the thing that jon bois really gets about sports is. ok. all of life is creating meaning out of things that have no meaning. devon cooley voice nothing matters we're all gonna die. but of course all sorts of things have meaning, because we ascribe it. justice and love and collectible toy dolls and art and different coloured rectangles of fabric. and the thing about sports is it's the ultimate form of that. it says ok -- there's two guys hitting a ball to each other and they really badly want the other guy to miss. there's 11 women trying to kick a ball around with their feet to put it in a big net box. there's two people facing each other, one with a bat, the other with a ball. one must prevail. and it matters, because we make it matter. teams are arbitrary and the people on the teams are arbitrary and none of it means anything and you can't even control it! you can control only yourself, and a good portion of the time you're not even in the game, right, you're on the sidelines. and you throw your lot in anyway and say make this hurt. make this hurt and make me care so it can mean something, so i can flip it over and make joy. and it works! and that's why sports are everything
This reminds me of the NHL's Four National Face-Off tournament in February 2025, and all these people, especially when their team didn't win, said "Who cares about a made-up tournament!" News flash, they are all made-up! You can decide not to care, and that's fine. But also, if you don't care about anything then your life is pretty bleak.
Robert Dvorchak | Pittsburgh Post Gazette | August 21, 2006
His hockey sticks and equipment are borrowed, and southern California is a long way geographically and culturally from Magnitogorsk, but the big kid in the No. 77 green practice jersey looks and feels right at home on the ice.
"I feel happy I have a chance to skate right now. It will definitely help me get adjusted and be prepared for the season," Evgeni Malkin said through an interpreter after a morning skate yesterday at the Los Angeles Kings' suburban practice rink.
Some legal issues and technicalities still confront Malkin in his long journey to join the Penguins as the most highly touted talent entering the NHL this season. But if hockey fans in Pittsburgh are concerned that Malkin's mind might be wandering a bit because of the bewildering events of the past two weeks, he remains centered on what brought him to America.
"It definitely was not an easy period to go through. But I'm doing my best to stay focused on my goal, stay focused on practice. I'm sure I'll be ready for the season," Malkin said.
That goal is what made him skip out on a one-year contract he had just signed two weeks ago with his hometown team in the Russian Super League, to leave his parents behind for the time being to journey to a country in which he knows little about the language and customs.
"I wanted to live in America. I want to play in the NHL. This is my dream," Malkin said. "My only motive was to play in the NHL. I was open about my desire to come here and play."
A common first impression about Malkin, chosen second overall behind Alexander Ovechkin in the 2004 entry draft, is his size. He's 6 feet 4, 205 pounds with room to fill out, and he stands out even if he's just lingering on the boards.
Skating with a dozen or so NHL players getting ready for their team's training camps, Malkin was easy to follow during the rink-long rushes and informal scrimmage. Granted, the impromptu workout wasn't done at NHL speed or with NHL checking, but Malkin flashed enough skills to impress some professional players.
"To see someone with that size with the hockey sense and the soft hands and some of the passes he makes, he obviously has a lot of skill," Anaheim defenseman Sean O'Donnell said.
"At his age, with his size and the talent he's got, I can't see why he wouldn't be a heck of a player for many years in the league. He moves well, has good hands, has good puck sense. You don't need anything else to play in the league. He's obviously going to be a great player, and we'll see how things turn out."
While several Russian players did what Malkin did to leave the homeland behind for the stardom and financial rewards of the NHL, North American players marvel at how Malkin left his team under a veil of secrecy and was stashed away in a Helsinki apartment until he obtained a visa to enter the United States last week.
"He's gone through a lot," O'Donnell said. "Most people don't have to have a gut-check or a character-check like he's had at a young age."
But every player can relate to having the rink serve as an escape from the outside world.
"You get on the ice, and it's your own kind of meditation place," O'Donnell said. "Once you're on the ice, it doesn't matter what's going on with your family or whatever. You're there to focus. Right now, it seems like it's where he's the happiest."
Kip Brennan, a winger with the Dallas Stars, hung out with Malkin and some other players over the weekend and participated in yesterday's practice.
"There's definitely a language barrier," Brennan said. "It's got to be tough for him. It's a long way from home. But you grow up fast when you play hockey. He's going to get along just fine. He's coming in with a great attitude and he's working hard. He's a great skater. He's got great hands. He sees the ice really well."
