Sidney the Great Meets Iron Mike
About seven minutes after Canada beat the United States for the Winter Olympics gold medal, I got a call from ComicMix‘s own utility infielder, Glenn Hauman.
“So are you going to write it up?” Glenn asks.
“Write WHAT up?” Mike responds.
“The Grell thing, Glenn responds.
“Damn. WHAT did Mike do NOW,” Mike queries, oblivious to the obvious while deep in the throws of mourning the
American’s having to settle for a mere silver medal.
“You know, that hockey thing.” Like most Americans, Glenn’s not much of a hockey fan. He didn’t even know that his local team, the New Jersey Devils, was beating the poo out of nearly every other NHL team this year except for my Chicago Blackhawks.
“WHAT hockey… oh, I get it.” The cold light of reality started seeping into my blackened brainpan; the first sign of recovery for a hockey fan. Or maybe it’s the first sign of soberness; I wouldn’t know.
It turns out a couple years ago I assisted Iron Mike in a special licensing project for the NHL turning a bunch of rookies and newbies into super-heroes. It was a lot of fun for me, but mostly because this time Mike was the one playing point with the licensee and I was simply “advising,” which is a euphemism for “consulting,” which is another word for “money for nothing and your chicks for free.” Mike did some great work on this series, and among the players so empowered was an astonishingly young phenom called Sidney Crosby.
Sidney, of course, went on to become one of the hottest players in the NHL and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He also received the ultimate honor: I wear a Penguins t-shirt with his name and number on the back.
Sidney Crosby also scored the sudden death overtime goal last night that gave his homeland another gold medal for hockey. Quite aside from my genuinely patriotic fervor in my support of Team USA, it was an amazing goal and a well-earned victory.
And it teaches a lesson. See what happens when Mike Grell turns you into a super-hero?