Let the Trash Talking Begin

The upcoming series with the Pittsburgh Penguins should be a great one. With both teams having quite the passionate fan base, the trash talking will surely be at playoff-caliber levels. Let's get it started with this fine work by reader Karen:
 

Comments

[Walklett]

Looks like every game, Crosby taking dives while the rest of the team crowds around and protects him from danger.

[Don M]

Priceless!!! LETS GO FLYERS!!!

[Mike L.]

Perfect. Crosby's a bitch. A talented one though. I hope everyone just lays him out this series and he cries to the media the whole time so that people see him for the whiner that he really is.

[MPR529]

The Ranger fans are good, but Im sure the Flyer phaithful will kick it up a notch:

http://flickr.com/photos/wischfamily/2466077606/

[Tartan69]

Some enterprising person should trek to the Burgh and put a Flyers jersey on the Roberto Clemente statue. Or the Art Rooney statue.

[Tom]

That worked so well for the Habs fans

[Paul]

To be honest I wouldn't even mess with the Roberto Clemente statue(is there one, I refuse to go to Pittsburgh) he was a great player and even better person apparently. Can we buy Big Ben an orange and black harley to take for a spin instead?

[jd]

if you think we have some hate built up for the pens/crosby, check this out:

http://hockey-madness.blogspot.com/2008/04/disgrace-thy-name-is-pittsburgh.html

[MSM]

Wow that guy is great. I especially enjoyed this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UpLXqI0qhc

So appropriate.

[TH]

I don't think you have to watch out for the dive as much as you need to look for the cheap shot from behind from Crosby, with occasional assistance from Malkin.

[HLH]

Does anyone know if the Rocky Statue was protected sucessfully today? I heard there was a guy out there today guarding it.

[seeker]

Has Crosby ever had a diving penalty?

Answer: NO

Do Flyers dive?

Answer: YES

WASH -vs- PHIL
Eastern \ Quarterfinals

Penalty #4 | period 2 | 19:48 | #9 -S.UPSHALL | 2min | Diving

[seeker]

"I don't think you have to watch out for the dive as much as you need to look for the cheap shot from behind from Crosby, with occasional assistance from Malkin."

Yeah....and the Penguins had 5 guys suspended for hits from behind and going for player's heads too...right?

[seeker]

"I am sure that Pittsburgh will win the Stanley Cup. They have to do it. Malkin is having an unbelievable season. Hossa has found chemistry with Crosby. They have a great goaltender in Fleury. Their defense is pretty even. Pittsburgh is that good, they don’t have challengers.”

- Alexander Ovechkin

[doubleh]

Just because the Penguins don't get suspended for cheap hits or get penalized for diving doesn't mean they don't cheap hit or dive. Penguins tough guys take pride in trying to take our players out as much as the reverse, believe me, buddy. Ruutu is one of the dirtiest ones in the league.

[doubleh]

Did Ovechkin give that quote from the golf course?
Look: the Penguins are the better team, on paper. But they don't play the games on paper and the best team doesn't always win. So you just keep telling yourself it's in the bag and watch as it goes 6 or 7 games. Luckily the Pens players have more respect for the Flyers than you do.

[Seeker]

In response to some douchenozzle from here who said:

"hess5285 said...

honestly we couldnt care less if you make fun of donovan and ben franklin and some movie from 15 years go or whatever... your town that isnt known for anything, hence no shitty photoshop compilation post on the700level making fun of all things pittsburg... 1. we dont care enough to 2. theres nothing to parody. that is all. LETS GO FLYERS!!!

Well, most of the civilized world knows Pittsburgh as the Steel Capital of the World. So much so that:

a) Pittsburgh's steel production during WWII was 2/3rds of all steel produced in the entire world...more than Germany, Japan, and all the allies combined.

b) Pittsburgh isn't New York...we just BUILT it.

