Not only does Semin need fairy wings...

I can't take too much more of Sidney Crosby either. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the next one. I understand he has immense ammounts of talent and needs to be marketed likewise. But seriously, this kid is a punk. Being an Atlanta Thrashers fan (yes, I know), I really don't watch Pittsburgh play unless they're playing Atlanta because I don't like watching them play that much. And after Crosby's latest two incidents and the lack of league intervention in both of them (though the most recent was less of an issue), I really can't stand "Sid the Kid" anymore. He's babied by the League and it's disgusting.

Case and point, there was no reprimanding for these incidents (not to mention they were absolutely cowardly):



And then this lovely tussle with Brett McLean:



The kid is a joke. I get that he's very skilled, but the league can't keep giving this kid all the love they do and not punish him for things like punching a guy in the nuts and instigating a fight. The worst press he's got? This touching story about surpassing Jaromir Jagr for the most All-Star votes in one season. That whole thing is a joke too (as is the All-Star game itself). This season you could vote for every player on your team by texting the team name, something I don't think Jagr had the luxury of in 2000. Not only that, but Jagr wasn't pampered as the next Greztky when he clearly was not.

Look, you can argue that it was a different era. But Crosby is not an elite player. He's an elite goal scorer, but definitely not going to mentioned in the greatest players to play the game. In Gretzky's first three NHL seasons he had 198 goals and 315 assists, good for 513 points. Crosby's first three years? 99 goals and 195 assists, good for 294 points. That's almost half of Gretzky's numbers over the first three years of their NHL careers. Like I said, I recognize they played in different eras, but you tell me...would you classify Crosby as a potential Hall of Famer who deserves to be mentioned in the same class as Grezkty, Maurice Richard, or hell, even Jagr? Didn't think so.

The last piece of news is a sad piece from hockey. Don Sanderson, a 21-year-old kid in Ontario died fighting in a game in a AAA league in Canada. His head hit the ice and he eventually died, resulting in much more debate about the end of fighting in hockey. You can find more opinion here. I will put my full thoughts up next blog, but for now it's a good time to say a prayer for the Sanderson family.

-Buotte