He has a gorgeous curl-and-drag. A marketing machine at one point for the league that looks for stars more so than astronomers or sleazy Hollywood agents. He’s had life profiles in sports and culture magazines. Whether it is Florida or Edmonton, the press boxes fill up a little bit fuller when he comes to town. There is, after all, an entire industrial complex — foreign correspondents who make their salaries, national sports sections virtually dedicated to his chronicle — built around the mystical possibility of Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals super forward and captain, as the best hockey player in the world.
But Tuesday night it wasn’t Alex Ovechkin whose “C” was the most prominent, in a must-win duel between the Sabres and Caps. A player whose career story involves narrowly escaping being waived just after the lockout, a player who is as often criticized for his soft-spoken nature and gentle mannerisms, Jason Pominville, the Sabres captain, shined brighter if only for one night. But if you know him and know this team, even if we haven’t always wanted to admit it, that wouldn’t be that big of a surprise.
Louder, it turns out, is not *always* better.
Even though I’ve been somewhat cautious about the Sabres’ run, I still always look for decent stories that I can wrap my fingers around. The run should be more than enough to quench my thirst, but I’m just ambivalent about it. However, I do have a fondness for any player who can prove the naysayers wrong, especially when it moves from criticism to just mocking. I’m not talking about how the Sabres run has led to a “Told you so!” conquest from fans and media. Yes, they proved us wrong, but they deserved the criticism because they played so poorly that they made hockey heaven into the 4th dimension of hockey hell. However, even though most of the criticism was justified, #29 didn’t deserve any when he was first named captain. I didn’t have a major problem with him being named captain because no one else jumped out at me. Sure, I thought Vanek deserved it because he was the best player on the team at that point, but I didn’t vomit all over my keyboard because #29 was wearing the magic “C”.
Yes, #29 will never be confused with the speech-making prowess of the Herb Brooks character in Miracle or William Wallace. He doesn’t fit the played-out stereotype of what Buffalo fans want out of a leader. He probably won’t grab someone by the throat for screwing up a play. He won’t give that money quote that will make headlines. No Joe Namath here. He doesn’t talk tough or fight or hit or resemble the next Jim Kelly.
Mix in those traits with the machoism of sports and you can just tell the #Illhangupandlisten hashtag was going to get some work on the airwaves.
“This Jason Pominville fellow isn’t a leader. He doesn’t say anything or fight. Grrrrrrrrr! Get him off my lawn.”
Besides callers, some members of the media (IE: Jerry Sullivan) complained that #29’s “lack of passion” couldn’t lead the Sabres, which sounded more like someone not enjoying his quote book than figuring out if he’s respected in the locker room. Then, my personal favorite was when his throwaway comment about NOT picking an all-star player was greeted with the assumption that #29 was in over his head and just a nice guy.
Look, I wasn’t the biggest Pominville fan (ask Heather B.), but I can tell when someone is just picking a fight and being narrow-minded without using common sense. Being a leader in any locker room can be as simple as being the boss at your everyday job. When you get promoted, does your boss tell you that you must yell at your underlings? No. Instead, when you get more responsibilities sometimes you’re motivated to do a better job…and that’s it. Maybe that’s why Pomer is having a great season. He is relishing the promotion and is responding because he’s a responsible kind of guy.
Right now, Pomer is being greeted with thunderous applause by the fans because the Sabres are going on one of their heroic runs to the 8th spot. Plus, the thought of your captain playing well after being promoted makes us feel better inside. If Pomer wasn’t the captain, who knows how much love he’d be getting now? We all know how many blurbs and how much airtime were dedicated to the captaincy over the years, right? It was a topic that got way too much attention.
I think what excites me most is that we can maybe finally get rid of the stupid stereotype that all leaders must be these William Wallace heartthrobs who drink beer and marry the bartender at Cole’s. Tom Landry didn’t say two words when he was the Cowboys head coach and yet players would take a bullet for him. The same goes for Tony Dungy. Joe Montana was never a yeller. Same with Jerry Rice. In other words, they all don’t have to be yellers. Just ask the media players who have to call Alex Ovechkin and Rex Ryan leaders.
Finally, we may have someone that can be a quiet center in the storm. His play on Ovechkin felt like an Italian bistro’s homemade parmigiana took out the Olive Garden’s never ending pasta bowl across the street. No gimmicks, no fancy commercials or GQ spreads or catch phrases. Just a good old fashion I’m better than you because I just showed it.
10 years from now, instead of wanting fire and brimstone, we can actually use someone else who leads by example or flourished under new responsibilities as the template to why a quiet, non-marketable or quotable personality can work in the Buffalo sports world.
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