* Pittsburgh was ranked American's Most Livable City for 2007-2008

* Pittsburgh is #1 tourist destination in Pennsylvania

* Pittsburgh was ranked #2 most beautiful spot in the USA by USA Today

Meanwhile:

Philadelphia was named the ugliest, most miserable, most unfriendly, and fattest city in the USA (LINK)

[doubleh]

You actually believe the trash you read in the USA Today and Forbes?
Whatever.
Both cities have their draws and drawbacks. Philly is a much larger city than Pittsburgh, so it stands to reason we'd have more ugly people (since there's more people overall).
Pittsburgh the 2nd most beautiful spot in the USA? It's nice but I wouldn't go that far. I'd pick somewhere out west or upstate NY or something.

[Paul]

You know, I'm proud of what Pittsburgh contributed to World War II and the expansion of the United States through our steel consumption. However, last time I checked the steel industry long left Pittsburgh in the dust. It is part of your past, and for most people in Pittsburgh, a distant past. Just like throwing snow balls at Santa is in our past. But please go on touting the good ol' days for Pittsburgh if you so wish. Those polls and rankings are all arbitrary by the way, because although parts of Philadelphia are a dump, CNN had ranked several communities within a half hour of Philly as the best places to live in the country. The one thing that seems to stick with me is that if Pittsburgh is so great, why do the people who leave for college from there rarely ever go back?
Doesn't seem to happen so much around Philadelphia. By the way if you don't like what we write about Pittsburgh, you have a choice, it's called don't read it and go to a Penguins blog.

[Phils Phan]

Pittsburgh is Scranton on steroids.

[Pete]

I smell a Pensblog goon. Shall we ban him or introduce him to our good friend Dale Hunter?

As far as your "stats" on Pittsburgh, clearly none of the writers of those articles stayed in Pittsburgh for very long because none of those things are true. I lived there for more years than I care to remember. It sucked. Your steel economy tanked after the influx of cheap Japanese steel and it never recovered. You cling to your sports history because Pittsburgh offers nothing else. The only reason Pittsburgh is still a city is because no one has told you all to go home yet. Nothing more to see here, move along now.

[PhillyFanintheBurgh]

As a 3 year resident of the city* that is pittsburgh I have heard all of these arguments before. My FAVORITE is the "we built this country" thing. When Pittsburgh was a fort they were signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Just stop it and go back to your city that was recently declared smoggier than LA.
P.S. I moved back to Philly this week. I forgot what it was like to be in civilization.

[PhillyFanintheBurgh]

I do not believe that Pittsburgh is the #1 tourist destination in the country. There is no possible way that it is even beating the Poconos or freaking Amish country let alone Philadelphia. That's just ridiculous.

[seeker]

You must admit that as a troll, I am at least not the inanely annoying type.

This blog entry is titled, Let The Trash Talking Begin was it not? Yet there's already rumblings of banning me? Gutsy place here...and a tad hypocritical too. Whatev...

I came here in response to one of your own. He questioned: "your town that isnt known for anything". I simply pointed out to the unwashed fellow that we are known for a few things. Correcting the record so to speak. You may say the steel industry tanked, but so has your historical significance.

I rather enjoyed the excruciating irony of this remarkably lame rebuttal: "You cling to your sports history because Pittsburgh offers nothing else". You're right on that except for the part where your wrong....like the entire sentence. Broadstreet Bullies right? 1975 right? How many failed playoff runs? Flyers fans tend to resemble broken records when they are talking hockey. I don't apologize for having more successful sport here in Pittsburgh, why should I?

As of this posting:

9109 Days 1 Hrs. 5 Min. and 45 Sec.

Since The Last Championship in Philadelphia

[PhillyFanintheBurgh]

SCOREBOARD
Flyers lifetime record vs. Penguins:
125-65-30-4
Flyers lifetime record vs Penguins in playoff series:
3-0

[seeker]

"I do not believe that Pittsburgh is the #1 tourist destination in the country. There is no possible way that it is even beating the Poconos or freaking Amish country let alone Philadelphia. That's just ridiculous."

Well, I didn't SAY "country" either. I said Pennsylvania.

Here's some reading material:

* Note that Allegheny County basically IS Pittsburgh

County is top tourist draw in state

Pittsburgh Tops in Rankings

Allegheny County's ranking at the top of the state in attracting tourism dollars.

[DuqStudent]

Until Pittsburgh honors Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson with statues (minimum) I refuse to recognize it as a sports city.