The plan for Malkin and his handler, agent Pat Brisson of CAA Hockey in Santa Monica, Calif., is to spend the rest of this week working out in California before heading to Pittsburgh early next week. By that time, his two-week notice of his desire to leave his Russian club will have passed. Russian law allows an employee, even an athlete under contract, to leave his job by giving written notice.
"We're taking it one step at a time," Brisson said. "There are still some things that need to be worked out. But we'll be there."
The issue of a contract with the Penguins will hardly be a stumbling block. Under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, the maximum entry level salary is $984,200, but incentives are negotiable. Malkin will likely sign a three-year deal that provides an additional $2.8 million in bonuses for such things as games played, finishing in the top 10 in goals and assists and winning a major award such as the Calder Trophy for the league's top rookie.
Malkin's limited knowledge of Pittsburgh comes from Sergei Gonchar, a Penguins defenseman who was his teammate on the Russian Olympic team last winter. But he certainly knows about fellow center Sidney Crosby and the legacy of Mario Lemieux.
"He told me there are a lot of young players, and that Pittsburgh is a friendly place," Malkin said.
He's also adjusting rapidly to his first week of freedom. He spent a day at the beach Sunday and has done some sight-seeing in L.A., which prompted an easy laugh, a sure sign that he's becoming more comfortable.
"The city is so unusually beautiful. It's amazing. Sometimes I don't feel like playing hockey," he said, chuckling.
Plenty of Southern California sunshine was beaming through one window at the Toyota Sports Center yesterday as Malkin and a new batch of friends went through their drills.
Among the NHL players participating were Glen Murray of the Bruins, Brad North and Mathieu Schneider of the Red Wings, Chris Drury of the Sabres and Sean Avery of the Kings.
One person impressed by Malkin was 16-year-old goalie Todd Matthews, who minded one of the nets and saw a lot of practice pucks.
"He can do what he wants with the puck," Matthews said. "It's not about how hard he shoots. He can control it."
Barring any legal entanglements, the same thing can be said about Malkin's future now. He controls it.
I love the guy who names all of Genoās attributes and then says, āYou donāt need anything else to play in the league.ā Size, talent, speed, mobility, puck control, high hockey IQ and youāre all set, eh?
hello, i've read some of the banter between you and your friend grace re: differing fic tastes, and from my understanding, my personal fic tastes fall way closer to what grace likes. do you happen to have some sort of 'sidgeno fics that grace would like' rec list that you'd be willing to share? thanks!
ahaha yes I can definitely make a sidgeno rec list that @graceebooks would like if she read hrpf. I am interpreting that to mean fics where they are kind to each other and the angst is pretty light. which Iād say is most sidgeno fic honestly (the vibe is very best friends/soulmates who really respect and care for each other).
king and lionheart (this one + and never been kissed are the top fics in the tag and are widely belovedā¦ I would say that neither is exactly to my taste but I think theyād probably both be grace friendly, perhaps even for that reason lol)
to be seen aright (this is was my personal gateway fic into sidgenoā¦ thereās def some angst around sidās ~internalized subphobia~ but the sidgeno relationship is incredibly tender and the slow burn is incredible. donāt be scared off by the bio!bdsm verseā¦ a key element of sidās internalized angst is that he wants to be treated lovingly in bed and worries that this is not hardcore enough for most doms)
you cannot go wrong with any sevenfists fic they are all SO good. my personal favorite is all the way through but if all these long fic recs are seeming too long you could sort by word count and read any of her shorter ones too. theyāre all really good. the dynamic is very loving and the angst typically stems from extremely believable miscommunication (men not knowing how to talk about their feelings). I like this short one where they accidentally get into a routine of napping together on the road.
this cold harbor now home (warnings for kidfic if thatās not your thing but I think itās pretty sweet and the kid is a baby so not intruding on the plot too much lol. geno discovers that sid had a baby with his on and off girlfriend and is now sharing custody. he starts helping him out and falls in love.)
make yourself at home (the bowerbirds auā¦ I love this one so much itās sooo sweet and quirky and fun).
unveiled (this one has kind of a wacky premise but it worksāarranged marriage royalty au, I wonāt say anything else so as not to spoil it)
a thrill that I have never known (this is also kind of a wacky premise thatās sort of the canon reverse of the aboveā¦ sid is supposed to have an arranged marriage within his faith but then falls in love with geno)
I hope that gives you a place to start! most of these are pretty long so Iām also happy to rec some shorter ones if you just want to dip your toes in.
