Is Ovechkin Taking Lessons From The Master?

By now, you've probably heard the news about how Alex Ovechkin said that he was able to rally the Washington Capitals to victory after the team fell behind 3-0 to the Ottawa Senators earlier this week when he sensed the Sens were mocking him and his teammates:

Toward the end of the first period last night, with Ottawa enjoying what should have been an insurmountable lead over Washington, the Senators started making fun of the Capitals, chuckling and making snide remarks. "It looked like their [attitude] wasn't very good," Caps star Alex Ovechkin said. "That got us angry."

The rest is now Caps history, as Ovechkin scored twice, including the game tying goal with 24.4 seconds remaining on the way to a 4-3 OT victory.

But is that the way it really happened? Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson says no:

"We respect every team and we respect them a lot. I just think this is a case where Ovechkin's English isn't very good and he thought something happened that didn't."

Jason Spezza chimed in with similar comments, but something tells me that Ovechkin's English skills are just fine, thank you. Instead, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle, and Ovechkin is taking a page from the playbook of one of the greatest competitors of all time, Michael Jordan. Here's Michael Wilbon:

I have always believed Jordan was addicted to competition. And if things are relatively equal physically – as they tend to be in professional sports – then you better be smarter, more relentless. How can I get an edge? What's the best way to get inside this guy's head? Without that, Jordan would be another really good basketball player. With it, he was the best of our time, probably the best ever. And "really good" doesn't even show up on Jordan's radar.

[...]

He created challenges where other players saw nothing. To this day, my favorite one is the LaBradford Smith saga. The story goes that back when Smith was playing for the Bullets, he scored 37 against Jordan and the Bulls one night in Chicago. Jordan put out the word that Smith had mocked him by saying, "Nice game, Mike." Jordan said he wanted all 37 back in the first half the next night in Capital Centre, and he got 36 of them. By halftime.

Now, here's where the good stuff starts. Jordan, with that signature wink, finally admitted last year he'd made up the whole thing. What's even more amazing is that the Bullets players were so in awe of him, Smith never denied the story and his teammates believed Jordan. In fact, Bullets who didn't even play with Smith had passed on the story and believed it. Even more amazing: Jordan used a fictional story to fire himself up, meaning more than likely, he had to believe the story. His brilliance will never be fully appreciated. Opponents who figured he was just devious never got it.

Yep. That's the bet I'd put money down on, so to speak.

Eric 12:06 AM

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