[Seeker]

Thanks for illustrating my point so well for me PhillyFanintheBurgh.

[PhillyFanintheBurgh]

Sorry for engaging this guy everybody. My bad. Won't happen again. Go Flyers.

[Dustin]

I live in pittsburgh for the last 6 years of my life and been repping the P H I Double L Y non stop. It is a harsh place to do it but I deal with it and keep throwing all of them shit any chance I get. I was in a bar the other night on a monday and all they did was chant fuck the flyers and lets go pens. I cant wait to come home and watch this series and shove their faces in it. I was the lone person trying to tell them to go to hell.

[PhillyFanintheBurgh]

Sorry one last shot.

"There are some qualifiers on the data, though. Those rankings were done on a county-by-county basis, evidence that when people come to visit Pittsburgh, they stay in Allegheny County and do their spending here. When people travel to Philadelphia, they are more likely to spread their money around, visiting, for instance, the King of Prussia Mall or Valley Forge, which don't sit in the same county. When comparisons are made by region, the Philadelphia area comes in first, followed by Lancaster and then, in third place, Pittsburgh."

From your link punk. Go back to Pensblog.

[Seeker]

How about a hockey flashback to the night Crosby first was accused of diving? It seems the Flyers had a lot to do with that falsehood....

Hatcher butt-ends Crosby in the teeth, there's blood but no penalty. Crosby complains and gets a penalty for getting too heated with the ref. I'm not sure I can blame him for that.

Crosby ends up scoring the GWG.

Post game presser, Hitchcock accuses Sid of diving. Now seriously, this was a blatant butt-end that was well documented on TV.

While he's saying that, Crosby is at a Philly ER getting his teeth fixed.

He doesn't dive, he plays on the edge.

To quote your friend, that is all.

[Seeker]

Well, OK then. And here I thought I'd been pretty respectful to you folks for a troll. I could have been the type that just posts "CRYERS SUCK", "LOSERS SINCE 1975", and all the others contained in the Talking Points Memo.

Forgive me for taking your Blog's title a bit too literally!

I thought you guys had a bit thicker skins than that. Better hope your team man's-up a little better.

I'll bow-out without being shown to the door....

[Greg]

I here by dub Crosbaby.... the Greg Louganis of hockey

[Chris]

Seeker...let me ask you something. Do you really think anyone in Philadelphia cares about those stupid lists you are trying to throw in our faces? Every city has ugly people in it. I saw some of the ugliest backwoods rednecks when I went to college out near Pittsburgh. Besides, what is ugly to one, might be beautiful to another. "Ugly" is a subjective opinion, which makes that entire list bullshit. Philadelphians know better, and have better stuff to care about than what a magazine says.

I honestly have nothing against the city of Pittsburgh, or its sports teams...except the Penguins. You failed to mention in your article the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties Cindy has gotten for arguing with the refs. You call the Flyers dirty? What about when Laraque slid into Biron's knees...ON PURPOSE when there was no one around him? How about the high stick that left Chris Drury bleeding perfusely on the ice that wasn't called for some reason.

I end this post with a basic truth. You have to suck for a long time to get the kind of young nucleus that the Penguins have. And not only that, but it helps when there is no doubt about whom to draft for those five years because of the lottery pick your team got for being so awful.

[Chris]

Hey Bawwwwwb and Dawwwn, yinz wanna go dahntahn and listen to Dawwwwnie Iris while we drink some pawwwwwwwwp we bought at Sheetz?

[Tkmycall]

With all those accolades for Pittsburgh I have one question.

How's the golf? Because in 2 weeks that is all that will matter.

[themajor]

I love how everybody hates on philly yet if it weren't around this state would have very little money to work with. Love to talk all this shit on the city but will gladly take the money it generates for the state.

[Chris]

I never thought of that major. If Philadelphia weren't around at all, Pennsylvania would be just like Alabama: a backwards rural state with one small city in it.

[Loqiel]

Upshall got PUNCHED IN THE FACE and was called for a dive. If I got decked I'd fall backwards too, and so would anyone on this board.

[gootman]

Comparing the cities as tourist destinations and touting steel production.... worst trash talk ever.