If you want to read what I think is the sweetest and (in some ways) most heart wrenching story in the fandom, itās Looking Forward. Sid from 1997 goes forward in time to 2014 and meets Geno there, which means Geno gets to know a different side of Sid.
If you stopped engaging with HR when it stopped being trendy in the media machine then I feel bad for you. Weāre all starting to really cook here. Characterization metas on point. Unhinged posts have bibliographies. Fics have better hockey in them (not mine, but Iām TRYING) and Shane is getting 100% more accurately unhinged in our minds.
if you STARTED engaging with HR when it STARTED being trendy in the media machine then I feel bad for you. š We had some amazing times prior to November 2025. Most of the writers knew each other and we were so thrilled when the tag crossed 100 fics! The only fan art came from within our little group. HR hitting the big time is a wonderful thing for Rachel and for the world, but itās just strange to think of how tiny and cozy our original community was and how quickly it became the opposite of that.
Very well saidā athletes and fans alike are frequently saying āitās a businessā (about something thatās obviously a business, in which everyone is either paying or being paid!) because they keep forgetting and having to remind themselves. Or they donāt want it to be true but sometimes the reality has to be acknowledged.
And thereās the fact that in sports there are āplayersā who āplayā while the rest of us are āworkersā who āwork.ā
People are talking about Jordan Staal finding out he was traded at his wedding reception because he mentioned it in his Player's Tribune piece.
Here's a photo of Sid arriving in town for the wedding. Love the caption "Sidney Crosby (right)" in case you thought he was the guy in the high-viz vest.
Does Sid always glow and smile and giggle like this at Worlds?? I don't know if it's not having to be captain or the Geno resigning or the sexy omega lessons he's giving macklin or if it's just that he loves strapping on that maple leaf and playing hockey with the boys, but he seems to be having the time of his life
yes he does seem to get like this at worlds (and four nations)... that boy looooooves playing for canada. but i also love the idea that getting to be Just One Of The Boys is unlocking new levels of glee. he's not captain guys he's just an ordinary regular boy hanging with his guys...
itās not his job! heās not getting paid millions for it. heās not responsible for selling tickets. itās voluntary and heās doing it out of love for his sport and his country.
wow this clarified something for meā¦ playing at worldās is sidās perfect version of vacation. youāre not at work youāre not at your job youāre taking the PTO the league cruelly forces you to takeā¦ but youāre still playing hockey lol. your absolute favorite thing to do in the world. itās perfect
as a child he loved playing hockey, played every chance he could, made everyone around him (his grandmother!) play with him. the dream was to grow up and be paid to play. not for the money so much as the opportunity to keep on playing.
now he is an adult and he does get paid to play. it's his job, his identity, his life. now the dream is to play without getting paid and thus be a child again. he's connecting to the feeling of playing for the pure joy of it but at the same time there are real stakes. no wonder he looks so happy.
Does Sid always glow and smile and giggle like this at Worlds?? I don't know if it's not having to be captain or the Geno resigning or the sexy omega lessons he's giving macklin or if it's just that he loves strapping on that maple leaf and playing hockey with the boys, but he seems to be having the time of his life
yes he does seem to get like this at worlds (and four nations)... that boy looooooves playing for canada. but i also love the idea that getting to be Just One Of The Boys is unlocking new levels of glee. he's not captain guys he's just an ordinary regular boy hanging with his guys...
itās not his job! heās not getting paid millions for it. heās not responsible for selling tickets. itās voluntary and heās doing it out of love for his sport and his country.
is there like a superstitious reason sid is waiting to have kids until he retires?
oh to be clear he has never said anything about whether he and kathy want kids. tbh heās never really said anything, about any subject, ever, so this is all projection š
I swear that I watched an interview from many years ago where he said he wanted 3 or 4 children. Which doesn't mean that he wants them now, but I believe I heard him say that. Will try to find.
rocky it's jes. first of all HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY THANK U FOR THE BEAUTIFUL DUMO CARD. second of all just wondering if we could persuade you to write a little snippet of something about connor (from the connor/geno winner's room verse) spending time with sid at the 4 nations tournament.
happy valentineās day @ticklefighthockey i hope you enjoy this as much as our beautiful blushing babygirl!!
