Mario = Michael
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HuskerTornado
Jobu Needs Rum
They are the goats in their respective sports and were my pro guys and teams I picked as a 5 year old just before they started winning titles. It's a shame what the NBA has become, but still get excited watching the old highlights they are showing in this ESPN series.
I have said to many people that Mario and the Pens deserve this treatment, though they would never give hockey a 10 parter. How he was overshadowed by Gretzky in the Canadian/hockey media and robbed of awards due to being French Canadian. How he overcame debilitating back issues. How he overcame cancer. The story writes itself.
Oh, I am 100% sure Mario beat MJ on the golf course, lol, Jordan was a notoriously poor golfer.
I have said to many people that Mario and the Pens deserve this treatment, though they would never give hockey a 10 parter. How he was overshadowed by Gretzky in the Canadian/hockey media and robbed of awards due to being French Canadian. How he overcame debilitating back issues. How he overcame cancer. The story writes itself.
Oh, I am 100% sure Mario beat MJ on the golf course, lol, Jordan was a notoriously poor golfer.
Don'tcry4mejanhrdina
Registered User
No kidding. How the hell does a guy who scores 85 goals, 199 points, leads his team to the playoffs for the 1st time in 7 years, scores 13 shorthanded goals which is a league record, etc... lose the Hart trophy to Gretzky who had 54 goals and 168 points while playing for a dynasty?
HandshakeLine
A real jerk thing
Given as I think stats are the devil's tools used by fools, I am loathe to join in a stat conversation, but yeah, that's a robbery. 
Scandale du Jour
JordanStaal#1Fan
Same reason why the English (Canadian) media never speaks of Maurice Richard the way they should. It was even worse with Richard, the league would give phantom assists to guys like Howe to make sure Rocket does not win scoring titles. Maurice Richard was a rebel, they did not like it. Let's say that the Habs were very happy to have Uncle Tom Béliveau as the face of the franchise next (Béliveau was all class, but he was a docile pro-establishment dude). I'd explain further, but it would get too political.
It might not be as bad anymore, but it sure was in the 80s and 90s, not to the extend it was in the 50s, but there was still bias against Lemieux for being French (and hating the media).
HandshakeLine
A real jerk thing
I'm a huge Rocket Richard fan too. Dude would play games at night after spending the day moving a piano into a house.
Also, nobody ever had an Ovechkin Riot.
Also, nobody ever had an Ovechkin Riot.
Scandale du Jour
JordanStaal#1Fan
I'm a huge Rocket Richard fan too. Dude would play games at night after spending the day moving a piano into a house.
Also, nobody ever had an Ovechkin Riot.
Thing with Richard was that he became a symbol for French-Canadian greatness. One of the first that made us realize that the "né pour un p'tit pain" (born to be poor/humble essentially) mentality was bullshit and that we could achieve great things too. In the middle of "La Grande Noirceur", it did not sit well with authorities and especially not to the ROC - how there these conquered bastards think they are our equals. Richard's rise happened just before "La Révolution Tranquille" which transformed the province in the 1960s. Richard became an ever bigger symbol after those changes, I'd say.
Hell, I'd go even further and say that Richard singularly made the Habs the symbol they are today. Without him, I am not sure it happens. I despise the Habs and I love Richard. He is that important, as a symbol, to the history of my people. Not sure young people understand that these days, unfortunately.
HuskerTornado
Jobu Needs Rum
As I said and @Scandale du Jour expounded on, Mario was French Canadian and the English canadian/hockey media didn't like the French. Richard got it even worse.
Although, I wonder if even if Mario had been a good ol' Ontariahhh boy, if he wouldn't have still been treated as 2nd class compared to Wayne, simply because of the mystique they had built around all things Gretzky. Honestly, same thing has happened with McDavid media sycophantism. Doesn't he already has more mvp trophies than Sid? And he isn't even a better player than Sid is now. There was always an excuse for Sid not winning trophies, for putting him back to the pack. Sid isn't French, but he has gotten the short end of it a lot. And while we're at it...don't forget about that Malkin not in the NHL 100 thing.
Brb, going to secure a tinfoil hat here. Lol
Don'tcry4mejanhrdina
Registered User
Yet he won the Hart trophy the prior year when he won his first Art Ross. What was the reason he didn't win the next season? Was it because the Pens got Coffey that season? I'm obviously biased but Mario was flat out robbed of a Hart that season and I don't think anything could convince me otherwise.
The Great Mighty Poo
Thank You 59.
Also scoring a goal with a dude literary hanging off his back.
I will fight until the death that Mario's '92-'93 season is the best single season for a player in NHL history.
Pat Lafontaine, among others, would probably agree. One day you're leading the league in scoring. Before you know it you're 12 points behind the guy who had cancer and played in 24 fewer games.
I think it's really hard for people that either haven't experienced it, or witnessed it very close up, just how draining radiation treatment is for a cancer patient. To do what he did after coming back from that, especially on the night of his final treatment is incredible. It just completely wipes out any ability to function in any kind of normal way.
Don'tcry4mejanhrdina
Registered User
But, but, but, the only reason he was able to score at such a high rate that season was because he was resting for 24 games. Nice, relaxing, peaceful, radiation-filled rest.
The “what ifs” with Mario are intriguing but depressing.
Could he have overtaken Wayne if he had been healthy for his entire career?
How many more points could he have scored if he had played on a dynasty like the Oilers?
I have obvious bias here but I’ll always believe that Mario is the best of all time. The things that he was able to accomplish, despite being hamstrung for a large part of his career is nothing short of amazing and inspiring. The fact that he has been nothing but class throughout retirement and ownership just adds to it.
Could he have overtaken Wayne if he had been healthy for his entire career?
How many more points could he have scored if he had played on a dynasty like the Oilers?
I have obvious bias here but I’ll always believe that Mario is the best of all time. The things that he was able to accomplish, despite being hamstrung for a large part of his career is nothing short of amazing and inspiring. The fact that he has been nothing but class throughout retirement and ownership just adds to it.
ETA
Registered User
- Aug 8, 2008
- 567
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Yup. Best / most dominant ever IMO but the title of "greatest" goes to Gretsky because of his stats. What Lemieux was able to accomplish playing on the teams that he did and dealing with back problems and other health issues is nothing short of phenomenal.
The Great Mighty Poo
Thank You 59.
Beating cancer is one thing, coming back and going on a tear like the big guy did was just inhuman and proved how much of freak of nature Mario was and I doubt I'll ever see anything like that in my life time again.
Nathaniel Skywalker
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2013
- 13,824
- 5,392
Part of that bias was also due to the fact Mario didn't play for an original 6 team or a Canadian team.
Sheds light on the worship of Toews as well...
Agree. There was also a historical bias against players with gaudy stats coming out of the Q. In my naïveté, I never connected that with most of the Q players in the old days being French-Canadian. I still wouldn’t be sure whether the bias was based purely on experience at the NHL level or some more base bias against French Canadians.
When the NHL started getting a lot of Eastern Europeans, there was a different group who could be lazy, offense only, non salt of the earth targets for guys like Don Cherry. So guys from the Q weren’t so bad anymore.
HandshakeLine
A real jerk thing
Also had the gall to say something negative about how the good ol' boys ran the league.
HandshakeLine
A real jerk thing
This is a really good observation, I think.
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