Crosby and "whining"

For example, in his rookie year, he dove when Peter Forsberg hit his leg, probably a penalty, but Crosby still dove.  So Forsberg goes to the ref and says so.  Crosby, the ROOKIE, comes up to Forsberg and starts jawing in his face.

Not arguining with you, Nate.  But I would point out that Forsberg skated half way across the ice making the dive motion with his hand, which is showing up an 18-year old rookie AND the ref in the other team's building.  I'm not saying that Crosby didn't act like a jacka$$ at that moment, but Forsberg himself also acted like a jacka$$ at that moment.  He should have either said something to Crosby or, better yet, given him a shot later in the game ... not shown up the entire arena.  I don't think either player handled the moment very good, but I just chalk it up a heat of the moment thing.

No problem, Nate ... I understand what you were saying.  I guess here's what I don't understand.  I saw a lot of guys give a lot of cheap shots to Crosby his rookie season to "show him the ropes."  A lot of high sticks to the face, elbows to the head, etc.  I once saw Michael Peca slam his head into the boards from behind ... it was actually a pretty dangerous play.  I understand that a lot of it was just introducing "the rookie" to the league, and it is easy to say that he should have taken it like some kind of fraternity initiation ... but I can tell you as someone who watched most of those games that the cheap shots were borderline ridiculous at times.

BTW, I saw Forsberg interviewed once about Crosby ... I can't remember the specifics of the interview .... so this is complete paraphrasing ... but Forsberg basically said something along the lines that he (Forsberg) used to have a reputation for that stuff and that he (Forsberg) learned the ropes of the NHL and that he (Crosby) was just learning how things work and that he (Crosby) would be fine.  Anyway, I thought that was interesting.

As for showing up the ref, I just think that anytime a player uses gestures like slamming their stick or raising their arms in the air or anything that is obviously visible to the crowd that they are showing up the ref ... regardless of who does it.  I don't always fault the players for it though b/c we all know that the refs in this league can be down right atrocious at times.  Being a competitor and controlling your emotions around their incompetence has got to be tough to do ... I know it would be for me, and I'm a pretty calm guy.

Quick story ... I once had second row seats behind the penalty box to a Hawks-Wings game in the mid-'90s in Chicago.  The Hawks were definitely getting the calls that night and at one point Yzerman (as the Captain) came over to complain to the ref.  And I can tell you because I was sitting two rows from the ice that Stevie Y was giving the ref an ear full, but I can also tell you that if I was sitting anywhere else in the arena that I would have had no idea they were even arguing b/c he wasn't giving any gestures to indicate as such.  Anyway, I always thought that was a classic example of how to argue with the ref ... but of course, not everyone can carry themselves on the ice the way Yzerman did.