The energy in the locker room is infectious as soon as Crosby walks in, yelling and cheering and someone (Connorās pretty sure itās Jarvy) singing a horribly off-key version of O Canada. Crosbyās face breaks out in that too-big grin heās famous for, the one that changes all the angles of his face from sharp corners to rounded edges, eyes crinkling so hard you almost canāt see them anymore. Connor smiles at the sight instinctively as the team celebrates their captainās return from the media, even louder than theyād celebrated Mitchās despite him having the actual game winner. Mitch doesnāt seem too bothered by it, yelling out Sid-neyyy Cuh-roz-beeeee as Sid makes his way through the room over to his stall next to Connorās.
Connorās not quite as excited as the rest of the guys. Itās only the first game, and he thinks ā he shouldāve played better, shot more. It was Sidās crowd to lose out there, but Connorās finally playing for his country in a way that feels like it might actually matter, and he wouldnāt have minded a Connnnnor Mc-Day-vid over the speakers at some point.
Next time, Connor thinks. Next game. āNasty, 87,ā he says as Sid takes a seat and starts peeling out of his gear. Sid gives him a smile and knocks his skate against Connorās, a clack of plastic Connor feels ring through him.
The arena attendant sticks his head through the doors before Connor can say anything else. āCrosby,ā he calls out, āyou taking the winnerās room tonight?ā
Connorās stomach drops, but he doesnāt know why.
Thereās a few cat-calls from the guys, but Sid just shakes his head. āNah,ā he says, ālet Marns have it, he earned it.ā
Someone whoops, and Mitch rises from the bench to Griddy his way over to the attendant while the rest of the team cheers. Mitch says a name, but Connor canāt quite make it out over the noise, the yelling and leering and ringing in his ears that he canāt place. It doesnāt matter anyway. āThanks, Sid,ā Mitch shouts out before he leaves, and Connor glances over to see Sidās face, expression still and unreadable.
Connor wonders if Sid gives up the room a lot. He wonders if Sid wouldāve given it up if it was Russia in the visitorās room instead of Sweden, if instead of Karlsson teasing Sid across the face-off dot thereād been another teammate looming over him, eyes searching and mouth downturned. It makes his stomach roll to think about, which is stupid ā this, whatever theyāre not calling it when theyāre not talking about it, this thing with Geno isnāt like that, like they have any claim staked out on each other, especially not when it comes to the room. But Connorās been in the room with Geno, and he knows how easy it is to leave with him, like the walls bend for him with each lumbering step he takes. Sometimes Connor feels like thereās no walls around Geno at all, an open field you could get lost in, nothing to position yourself in relation to but him and the wind. When Connor thinks about Sid getting in the room with Geno suddenly the field becomes a dingy little basement with a shitty painting of grass and the sun on the walls, and thereās not enough room for three of them to stay. His chest gets a little tight at the thought of it, like the wall with the shitty nature mural on it is behind his rib cage, closing in.
Connorās phone buzzes on the bench beside him, pulling him out of his head. Itās not Russia in the other room, and it probably wonāt ever be, not soon enough for it to matter. Connor doesnāt need to make himself miserable over something he both doesnāt understand and couldnāt change, especially not when he glances at his phone to see it lighting up with texts.
Connorās chest does something complicated at the stupid eye-less smilies, a little twist and fold in on itself. He locks the screen instead of replying, feeling suddenly shy in a way that embarrasses him even though it only exists in his head.
Sid clears his throat, and Connor startles, a full-body flinch. He looks at Sid and sees Sidās eyes flick up from the phone in Connorās hand before they meet Connorās gaze, but he doesnāt look like someone whoās worried about getting caught snooping. He looks ā serious, maybe, concerned, a furrow forming between his brows. He stands up, having quick-changed into his regular clothes before Connor even managed to unlace his skates, and he towers over Connor now, face in shadow.
