OT: Shut up Mario Lemieux

[NYMase]

Lemieux is getting absolutely killed...He could not have been more wrong:

Goodness, Hall of Fame owner Mario Lemieux is a delicate flower, isn't he?

After hiding behind what must be a weighty cloak of self-righteousness and refusing to speak publicly for long months at a time about the game he professes to love so much -- bam! -- Lemieux emerged and dropped a bomb on the NHL's lap Sunday afternoon.

We must say, it helps to read all these bits aloud in a very deep, Zeus-like voice to get the full import of this great chiding from on high. It would all be great theater if it weren't so nauseatingly contrived.

It's not hard to see where Lemieux's outburst comes from. The Pens have lost four of five games, including Sunday's 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers.

And so, a team that looked to be primed for another long Stanley Cup run at the end of December looks to be significantly less than that now. The 9-3 loss Friday and subsequent pounding by the Islanders were humiliating, and Lemieux is right on one count to call it a "travesty." But that wasn't the only travesty to come out of the Isles/Pens "Slap Shot" revival.

Lemieux threw the NHL under the bus Sunday. Not that the league doesn't need the occasional adjustment, but this is the same league that worked shoulder to shoulder with Lemieux to get him his new arena, keep his team in Pittsburgh and, oh yes, get his millions out of the team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=6120121

The problem is, you can’t take Friday night in a vacuum. Who led the league in fights entering Sunday’s games? The Penguins, with 61, according to hockeyfights.com. Who led the league in penalty minutes? The Penguins, with 1,101. Who led the league in majors? The Penguins, with 63. Who ranked second in game misconducts? The Penguins, with eight – two fewer than the first-place Islanders. Who was one of four teams with a match penalty? The Penguins.

Oh, and then there’s Cooke’s old act.

Lemieux needs to re-think whether that should be part of the league, too.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=nc-lemieux021311

[Nolan]

Lemieux has no right to complain about this crap. He has one of the dirtiest teams in the league and the dirtiest player in the league in Matt Cooke.

[trwi7]

Lemieux has no right to complain about this crap. He has one of the dirtiest teams in the league and the dirtiest player in the league in Matt Cooke.

Bingo.

[Nolan]

Lemieux has no right to complain about this crap. He has one of the dirtiest teams in the league and the dirtiest player in the league in Matt Cooke.

Bingo.

After Cooke's next cheap shot i'd like to see another owner/GM come out and critize Lemieux for having such a dirt bag on his team.

[WEFFPIM]

Lemieux has no right to complain about this crap. He has one of the dirtiest teams in the league and the dirtiest player in the league in Matt Cooke.

Preeeeeeecisely

[CanadianKnicksFan]

I agree with him. Honestly, I have NEVER been a fan of fights in hockey, even when I was a child.

[trwi7]

I have no problem with occasional fighting in hockey. It just gets old if there's like 10 fights in a game or a fight that starts 5 seconds after another fight. It just brings the game to a stand still.

[SSUBluesman]

So because Matt Cooke is on the Pens Eric Tangradi should get concussed and taunted? Yea, that makes sense. Let's also ignore that this incident had NOTHING to do with Cooke as the Isles did this as a response to the idiotic actions of their own player(DiPietro). Of course this is ignored as it's made to be the Pens fault for "being dirty" and "fighting so much". The Isles were looking for revenge for an incident they started and it's the Pens fault that the Isles are (currently) a pathetic excuse for a franchise and responded as such? Okay.

As far as hypocrisy goes nothing is worse than crying about how dirty and horrible Cooke and the Pens team is while cheering on the dirty and horrible behavior by the Isles (which has been a tactic among many actual Isle fans). I'm sorry but you're not to be taken seriously. It either bothers you or it doesn't. I understand that this paragraph is a response to comments/attitudes seen outside this thread but I still think it needs to be said here.

The sad thing is that if this was any other team the reactions would be significantly different. But because it's the Pens, because they have Crosby, it's okay to turn your brain off and place all the blame and disgust on them.

[SSUBluesman]

1. Fighting is allowed in hockey and not in basketball. What's the difference between one fight or ten fights a game besides ratings?

2. They didn't fight anyone in the stands, this is completely different, idiot.

It's not exactly allowed, since they are penalized for it.

On top of that, no business wants negative publicity, which is what you are advocating. Hockey can't profit off of buzz they get from a incident they deemed "regrettable". They are in the business of selling hockey. They are not the UFC.

Well maybe they should change their business because their current business is failing HARD. A "major sport" that isn't even on sportcenter on a regular basis is a JOKE.

You mean like NASCAR with it's plummeting ratings and revenue? Coverage of a sport on sportscenter is (unfortunately) a reflection of how important ESPN finds it to be to its brand, not how successful the sport is as a whole. While I'm at it the NHL is not falling hard but is in fact doing quite the opposite as ratings, revenue, attendance have increased.

[WEFFPIM]

No one is condoning what the Islanders did at all, they were completely out of line. But that doesn't change the fact that Lemieux is off base here. One, this isn't a product of the league, we haven't seen something like this occur in the league in decades. We've seen teams brawl, but not to the extent that the Islanders went after the Penguins. This isn't a product of the league, it's an outlier. So he's wrong there.