[Don M]

The fact that CRYsby doesn't get called for the diving penalties is what makes it a f*cking joke... hence the reason for the picture. If he got called for it, it wouldn't be an issue, we would take it everytime. HOW BAD DOES THE LEAGUE WANT CROSBY vs. DETROIT in the Finals???? Get ready for some serious HORSESHIT calls in this series... LETS GO FLYERS!

[Seeker]

HOW BAD DOES THE LEAGUE WANT CROSBY vs. DETROIT in the Finals????

Already making excuses?........

Reynolds Wrap is having a blue light special on TIN FOIL in Philly just in time for the Conference Finals.

[Seeker]

Comparing the cities as tourist destinations and touting steel production.... worst trash talk ever.

Please pay closer attention the future. I hate having to repeat myself.

One of your own was showing off his Philly Education posting that Pittsburgh isn't known for anything. I guess HAT was supposed to take the place of trash talk in his mind.

Forgive me for trying to educate the unenlightened one.

[Seeker]

If Philadelphia weren't around at all

......Pittsburgh would have no place to haul it's garbage to.

See...you DO appreciate your contribution to society afterall!

[Seeker]

You failed to mention in your article the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties Cindy has gotten for arguing with the refs.

Actually, I didn't. I mentioned that Crosby was penalized for getting too heated with the Ref.

Which kind of also tends to flush those conspiracy theories right down the toilet....if the league didn't want to tarnish Crosby's good name so much (by calling diving penalties), then wouldn't it only stand to reason that the "word" would go down not to assess him with unsportsmanlike penalties?

You call the Flyers dirty?

Ummmmm...no, I didn't. But maybe you've just gotten used to hearing it from the rest of the NHL's fanbase.

Upshall got PUNCHED IN THE FACE and was called for a dive. If I got decked I'd fall backwards too, and so would anyone on this board.

Very good! Now just apply that same perceptive logic to someone on other teams that experience the same type of thing. Or, just stay a homer..it ONLY happens to Flyers, right? The injustice of it all!!

[Don M]

We don't need excuses when we know the FLYERS will win in 6... The league will be disappointed because none of the 13,427 people in Pittsburgh will tune in for the finals after the Pens get bounced from the playoffs. All that talk about the league wanting Ovechkin in the Finals and Crosby in the finals started on ESPN...not in Philly papers. Yinz are bitches out there in Pittsburgh. But its nice to see that people come to playoff games, where were all those diehard fans when the Penguins weren't so good???

[BigTom]

Wow, Pittsburgh produced steel and built most of New york City. Hummm, I wish Philly had as big a role in building.....o wait, didn't they sign some peice of paper here that made us our own country, i think it might have been around 1776..

[Kulp]

13 posts in 11 hours... man, I wish I had that much time to devote to making comments on rival team's blogs.

Seriously, we get it. We're ugly crybabies and Pittsburgh is a lovely place to visit. Well the Flyers are going to make ugly crybabies out of the Penguins and then they'll have plenty of time to visit all the wonderful attractions the Allegheny County has to offer.

[Kingfish]

Actually, Philadelphia was named the least attractive city out of 25 American cities by Forbes. Never referred to as the ugliest city by Forbes. Pittsburgh probably wasn't even included in the poll because no one regards it as a real city. Check it.

[Seeker]

where were all those diehard fans when the Penguins weren't so good

Still buying tickets to Pens games.

You should do some research before you buy into those myths.

[Seeker]

What about when Laraque slid into Biron's knees...ON PURPOSE when there was no one around him?

That really WAS funny wasn't it? Why didn't Biron muster-up the courage to fight him...after all, he was the one wanting to have a go with a Penguin. There was his golden opportunity.

I don't know if it's amnesia with you or just homerism, but one could say the same thing about Mike Richards giving Carey Price a shot to the head ON PURPOSE during a PK.

How about the high stick that left Chris Drury bleeding perfusely [sic] on the ice that wasn't called for some reason.

Of course those things only happen when someone plays the Penguins...right? You never see uncalled high sticks in any other games...right? Its never happened to a Penguin...right? There really isn't enough room here to enumerate how many times that happens to every team.

