The Media's Execution of Sidney Crosby

As the summer draws to an end, speculations about Sidney Crosby begin to rise. Multiple reports out of Canada have Crosby not being ready for training camp and there have been articles calling for Sid's retirement. While these ridiculous reports are common from the Canadian media, it is inexcusable for the Pittsburgh media to start turning on Sid and scrutinizing him during the offseason. This is what is occurring, and quite frankly it may be time for most of these beat writers in the city to focus their attention to the Steelers preseason preparation. 

About a week ago, there was a report out of canada that Sid would not be ready for training camp. This report was discussed in length by The Pond in an earlier post. This report was false, as Crosby's agent refuted the facts in the report that Sid has been shutdown during his offseason training. Then just a few days ago, CTV out of Canada reported that Sid has shutdown his off season regimen, but the report was refuted again by Sid's agent. Do you see a trend here? Sid, nor his representation has spoken out about his health unless they are forced to by these reports. Everyone of these reports have had "sources." Who are these sources? Not one report has named them. They have all been speculative and baseless. Sure their outcomes could end up begin true, but they are not true at this point.


Of course the Pittsburgh media and fans start to take these stories and run with them before they realized that the reports were baseless. On top of this, the media has begun to criticize Sid for keeping to himself and apparently not being in constant contact with the Penguins. Dean Kovacevic's article in the Trib states exactly this. He says that Sid owes the Penguins to keep them frequently updated.


This would be very agreeable if the Penguins seemed concerned about the lack of contact between them and Sid. However, it is quite the opposite of this as the Penguins have shown very little concern with the amount of contact. This makes sense, because there is simply no plan that can be put in place to compensate for the lack of Crosby in the lineup. The Penguins have shown last season that they will play the same way, and fill in the whole created by the absence of Sid. Criticizing Sid when the Penguins aren't, is ridiculous, and doing so in an article about 20th anniversary celebration of the 1991 is "indefensible." 


Criticizing Sid about how he handles his health in August is inexcusable. It would be a different story if this were a week before camp, but it's not. It's August and the Penguins have told us that we will know if Sid can play a week before camp. If it weren't for Sid begin in Pittsburgh there wouldn't be a third banner hung from the rafters of the Consol Energy Center because it wouldn't be there. So maybe it's time for the Pittsburgh sports writers to focus their attention on the Steelers and then worry about Sid when the time is appropriate. Because right now, Sid owes nothing to our team and our city other than trying to get his health in order and getting back on skates before training camp.