Pittsburgh Penguins chairman and former star player Mario Lemieux, left, and team captain Sidney Crosby listen to the program during the promotional news conference on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 for the NHL’s Winter Classic hockey game scheduled to be played outdoors at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on Jan. 1 2011. The game will be between the Penguins and the Washington Capitals. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
AP
It looks like the NHLs biggest superstar is finally all grown up. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has decided to leave the nest of Pens owner/legend Mario Lemieux and scored a pad of his own to live in. From the moment he joined the Penguins organization, Crosby has called Lemieux’s home his home as well, basically living on 66’s couch. Winning a Stanley Cup and a league MVP award, however, can get you motivated to finally get out on your own, something Sid is happy to do now.
“There wasn’t a moment where I thought, ‘I need to move out,’ ” explained Crosby, in a lengthy interview before the start of NHL training camps this weekend. “You wait for the right situation and the right place. Obviously, for me, privacy is important - and the area where I wanted to be. I didn’t want to rush into buying a place just to buy a place. I wanted to make sure it was the right place.
“Luckily for me, I’m in a good situation. Typically, people have to move out really quick and rush, but I’m not in that scenario. I don’t want to be half living in it and not have it really be livable yet. I want to make sure I’m comfortable in there.”
Often, as players move into their primes, they say that the years move by quickly, and that they become something of a blur. With Crosby’s schedule and the Gretzky-like demands placed on his time, he says that is exactly how the first half-decade of his career has gone by - in a flash.
“I look at the last two or three years, it almost feels like a couple of those years were like one year put together - everything was so constant, with the Olympics, and everything else that was going on,” he said. “I find myself looking back, thinking ‘that was last year’ and then realizing, ‘No, it was two, three years ago.’ That’s the way it is. That’s why you have to enjoy things as much as you can - because it does go by so fast.”
On the upside (or the downside depending on your point of view) this effectively eliminates a host of poorly-conceived taunts to be hurled Crosby’s way. After all, picking on him about sleeping on Mario’s sofa can really only go so far. Back to the drawing board for new material, I guess.