I could mention Mike Richard's kneeing penalty on Kovalev or when he acted like he couldn't control his own legs and put a skate to Malkin's face. A player is supposed to be capable of controlling his stick, but evidently not his own legs. If I did mention those things, I'd sound like a whiner though.

[Don M]

Here are the stats...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2008

in 2004, the Pens avg attendance was: 11,877. The Flyers avg 19,375.

in 2005, There was a lack of hockey...

in 2006, Pens avg 15,804. Flyers avg 19,653

in 2007, Pens avg 16,424. Flyers 19,282 (even with the worst record in the NHL!)

in 2008, Pens avg 17,076. Flyers 19,556.

With Mellon Arena capacity at a little over 17,000 - you had a lot of empty seats up until the past two years. These stats prove, without a doubt, that Penguins fans suck at life! Shame yinz confuse the word "myths" with the word "facts"... cause now yinz look dumb.

[gootman]

They need to drop the puck already.

[Get a life]

Seeker needs to get a life instead of arguing with people on Philadelphia blogs.

I'm just saying...

[Mike]

They do seriously need to drop the puck already...we should have started today...not friday...this is dumb having to wait.

Anyone else going down to the At&T Pavilion at Wachovia Center tomorrow night to watch the game?

[michael]

exactly their attendance completely sucked and they were going to move the team less than a year ago and now all of sudden everyone in Pittsburgh is a die hard? gimme a break..

[Pete]

Funny thing about that Pittsburgh attendance, all of the games in Pittsburgh that I went to in 2002, 2003 and 2004 were half full of Flyers fans. I also liked how I could show up 20 minutes before game time and get seats three rows back right behind the goal.

By the way seeker, thanks for countering my point that Pittsburgh offers nothing else other than it's sports with your well thought out, logical response that Philadelphia doesn't win championships. A fact we are all acutely aware of. Seriously though, tell me why Pittsburgh is relevant as a city. What does it offer? The steel is all gone. It's a cultural wasteland. The city has one museum of note that no one goes to. Its full of red-necked, steelers bars and shitty Iron City beer. It's the only city that I know of where no one lives downtown, and the stores and restaurants downtown close at 7:00 pm. If it weren't for the University and its billions of dollars in healthcare and biomedical research no one would live there.

And if Pittsburgh built New York City, than Philadelphia won the Atlantic in World War II. The Philadelphia Navy Yards built or repaired over 600 ships during that time. The USS Hal Gill's got nothing on the USS Philadelphia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Philadelphia_%28CL-41%29

[Johnny G]

so apparently kimo timonen is out for the whole series with a blood clot in his ankle where he ties his skate

FUCK

[Dale Hunter]

I guess Philadelphia sports are really cursed! Timonen out for playoffs with blood clot. I was going to the pick the Flyers to win the series but with this news, the Pens will sweep.

[Kulp]

Dale Hunter, do you ever get tired of being wrong?

[Dale Hunter]

Kulp: Don't think I'm wrong on this one. The Flyers are done like dinner!

[Kulp]

Hm... well good luck gaining some credibility this time around.

[Pete D]

This really sucks for Timonen. It sucks for the team for sure, but no matter what happens in the series, no one will be more upset about this than him. I'm just glad they found it so nothing ultra shitty happened to him.

[Joe G from S W P]

LETS GO FLYERS!!!!!

[Chris]

Not that it matters, but the Philadelphia area had a U.S. Steel plant too. We also had Bethlehem Steel in the Lehigh Valley which helped build the Golden Gate Bridge and provided some of the steel for the World Trade Center.

Again, I don't know why any of this crap matters, but I thought it might be worth mentioning anyway.

Go Flyers.

[Mike]

Seriously guys...I agree with gootman all the way up there...WTF are we talking about Navy ships and Steel production for...sure, Pittsburgh was a good city with all the steel production and stuff, but Philadelphia is the birth place of this country and was the original capital before they moved it to D.C. Philly wins...better city, hockey and baseball team...you may have us on the football team (debateable), but you don't even have a basketball team.

[Austin owns you]

Pittsburgh was ranked #1 tourist attraction?

What kind of acid were the judges on that day. I have a rating for you. Penguins suck.