Alright well, we know Alex wears several necklaces, including various crucifixes, a very recognisable 8 on a bar with circular thingy on top, and a “plainer” square-fonted 8? (Well, I say plainer - it still looks potentially diamond-accented.)
*cough* Okay, that was my excuse to post photos of Ovi shirtless. [1,2]
Zoomed (and UNenhanced! (crime serials lolz)) pics below the cut!
Y’know,per my earlier post, I seriously will bang this drum forever: how great is Alex Ovechkin? Here’s this generational player that may very well end up being the best goal scorer of all time. A guy with more personality and willingness to show it than roughly 90% of the NHL. Enormously entertaining, who’s put in his time for his country and his team and his league, who tends to rise to the occasion no matter what it is and given more thrilling and hilarious moments than can even all be remembered.
And from the moment he was drafted, the NHL has had him characterized as The Other. He’s been handed a variety of roles that he’s expected to play without complaint, like The Rival, The Bad Guy, The Dirty Russian, The See We Suspend Super Stars Too Guy, and usually it’s in a negative comparison against Crosby.
How fucking exhaustingmust it be to always be regarded that way, to have that characterization just dropped on your back? To pour blood, sweat, and tears into your career, to have your heart basically ripped out multiple times on a public stage over and over, twice by the same person the media seems intent on holding up as the standard to which he’s found wanting, and be forced to grin and bear being the butt of the same tired jokes? Man, do you know how unbelievably bitter I’d be in that situation? How much I’d have to grit my teeth and choke back a storm of bile just at the mention of that person’s name?
And Ovi just… jokes about it. Doesn’t miss a beat. Doesn’t blow off this kid who’s there because he probably loves hockey and looks up to Ovi and maybe to Crosby as well, which Ovi knows. Just keeps on being Ovi, makes that joke, and keeps a straight face while doing it.
Goddamn, what an awesome dude. This is my hill, and I’ll die on it.
So, Ovi and Mike Richards are immediately gonna recreate this commercial with weird eyefucking in an airport, right
(The Behind the Scenes video is actually much better than the commercial itself because Ovi is fucking hilarious as an interviewer, and he spends the whole time hanging over and/or fucking with Nicky and Mike Green, and then Brooks Laich. But the best part is when he’s interviewing the kid playing him, and dives right into the criticism for his suspension and goal celebrations. Ovi’s actually kind of ridiculously clever, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.)
The Olympics are over, and as the Sochi bear weeps one solitary, terrifying tear, I too weep for the ending of the greatest tournament of hockey, all due respect to the Stanley Cup Final. For the United States, it was a tournament of extremely high highs (TJ Oshie’s shootout; the women’s team’s 9-0 win over Switzerland) and extremely low lows (the tournament endings for both teams). I personally…
