the 4th star

The Washington Capitals are taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre tonight. The contest can be seen on TSN.

Don’t worry. It’s not too late to get together with some buddies (or just grab a bottle of firewater or a case of beer solo), sit around the television, and participate in a new drinking game I just came up with:

Every time a TSN guy mentions Alex Ovechkin’s celebration, you know, the one where he dropped his stick and pretended it was too hot to pick up after scoring his 50th goal, throw the bottle or case of beer at the TV and go to a movie. You should be able to catch the early show.

Sound good?

David Shoalts brings up a good point leading up to tonight’s game. He writes how Ron Wilson, coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is tired of talking about it and blames the media for giving legs to a story that has obviously run its course.

“[It's] because you guys have nothing better to talk about to be perfectly honest,” Wilson said. “I haven’t heard or seen on ESPN in the United States a big deal about this. It’s up here [in Canada].”

Well, with March Madness going on, the World Baseball Classic wrapping up, and the NFL Draft approaching, it’s no wonder why, Ron. Anyway, Shoalts brings up an interesting connection to athletes antics and media overkill, building on what Wilson said:

Invoking ESPN, that great arbiter of taste, was an interesting twist. No television network in the world has done more to glorify the self-promoters of sport. The explosion of look-at-me behaviour in the last 25 years is because those athletes know their cheap antics will be played repeatedly on ESPN’s Sports Center, the ratings monster of highlight shows.

He mentions ESPN and (and later Don Cherry) by name in the story, but I get the sense reading between the lines that he is directing it the loud, bright red studio set out of Toronto.

Final word goes to Brad May. The hard-nosed Maple Leafs winger, whose ice style screams the traditional Canadian hockey values of toughness, heart, and playing the game the right way, was asked what he thought of Ovechkin and his celebrations:

“I love him. I love watching him. He’s got passion.”

And that’s the basic story here, isn’t it? Hockey player plays with passion. This just in, Ovechkin has been doing this for three years. And join us later tonight to hear how he likes to skate fast and shoot the puck hard, and the league’s reaction to it.

Do I really need to buy a new TV? After all, summer is right around the corner.