Isn't it a great feeling when you can't think of much you'd rather do than that which you already have planned for the day. Today, I'm heading down to the Wachovia Center, up the escalators, and then the stairs to the upper deck to watch the Flyers play the goddamn Penguins.
For Flyers fans, the Pens are our Mets, more so than our Cowboys. The rivalry is recently born, but unquestionably intense nonetheless. We hate their players and fans, and they ours. Ask any Flyers supporter about their least favorite NHL player, and you'll get at least an 80% "Sidney Crosby" response rate, probably with some effeminate or infanting play on his name. His partner Evgeni Malkin, however, gets a bit more of a pass here. Sure his mouth is always open, but he's not usually whining out of it. He's just kind of a mouth breather. He's also a gamer, and the league's leading scorer. It's his guilt by association that gets him in trouble here.
And as we linked before though, Geno isn't a big fan of you and me. In his interview with Puck Daddy, Malkin had this to say:
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Not long ago ESPN had a survey where 24% of players surveyed said that the Philadelphia Flyers have the most disruptive fans. Have you ever been, even a little, afraid of Flyers fans?
I
agree with the players [who named Flyers fans]. I can't say that I am
afraid of them though. Although I do remember one game in Philadelphia
last year when we had popcorn thrown to our bench by Flyers' fans,
other garbage. Thank god there were no bottles thrown. And their fans
also jump on the glass behind the bench, or behind the glass. People
don't behave that good there. I have never seen anything like this
anywhere. And this survey showed that other players noticed it too. I
am surprised by those fans. But I understand that they are just
supporting their team.
Do you just see them as being strange? Or do they unsettle you or put you under pressure in any way?
No,
they don't put me under pressure. It's just not very nice when there is
popcorn thrown on the bench, and it doesn't feel good to go out and
play hockey after such things. No pressure, but such things are not
enjoyable and are unfounded.
News
Now I don't advocate throwing anything on the player benches. There's a line. But I do hope that you'll all make the extra effort today to let the Pens know where they are.
The Penguins, now led by Dan Bylsma after the ousting of Michel Therrien, are a desperate team with everything to play for yet plenty to lose. They're in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, with a tough schedule remaining. At four points out, their playoffs have essentially already begun.
It looks as though the Flyers realize they're not a lock for postseason play either, although it's unlikely they'll be golfing early this year. Even with their last three substantial wins, they're only six points ahead of the 9th place team, but the Flyers also have either two or three games in hand on every other current playoff team. This is when the season truly gets interesting.
Faraway playoff implications aside, these two teams really do hate each other, which would make for a great game today even if it were being played in October.