FanNation - The Republic of Sport

How y'all doin'.

Anyone who has caught on to my individual blog here on FanNation (Thoughts From the End of the Bar) knows that I spent last night watching the Steelers game first, then the Capitals game (interrupted briefly by Craig Ferguson's monologue and e-mail segment - which is the funniest thing on late night television, but anyway).

It brought to my mind an interesting contrast that I'd like to share in my first writing - and I'm appreciative of the opportunity to post here. 

We'll start with the Capitals game. Nevermind the result, and the fact that the team sleepwalked, or maybe, sleepskated, through a good bit of the evening. They deserved to lose and they did. The bad goal that Brent Johnson gave away to O'Sullivan to make it 2-1 was a deflater and it didn't seem from there that the Caps were going to get a win. I was merely hoping it would go to overtime or shootout to get a point, but it didn't happen. 

Anyway - during a 5-on-3 penalty kill, Washington's Brooks Laich found himself sans stick. So basically, it was 5-on-2.5. Simply put, there's no way not to expect the Kings to score in that situation. There's very little a player can do when killing a penalty with no stick.

Except what Laich did, that is. 

Laich gave up his body to block at least two shots, perhaps three; one that I think went off one of his gloves. He did everything he possible could to keep the Kings from scoring, and at one point dove to try and handpass the puck out of the zone if he could (unsuccessfully, but whatever). 

This isn't the first time Laich has played like this. In a home game earlier this season, I don't remember who it was against, Laich blocked a shot with his lower body and was in major pain - unable to even get to his feet. But he at least had a stick. With the opponents already up a man and Laich now hurting, the opponents tried a D-to-D pass near the blue line. Laich read the play, dove forward, and sticked the puck out of the zone. 

Laich does anything for this team and it is to be commended. I know it has gotten mentioned other places, but I don't think it can be mentioned too much. It's the kind of effort that, if all our defenders worked that hard, we'd have a much better hockey team. 

The team recognized Laich and everyone on the bench gave him dap (I think that's what the kids say now) on the bench. They would be wise to learn from Laich and play harder. 

Contrast that to the Steelers game I watched last night, where most of the conversation after the Steelers had put the game away was about Chad Johnson, the deactivated Bengals receiver who reportedly was late for a meeting this week, then upon entering, fell asleep, and allegedly got into a verbal confrontation with head coach Marvin Lewis about it.

Can you imagine Chad Johnson as a hockey player? I can't. He doesn't have the heart to be a hockey player. He doesn't have the love for his teammates and he doesn't have the desire to do whatever it takes for those teammates to make sure the team succeeds. You know, like a Brooks Laich.

I can't imagine one of our players treating his teammates and coaches with such a lack of respect as Johnson did with his. Do our guys play well all the time? Of course not, last night was a glaring example of that. But I don't question our team's heart. 

I'd hate to be a Bengal fan this morning. 1-9-1 on the season, with a star player who doesn't care about his teammates, his coaches, and indirectly, the team's fans. 

At least my hockey team tried last night. They just weren't good enough on the night. Fair play to Drew Doughty and the Kings.