensity drenched games, where two goals could be scored within 8 seconds of each other – where no lead is safe until the final horn of the game.

The juggernaut Steelers will always hold a special place in my heart. But that doesn’t mean I don’t room for a fast, exhilarating, explosive, Porsche-like Penguins team. I have been entranced ever since last years playoff run. Part of hockey’s allure over football is the size of the roster. Is it easier to feel compassion for 52 individuals or 23? It’s also generally accepted that the Steelers are all of our Pops generation’s team – while the young, energetic, naive Penguins are a team us few young Pittsburghers can live vicariously through and easily relate to; and thus, the Pens have found a loyal, grass-roots type, young fan base – which makes embracing them all the easier by us twenty-somethings.

And for a second straight year, the Pens have reached the Eastern Conference Finals. That doesn’t hurt either.

Do it. (credit to The Pens Blog)

Who. Is. Next?

As it turns out – the Pens will face Carolina next in the Eastern Conference Finals. Everyone is saying “Cowher vs. Tomlin” – Who you got? I’ve got my horse, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tags:   Penguins · Tomlin · What Life is About1 Comment