Thursday, March 19, 2009

A New High and Low for Ovie



Congrats on 50 goals, Ovie.

Three 50-goal seasons in four years is something to be proud of and to celebrate, but not like that. Alex's celebration cheapened the moment; instead of his goal being about his accomplishment, it will now be about his "too hot to handle" act.

Bruce Boudreau said he is going to "talk" to Ovechkin about it. Allow me to summarize what will be said.

Never. Do. It. Again.

This doesn't compare to Terrell Owens' Sharpie hiding act. It's not as bad as a soccer player ripping off his shirt and then doing backflips or Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson doing the "Riverdance."

But it's just as embarrassing.

Here's Ovie's explanation of the celebration.

"Me, Jose Theodore, [Nicklas] Backstrom and [Mike Green] said if I score goal, Jose tell me just put the stick on the ice and try act like it's so hot. Backie stopped and Greenie stopped, so I have to do it myself."

I'm sure glad that Green and Backstrom didn't join in on the act. It's bad enough that Ovechkin did it alone. I'm almost certain that had Green and Backstrom added their hands to "the fire" that we would see a penalty, ala "The Avery Rule," added to the rule book that penalizes excessive celebrations.

What made Don Cherry's argument about Ovie invalid was that Ovechkin never premeditated his celebrations. When he scored, the following jump into the boards or tackling of a teammate was an outburst of passion. But this planned act only proves Cherry's point.

For one night, Alex Ovechkin looked like a goofy soccer guy.

Lesson learned?

Never take celebration advice from your goalie.

5 comments:

  1. Well said, CK. Exactly my reaction: The fact that he planned it, cheapened it. A game isn't a trick shot competition, where you can get away with a funny hat and big sunglasses.

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  2. People are way overreacting to it, but I'll say one thing: if you're going to premeditate it, make it a lot less lame. I'm surprised they couldn't come up with something better frankly.

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  3. I think the point he was trying to make is he doesn't care what Don Cherry and to be fair no one should. If Ovechkin was Canadian he'd have something different to say about it I'm sure.

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  4. @Thomas - He's publically called out Cherry for his comments, and I more than sure that this dance was motivated by the Don, but frankly, pre-meditated dances like this are rarely entertaining in any sports.

    To OV's credit, Teemu Selanne and Jaromir Jagr have done such things and it never got on coach's corner as far as I'm concerned.

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  5. Just be glad he's not this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNjXgS0_CWE

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