#pens

[marcandreyuri]

shamelessly stealing the shark fandom's shringo concept for the penguins after our not-so-fun start to the season <3 <3 <3

hope we get a bingo tonight!

[heartnosekid]

🍬 the name aubrie 🎀

for anon!

🎀-🍬-🎀 / 🍬-🎀-🍬 / 🎀-🍬-🎀

[couthbbg]

everybody please look at this photo of 2012 geno being happily squished by the boys. that's all

[nonsensical-nonsence]

To add to this:

I say my team (Pens) is shit as a joke because it is a joke, and just right now. I can say that bc it’s my team. It’s a bit like banging my head into a wall, but it’s still my team. I still go “holy shit we suck ass” followed by “eh, not exactly the worst thing that could have happened that game. At least we scored. There will be other games.” The fact of the matter is that all teams go through slumps. The reason you get a number 1 pick is because you sucked so badly the year before there was just a collective “pls for the love of god get your shit together”. We would not have Sid or any other “great” players without sucking every once in a while.

hi! i'd like to talk about losing. you don't have to read this if you don't want to, but i wanted to write it, and guess what, it's my blog. i just like this team a lot and i'm feeling a little maudlin about my guys and a little sick to fucking death of the shit i'm seeing all over kingdom come from 'fans'. so here we are.

So You Became A Fan Of A Living Legend But The Hockey Team Is Bad: a commentary.

look. this is not the most fun i've ever had watching hockey, and i'm quite sure a lot of people feel the same way. the penguins are bad this season! they were bad last season too, but there's something very special about the extent to which they are shit right now. and those are not fun games to watch.

but here's the thing: who cares.

like, idk. there's so much god damn negativity surrounding this team and its performance right now, and i'm guilty of contributing to it as well, because yeah of course i'd rather watch a team win in decisive fashion most nights. of course i'd rather dream about may and june and the stanley cup. of course i want to watch that happen again for my favorite players. like, duh.

but. it's probably not going to. not if these players get what they want, which is to play together on this team until they're ready to retire.

and you know what? that's fine. if they're fine with it, who on earth am i to not be?

i think we all have the same reaction when we see idiots online saying things like 'sid doesn't deserve this trade him to a contender'. and that's because we are smarter and more refined fans who understand that what sidney crosby DESERVES is to select how and where and when his career ends. is it on a team that sucks? then that means being here is more important to him than getting that fourth cup. staying with geno and kris and the penguins as a whole, never putting on another NHL logo, is more significant to him personally than another victory. and isn't that special? isn't that worth celebrating?

of course we know all of that because we're better at being fans than the uncles online who are writing weird fanfic in their heads. but. guess what that comes with:

losing.

and losing badly, in the case of this season.

i am here to tell you that sitting and bitching about it helps no one. right now, what we have to watch and celebrate is our favorite players still playing at a high level. they're still doing cool stuff on the ice. and they're doing it TOGETHER. this is what they wanted. so your options are either to hate it and sit in negativity about it each and every game, OR readjust your mindset and learn to enjoy what we have while we have it.

we are watching myth-making happen live. we are watching living legends play hockey. this is a privilege and an honor and it's not something most fanbases get EVER. and we have two! can you believe it?

there are things i would have rather seen done differently over the last couple of years. as far back as 2019 there were moves i disagreed with and changes that could have been made that perhaps could have extended their window. and of course the 2022 series against the rangers, that was a very good team that got hit by injuries at the absolute worst possible time, and probably that was their last chance as a core to compete. it's frustrating to watch that stuff happen when you have no control over it.

the pittsburgh penguins were high-end competitors and contenders for seventeen years straight. that's insane and unheard of in this league. they're not anymore. and the price you pay for almost two decades of dominance is...being bad. when you're competing you trade prospects and draft picks for win-now players. sometimes those work out, most of the time they don't. with the amount of winning this team has done, even the trades that didn't work were worth it, because it meant they were trying.

there are no fanbases who are going to feel bad for penguins fans right now. that's also why we're getting so much attention from the national media. people aren't used to this team being as bad as it is, and people like watching downfalls. that's fine. most of those fans have never watched their team win, and most of them never will. so if their joy is coming from sidney crosby's team being bad....well, love and light, you know?

and we shouldn't feel bad for ourselves either. this is what happens. this is how it goes. this is the price for the band staying together.

i dunno, guys. this is a disjointed rant. it's just so effing hard to be kicked in the nuts everywhere you go with unrelenting negativity. it's on twitter it's in the articles and yes, it's here too. but if you can't be a fan of a team when they're bad, then i'm sorry but you're not a fan of the team (or certain players), you're a fan of winning. and NO team wins all the time every year. that's not how sports work.

we are lucky. at least, i feel lucky! don't you? gosh, sidney crosby scored his 600th career goal tonight. evgeni malkin is over 500 goals on his career. can you believe that? it's amazing to watch.

and it's going to be over in less than two years. do we really want to waste it by wishcasting something that's not going to happen instead of enjoying what we DO have?

if the media bums you out, don't listen. don't read the articles. don't go on twitter. dry your tears on the stanley cup banners that sid and geno hung up—there are three to choose from!

[zegalba]

Confiscated pens containing cheat notes intricately carved by a student at the University of Malaga, Spain. (2022)

[momokarp]

It’s always awkward making eye contact on public transit

[morggo]

Greyhound and Peonies

Pen and ink on Arches paper

3 in x 5 in

[macrolit]

If you aren’t choosing 5, you need help. 

[zoestanleyarts]

Kim Pine pen doodle.

[barbru]

Bill: ignore everything that distracts you from the portal! Also Bill:

[90s-2000s-barbie]

[deeroffal]

Ones with an R next to them are just referenced heavily from the in game art but. Playing in this sandbox atm

[pencilnewt]

so this was just supposed to be a geno sketch but i possibly got a little carried away and now it's 1am

[couthbbg]

Kirk & Spock // Sid & Geno

[5bi5]

PJs Sid