The Love of The Game

There's a feeling you get when you love something.There's a certain feeling spreading through the Pittsburgh area for the Penguins that didn't exist two years ago when Sidney Crosby first arrived here or three years ago when there was a league-wide lock out,or even several years ago when the great Mario Lemieux came back to the game.It's nice to see so much support for the team, but I can't help but think that it's a band-wagon situation.The team lost two games in a row last week and everyone talked down about them and gave up on them,just like they did with Marc-Andre Fleury.Like last season,he's having trouble getting into the flow of things and everyone acts like it's time to trade him.He was the number one draft pick for a reason and he has talent that is hard to deny.Last year he had a large amount of shutouts and wins and held the team together defensively while their defense performed poorly.The fact that people are so willing to give up on him and put a backup goalie in his place is sickening. During a press coference by Michael Therrien,he acted disgusted with Fleury and stated that Sabourin earned his goaltending position for that night.Even great goalies have bad seasons,just look at how the Devils are starting out this season with one of the sports greats Brodeur.To give up on a player fourteen games into the season is ridiculous.Hockey shouldn't be about occasionally rooting for a team when they're doing well and starting to like them just because they had a winning season.It's about supporting them through the lock out and watching the All-Star game just for the chance of seeing one of your local heroes.It's the feeling you got when Mario Lemieux came back to the game and got his first goal or when he announced that the Pens were here to stay.It's the happiness and pride you feel when you hear Evgeni Malkin speak some English or when Colby Armstrong unexpectedly slams a guy into the boards.It's the feeling when you watch Sidney Crosby and know that some day he's going to be a legend,or when underrated guys such as Talbot have a few good games or when Erik Christensen became one of the leagues best shootout scorers.It's watching Fleury out there with his big yellow pads on,making awesome saves,and it's the anger when a ref refuses to call a blatant penalty or when the team loses in a close game.It's the disbelief that Lemieux's number still isn't retired league wide and he isn't held to the same status as Gretzky is.Most of all it's love.It's the love of the game and the players that makes hockey great.All I know is that I love hockey and I love the Penguins and everything they stand for,I have for as long as I can remember,and I haven't given up on them.Maybe other fans shouldn't either,because they're young and they're a growing team and they will undoubtly have bad seasons and good seasons but if noone is there to root for them through the ups and downs,what good is cheering for them when they're doing well?Can people really call themselves fans?