And he's also wrong because, if I remember correctly, the Penguins were the ones who initiated the first fight between these two when Johnson knocked out DiPietro. They have the most penalty minutes in the league and have one of the dirtiest players in the league. Why isn't Mario condemning his own team for being foolish? He seems to have no problem with Matt Cooke knocking people unconscious left and right.

There's no place in the league for what happened here. But there's also no place for an owner to fling out ridiculous hypocrisy, particularly the owner of the most undisciplined team in the league.

[SSUBluesman]

No one is condoning what the Islanders did at all, they were completely out of line. But that doesn't change the fact that Lemieux is off base here. One, this isn't a product of the league, we haven't seen something like this occur in the league in decades. We've seen teams brawl, but not to the extent that the Islanders went after the Penguins. This isn't a product of the league, it's an outlier. So he's wrong there.

And he's also wrong because, if I remember correctly, the Penguins were the ones who initiated the first fight between these two when Johnson knocked out DiPietro. They have the most penalty minutes in the league and have one of the dirtiest players in the league. Why isn't Mario condemning his own team for being foolish? He seems to have no problem with Matt Cooke knocking people unconscious left and right.

There's no place in the league for what happened here. But there's also no place for an owner to fling out ridiculous hypocrisy, particularly the owner of the most undisciplined team in the league.

You really need to pick a side and stay there.

If it's an aberration than pointing to commonplace things such as PIM's, dirty head shots, etc. makes no sense. Every year a team leads the league in PIM's, fighting majors, etc. Other players have delivered head shots, other teams have "dirty players", etc. The fact is that these numbers were recently put out and have been regurgitated with no consideration for their actual meaning. The irony is that weeks ago the Pens were the league's pet team and constantly received calls it didn't deserve.

You can't claim that "no one is condoning what the Isles did" while subsequently placing the blame on the Pens and their prior behavior. You're not fooling anyone by putting a single sentence of criticism of the Isles while the rest of the post criticizes the Pens.

If the Pens and Cooke are so horrible, with the implicit argument being that they were deserving of what happened to them, than what does that mean for the Isles? We're never told because apparently it's okay for Gillies to deliver headshots and then taunt players afterward.

The hypocrisy argument is idiotic and typical knee-jerk regurgitation of media talking points. The main point is that the NHL has let things get out of hand and had a chance to begin to reverse that trend and failed to do so. Believe it or not he's able to make such a statement despite *GASP* having players on his team that have fought, delivered dirty hits, etc. It's a not very clever or transparent attempt to distract from actual attention and discussion of the issue of the NHL's inability to adequately discipline and police the sport. If you actually cared about Cooke was doing and weren't just regurgitating what you heard elsewhere you probably would have noticed this.

[Nolan]

So because Matt Cooke is on the Pens Eric Tangradi should get concussed and taunted? Yea, that makes sense. Let's also ignore that this incident had NOTHING to do with Cooke as the Isles did this as a response to the idiotic actions of their own player(DiPietro). Of course this is ignored as it's made to be the Pens fault for "being dirty" and "fighting so much". The Isles were looking for revenge for an incident they started and it's the Pens fault that the Isles are (currently) a pathetic excuse for a franchise and responded as such? Okay.

As far as hypocrisy goes nothing is worse than crying about how dirty and horrible Cooke and the Pens team is while cheering on the dirty and horrible behavior by the Isles (which has been a tactic among many actual Isle fans). I'm sorry but you're not to be taken seriously. It either bothers you or it doesn't. I understand that this paragraph is a response to comments/attitudes seen outside this thread but I still think it needs to be said here.

The sad thing is that if this was any other team the reactions would be significantly different. But because it's the Pens, because they have Crosby, it's okay to turn your brain off and place all the blame and disgust on them.

In no way was I saying that what the Isles did was right. I was simply pointing out the fact that Lemieux has no right to say this kinda stuff when in the past his players have done similar things and recieved similar punishments.

[WEFFPIM]

Holy f*** are you off your rocker.

I have no issue with the Penguins organization, never have. I don't have any issue with Mario Lemieux, never have. I have plenty of issue with what the Islanders did, always have. I'm not attempting to fool anyone. I have no problem with the Penguins and what the Islanders did was wrong.

You jump to conclusions like your team's owner does. No one has said the Penguins deserved to get pummeled by a team clearly looking to settle a score. NO ONE. Just like the fact that what happened on Long Island is not a product of this league. Fighting is, certainly, and I think it should be reduced. But what we saw between these two was unprecedented in the modern day NHL. Lemieux thinking otherwise is just wrong. He thinks that it is because it happened to his team. This league has not flung into 'Slap Shot.' One game did. And yes, his team does rack up the penalty minutes and has a player of questionable merit. That doesn't mean they deserved to get blindsided by the Islanders. It means that the team's owner crying wolf should focus on cleaning up his own team before attacking issues that don't exist on the NHL.

I haven't strayed in my viewpoint, the Islanders were completely out of line. Mario Lemiuex was, too. And you're a Penguins fan who refuses to see the latter.