Saviours, Strategies and Superegos

And Brian Jennings sleeps easy in his bed at night….

“The emergence of young stars, such as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby and the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin, has informed the league’s strategy to attract a younger following. ‘We feel we’re well positioned as a brand and as a sport to appeal to a younger fan base,’ says Jennings.”

Never have I been so astonished, in my small number of years of following the NHL, at the bickering and whining that seems to have escalated here over the past week or so on the Ovechkin/Crosby saga. I have deliberately not commented on any of these, mostly for fear of repeating myself over and over again! I’m not going to get into the shortcomings of either player here!

For those of you who are thinking or writing about this topic let me just drag your thoughts back down to a rational level. Brian Jennings can rest well guys, he has achieved his main aim of the post-lockout NHL.

“Sidney Crosby will be counted on to address a lot of the NHL’s marketing challenges.”

Sidney Crosby was not merely an ice hockey player, he entered the NHL more than aware of this! He was told he WOULD be the saviour of the NHL, a role that he clearly was happy to take on.

All was going well in the top office with this plan until Ovechkin emerged…the NHL became increasingly confused. Crosby…Ovechkin…Crosby…Ovechkin…aaaaggh! Their plans were crumbling; this was never what was meant to happen. It was meant to be Malkin, he would be his future nemesis. A smooth Russian 360 at the All-Stars dissolved this idea even further…

“How can we turn this around? We can’t possibly have two saviours,” they must have wailed. In a moment of wisdom Mr Jennings bore a perfect beautiful rivalry! A rivalry that was beyond compare, everyone would have an opinion.
I hope you are all getting my point! Congratulations we have all been played in one of sports most sneakily sublime marketing strategies!

I’m not one for particularly irrational pauciloquent rants, we all have to exist in this hockey world together and respect is most certainly paramount. In light of that let us all take a step back and ask ourselves this question…..Whether we take the side of Crosby or Ovechkin, what is it that pushes our buttons about the other? Your answer is this….

The thing we like the most is the one we see in the mirror! The whole strategy rests on tapping into our superego.

(Consider this….a couple of weeks ago I put a short piece up about ‘Glorified and Overrated’ players. Only once in 60 or so responses did anyone mention Ovie or Crosby and then it was purely based on a +/-…speaks volumes I think. I believe we all harbour at least some respect for both players…)