Ovechkin and the Caps still have work to do. (Caps Outsider)
The Caps were still celebrating their Stanley Cup victory when a couple of knuckleheads came out to give their input on the matter. Larry Brooks of the New York Post was quick to say that a Cup won’t change Alex Ovechkin’s ledger of losing. Michael Wilbon felt the need to point out Stanley Cup totals by other modern players, compared to Ovechkin, and that he’s not an all-time great until he gets more.
As much as I disdain what these two had to say, it’s simply the reality of how folks compare great players in almost every sport (just usually not so soon after a championship). It’s not hard to think of the superstars with the most championships in hockey, basketball, football, baseball, and even NASCAR. Fans can easily rattle off the great players in all of these sports who never won the big one, like Dan Marino and Charles Barkley. Fans can easily the name the best players in these sports who only won just one, like Ray Bourque, or several fewer than other great players, like Wilt Chamberlain. I’ve even heard a Patriots fan smugly point out that Tom Brady has more championships than the Manning brothers combined. Even Redskins fans once had a time where their three beat most other teams.
In these ‘all-time great’ conversations, which sports fans love to have, Ovechkin has now cracked the but he only has one window. It’s not always a fair comparison but that’s simply what folks do when discussing the legacies of superstars.
As a Caps fan, the one championship is fantastic, but let’s be honest – we don’t want to have to defend Ovechkin’s only-one-Cup legacy as Penguins, Blackhawks and even Kings fans call it ‘cute.’ Ovechkin and the Caps still need to win a couple more to permanently shut up the Larry Brooks’s and Michael Wilbons of this world.
So I’m with you, T.J. Oshie. Let’s make this happen:
