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Thursday, April 7, 2011

A Penguin Fan's Viewpoint of Sidney Crosby's Brain

Posted by Chad Underwood On 9:24 PM 0 comments



Without Sidney Crosby,  the Penguins continue to battle for a division title.
   






   The Pittsburgh Penguins currently sit one point away from a division title without their two best players, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The team has adapted in ways some thought unimaginable and have managed to put themselves a position to once again make a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

  That is all a story for a different day.

  Many hockey analysts and writers like Don Cherry and  Johnette Howard have suggested that the Penguins sit Crosby for the rest of the season and playoffs due to his back-to-back concussions at the beginning of the new year. Don't get me wrong, I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, I would just prefer it to be an educated one.
   Trying to get through to the Penguins management through television and writing about Crosby's condition is one of the dumbest things I have had the pleasure of hearing and reading. It confuses me why people who truly have no grasp on the situation want to give their piece about it.
   People like Dr. Charles Burke (the Penguins' team physician) and Dr. Michael Collins (a concussion specialist) see Crosby on a regular basis, making sure that he is symptom-free and beginning to function properly once again. 
   Don Cherry does not follow Crosby around daily because he lives in Canada. Johnette Howard lives in New York City, so I assume she does not wake up beside Sid either.
   As for this "pressure" for Sid to return the media keeps talking about, I find it to not really exist. Of course Penguins' fans want Sidney Crosby back, but not if he is risking his career and life after hockey. Crosby has already delivered a Stanley Cup to the fans in Pittsburgh and a gold medal to his homeland from the Olympics. There is simply no rush. No one is rallying around the arena each morning with signs, demanding his presence. We all want Sid to be healthy, whether that happens now, in a week, or next season.
   The bottom-line is that Crosby is being watched by people that know what they are doing and will not allow him to comeback if there is any doubt in the slightest that this injury could still impair him. Media members can write whatever they want and get paid to do it, but that does not always make them right.
   I can speak for myself and all Penguins' fans in saying that I am just as excited for these playoffs as any other one in the past. Having a guy like Alex Kovalev rejoin the team and Marc-Andre Fleury playing stellar in net is fantastic.
   As for Crosby's future with the team, we will soon find out. If we play Washington in the second round and his head feels fine, that's great. But he will have a doctor clear him, not Don Cherry.

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