Itās weird, Connor thinks. Heās been in the room with Sid, too, more times than heād bothered to keep track of. Heās had Sidās dick in his mouth, his hand in his hair, the taste of him stuck behind his teeth the entire bus ride back to the hotel, but like this he feels like a stranger Connorās looking at on a poster, like someone Connorās never really known at all.
āBe careful,ā Sid says, and Connor has no idea what heās talking about until his phone buzzes again in his hands, another message coming in from Geno, although Connor glances down at the screen and then back up to Sid so fast he doesnāt manage to register any of the actual message itself. āItās not like that forever,ā Sid adds, and Connor frowns, teeth clenching tight enough that his temples hurt.
Sid doesnāt say anything else, and when Connor goes to ask what he means, he finds his lips are too dry, stuck together like theyād been glued. It takes too long to pry them apart, Sid already having turned on his heels and left by the time Connor manages it.
Connor licks his lips, feeling every crack, and then looks at his phone, where he can see Genoās texted Call from hotel? with more eyeless smilies at the end.
Connorās chest tightens again, thinking about wide, open fields. Heās only been in fields like that when heās been hunting, looking through the scope of a rifle. Yes :) Connor sends back, and thinks about Sidās warning. For Sid, Connor thinks, a wide open field is just somewhere deer go to die. Connor sets his phone down and starts properly changing, now that heās got somewhere to be. He wonders who Sid thinks the deer is. Who Sid thinks is staring down the sights with their finger on the trigger.
Either answer makes Connorās stomach twist, so he decides not to think about it.
OMG a beautiful amazing scene from the Team Canada Four Nations locker room that was posted fifteen months ago and that I only saw now! So many days I could have been contemplating these words!!
āthereās nowhere else Iād rather beā š„¹ Sidās (and all the coreās) love of the playoffs is the only reason I ever enjoy any of this. theyāre so happy
he said that what motivated him during the years of missing the playoffs was the thought of taking the ice and hearing the crowd for a playoff game at home. he heard it! what he had been dreaming of!
okay Iām trying to find that sid quote where they asked him what his chores were growing up and he seemed stumped and then finally said ācoming home by curfewā or something like that šš is this ringing a bell
I vaguely remember this but I thought it was āwhat was a rule in your house?ā or āwhat did you fight with your parents about?ā or something like that.
Matthew Schaefer and Mat Barzal on Sidney Crosbyā¦
Schaefer: If I was coming up and there was someone I just loved and stuff like that, it would be Sid, probably.
Elliotte Friedman: Has he said anything to you, on the ice?
Schaefer: Nooo, I was actually hoping in my first game that he was going to be like, āHey Schaef,ā like, āWelcome to the leagueā or something, but, no, I didnāt get anything there.
Mat Barzal: I had a moment like that too with Sid, actually, heās such a competitor. We were lining up for a faceoff, and we had just come back from the All-Star Game, and I thought, you know, like, you knowā
Friedman: Is that when you won fastest skater?
Barzal: Weāre buddies, right? Weāre buddies, right? I donāt know when it was. But. I went to line up on the opening draw with him and kind of tried to make some eye contact, and he was so laser-focused on the refās hand. There was, there was nothing said. You know, he was just right back to business. But thatās why heās so great. So donāt take it, donāt take it [as] disrespect.
Schaefer: No, I know. Heās just, heās dialed in.
Why does literally everyone hate the rangers, I agree but Iām not sure why.
rancid vibes, USA colors so we all subconsciously feel bad looking at them, and also their now ex captain intentionally elbows people in the head to concuss them including sid in our last playoff series
OK I have to add my thoughts here because I am aware that tfg is from the midwest and resides on the West Coast. And therefore tfg is, understandably, perhaps not aware of the intense enmity that residents of the Northeast or East Coast (of which there are MANY, this is densely populated area) who are not New Yorkers have towards New York City sports teams. We hate them. People outside New York just really hate the Yankees (not so much the Mets) and the Rangers (not so much the Islanders). My feeling is that NYC is a great city, I love visiting and do so often, and it doesn't seem fair for them to have championship teams as well. But it seems like for them, they feel they should have championship teams because their city is so awesome and where everyone wants to be. Madison Square Garden, greatest venue in sports, blah blah blah. "If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere" and all that. So for me and I would guess many in the surrounding states, it doesn't matter who's on their roster or how things are going for them lately. We just hate them.
