Saturday, October 21, 2006

Nolan jumps on the Crosby diving bandwagon; Give me a frickin' break



Ya know, this crap is getting ridiculous.

First, Ken Hitchcock last year starts the carousel by calling Sidney Crosby a diver. Not mentioning, of course, that his goon defenseman, Darien Hatcher, in the meantime was chipping three of his teeth, and cutting his lip bad enough to get stitches, and no frickin' penalties being called. By the way, that didn't stop Sid from scoring in OT to beat the Flyers yet again.

Now, the latest whiner to jump on the "Crosby is a diver" bandwagon is born-again NHL coach Ted Nolan. So after the Pens beat the Isles 4-3 in OT on Thursday, Nolan chose to go the diving route, rather than acknowledge that his defensemen were routinely getting beat by Crosby's speed and playmaking ability, and their only recourse was to either hook or trip him.

I'll grant him this much; Yes, I wouldn't have been surprised if Crosby was called for a slash in OT on Yashin, even though I will say that it was a one-handed attempt.

But for Nolan to jump on his soapbox and proclaim that not only does Crosby not get the calls against him, but he's ALSO a diver is complete bush-league.

You can't have it both ways, Teddy.

So let me get this straight. First, the NHL refs watch Crosby like a hawk because he's always whining to them, at least according to all of those hockey "experts" out there. NOW, all of that is forgotten, and NOW the refs are giving him preferential treatment ?!?!?

I've got an idea, Teddy. Why don't you spend your time concentrating on finding ways to defend Crosby and Malkin, rather than sucking your thumb and crying "he's a diver, he's a diver".

'Cause it's getting old.

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