All hail Pittsburgh. They've captured Lord Stanley's beloved hockey cup -- again. May they enjoy the celebration, parade soon to follow, and God bless.
Honorable mention should go to Nashville. The Preds put up a pretty good fight, though, in hindsight, blowing the first game of the Finals where they clearly outplayed the Pens eventually came back to haunt them. Still, a #8 seed getting this far should be commended. Yes, it's been done before. The LA Kings won the Cup as a #8 not that long ago, so anything can happen, but what else is going on in the Nashville sports scene these days?
It's tough to begrudge the Penguins their championship. After all, consider the history of Pittsburgh pro sports.
Back in the 70s, they were known as the City of Champions. The Steelers of the NFL were certainly dominant. Bradshaw, Franco, Lambert, Swan, Mean Joe and the "steel curtain" and the rest of the gang were a formidable bunch to say the least. Lots of Super Bowl titles.
The Pirates of Major League Baseball were excellent as well back in those days.
No, they've never had an NHL team, and their most notable college football players were probably Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett -- both Hall of Famers.
But other than the Pens, they've hit a dry spell in recent decades. The Steelers are always pretty good, but can't get past that pesky Brady Bunch in New England come crunch time.
The Pirates? Well, they've fairly well stunk it up lately. Not since the heady days of Willie Stargell and the flat-top caps of old have they amounted to much. The city itself has seen its once proud and mighty steel industry wither away to near extinction.
So hats off to Sid the Kid and his fellow Pens, the 2017 Stanley Cup Champions.
Yep, they were the better team going in, and that's just pretty much how it played out in the end,
Besides, Nashville can fall back on all that terrific music they generate and continue to have a good time.
There's worse things. If the Preds don't believe that -- they need only spend a few days in Detroit checking out the landscape -- the sports scene, crime, gangs, drugs, neighborhoods, the whole works.
Losing to the Penguins might be a hard pill to swallow, but oh yeah, it could definitely be worse.....
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