What's A Kopitar?
On Wednesday night as I watched an Eastern Conference NBA playoff game, my Twitter feed exploded with dozens upon dozens of tweets. Each one featuring a strange word...Kopitar.
I looked over at the trending topics and just about all of them were NBA & stupid hashtags. #MentionSomeoneYouLove. Ok. #YoMama. Nothing mentioned this Kopitar anomaly that was flooding my timeline Noah's Ark style.
(Yes 5+ NBA Players were trending, 3 NBA other things were trending, and 0 hockey things. And the NHL was in the finals and NBA was just a conference final...Just sayin...)
I began to look at the Twitter icons and quickly put together what had happened. Something hockey happened. Detective work!
I knew there was a Stanley Cup Finals game, but with the Wizards in the NBA Lottery, the Nats on, and the Caps being eliminated like 2 years ago (right?), I wasn't really paying more attention than checking the score once an hour on NHL's website.
So when Kopitar came flying out of my computer monitor I tweeted some fans to find out what his deal was. Apparently he was the following: 'the bomb' 'a paralyzer' 'the man' and more. According to some stats, he is leading (tied) the best postseason team so far the Kings in points
Why had I never heard of this guy before tonight? I hadn't watched any playoff hockey, and I hadn't watched anything but Caps game. But I do watch SportsCenter & several other national sports shows. Why aren't they talking about him?
It is a strange thing to me that I don't know one of the top playoff performers on a team that will probably win the Stanley Cup. I don't even know his first name. So here are the questions:
Is it my fault? Is it the national media's fault? Is it the NHL's fault? Is it the sport's fault? Vote below:
4 comments:
There is an easy way to learn the better players in the league that aren't on your team--hockey pool.
Also, and sorry for being a super hockey snob, it's the Stanley Cup Final (not Finals). There is only one Final series, not many finals. I know, who the fuck cares? But, mad NHL props if you say, and write, it correctly.
Maybe Kopitar flies under the radar a bit? He normally has a good points tally, but doesn't necessarily score that many goals: only 25 goals this regular season but 76 points - ranked 3rd in the league for Assists. And it's a (sad) fact of (hockey) life that it's normally the guy who scores that we talk about, rather than the guy who sets it up.
I think its a bit that he plays on the west coast, i should have added that. Also they call it the NBA Finals, and being a hockey Noob I thought it was the same. Learning hockey still!
Kopitar is definitely one of those players whose stats tell you a lot, if you are unable to see him play live. 70 point guys on a, until now, mediocre team aren't a great national narrative. And although he is skilled, he isn't as flashy as Ovie, Sid, Kane etc.
As for the Final / Finals thing. It isn't a big deal and ESPN (along with many other professional sites / papers) routinely say finals. They're wrong, but as it turns out they don't really give a fuck about hockey--understandably. But, if you want to seem like an insider until your knowledge base is solid use final and you'll get props from those in the know.
Finally, if you want a bit of history and are looking to procrastinate there are some really nice, and short, 'Legends of Hockey' clips on Youtube that will help give you a sense of the game. For instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbYqrRh-Tzo
Keep up the blog, it's great fun.
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