Kovacevic: Giving thanks, one dish at a time

It's all too convenient of a column vehicle, but hey ...

• I'm thankful to have been perched up in Consol Energy Center's press box for this bit of Evgeni Malkin magic Wednesday night ...



That's just plain wrong, what he did to the Blues' Jake Allen to bring a 4-3 overtime finish to a fantastic Thanksgiving Eve, always a blast for hockey in Pittsburgh.

I could expound on that or simply share what Marc-Andre Fleury shared with me afterward: "Geno with all that ice? And only three guys to beat before the goalie?"

The Flower shook his head.

"No, no, no."

And by that, he meant yes, yes, yes.



• I'm thankful to be covering this edition of the Steelers, one that's tough, airtight in terms of togetherness and much more talented than most seem comfortable acknowledging, for some reason.

Really, these are special times for this team. We can fuss over minutiae such as missed field goals or mismanaged clocks, and we can bemoan the injuries, suspensions and other misfortunes that have struck this season. All are legit. But I can't comprehend how it feels -- at least to me -- like this group isn't being appreciated for having three supremely gifted offensive players -- Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant -- even without Le'Veon Bell. And if we aren't already including Cam Heyward in their category, maybe we should be.

The arrow here, as Mike Tomlin would say, is very much pointed upward.

• I'm thankful for the experience this week in introducing our new NFL writer, Jason Mackey, to several of the Steelers in their locker room and seeing him come away with the same feeling on the first day that I've had for a long time: It's the best place to be in Pittsburgh sports.

They're polite, professional and, at the same time, all business on and off the field.

• I'm thankful for having gotten to know and respect Neil Walker in every way.

I could write from here to the bottom of this cyber-page why, in baseball terms, the Pirates should keep him through 2016 and even consider moving him to first base in the event a multiyear extension could be worked out. But I hope never to be so cold-hearted about the job that I can't concede when there's more to it. Because every time I think of this management team trading Walker, whose passion for Pittsburgh goes so far beyond the birthplace listed on the back of his baseball card, I then picture him wearing some other city's uniform. And it's abhorrent.

Winning baseball requires heart. That this franchise's fortunes didn't change until it added more of that trait -- Clint Hurdle, A.J. Burnett, Russell Martin, Francisco Cervelli, among others -- isn't an accident. It just can't be conveniently quantified.

• I'm thankful that, on the above Malkin goal, the Penguins' superstar culture is such that it actually demands that all players carry themselves with similar confidence.

Witness Phil Kessel's approach in passing to Malkin ...



Kessel could have dished right away. And I'm talking back in the neutral zone when he first gained possession with a head of steam. Malkin was open. He was gaining his own steam. He had his stick down. He wanted the puck. He didn't get it.

Instead, Kessel carried it, correctly identifying from afar that he and Malkin would be facing a forward, Paul Stastny. So once he gained the St. Louis blue line, he skated slightly wide to pull Stastny his way and, capitalizing on Stastny having no clue how to pokecheck, easily slid the puck through.

"It just became a two-on-one," Kessel said. "The guy comes to me. Simple."

It's as simple as you make it, I guess.

• I'm thankful that good people I've known at the University of Pittsburgh are enjoying -- and I mean passionately so -- the resurgence of the football program under Pat Narduzzi. For years, the football has taken a back seat, certainly with the local non-school public, to Jamie Dixon's basketball program. It's got a long way to go, especially in terms of the turnstiles, but it's certainly a buoyant beginning.

• I'm thankful to hear from people at State College who, while recalling that my columns from a couple years back were anything but kind about how Penn State football needed to be cleansed, are mature enough to understand that an attack on Joe Paterno and everyone involved in that sordid scandal is not an attack on the institution.

As we've seen since then, the institution itself has risen above.

I'll pause here for a special reiteration: Thank you, Penn State students and alumni.

• I'm thankful for Sidney Crosby looking like himself Wednesday, as anyone sensible would have seen coming after this unprecedented slump, but I'm equally thankful for his striking candor in gunning down the absurd -- and easily disproved -- charge from the NHL Network's Matthew Barnaby that Crosby and Mario Lemieux were having some sort of 'rift:'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiwIE489Cgc

Crosby didn't miss his targets on this night.

• I'm thankful for the good, honest, critical, agenda-free, vendetta-free reporting that so many people do in the world of sports, both locally and across the continent. They help keep alive, in whatever way small or large, the great tradition of journalism.

• I'm thankful for the opportunity to dig deep beneath both the bad stuff and the good.

With this goal we've been discussing, for all the detail already above, I've got more: Ben Lovejoy, who has been better than most people will be comfortable admitting given the unreasonable bashing he got last season for being part of a trade he never sought, played the key supporting role



That's Lovejoy over there along the far boards. He's the only defenseman on the ice and, even though he's aware Kessel is farther back on the play, he's still in a precarious spot with two Blues converging.

One of those is Alexander Steen, who did this to Lovejoy back in March ...



Remember that play?

Well, it turns out Lovejoy did, right on the spot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK5iJ_EqI3M

See, I love this sort of thing. There's a story in every play.

• I'm thankful for readers who tell us all the time they love this sort of thing, too.

• I'm thankful for the tremendous mutual relationship we've got with the Riverhounds, one that has a sponsorship but also comes with never-questioned critical coverage. It's funny, but I actually heard from hard-working players like Rob Vincent, Kevin Kerr, Danny Earls and others that they welcomed having their matches criticized fairly.

It's like church and state, really, the separation between business and sport.

• I'm thankful that, given Duquesne's 5-1 start, Jim Ferry's hot-shooting team has more than a Hail Mary chance at making next week's City Game interesting. If not the Dukes' first win over Pitt in, um, 15 years?

• I'm thankful for hearing first-hand from both major Robert Morris head coaches, Andy Toole in basketball and Derek Schooley in hockey, offering kind wishes for the site, as well as expressing delight at our coverage. It means just a little more.

• I'm thankful to live in Pittsburgh in this unprecedented period of growth and vitality for our city. It's never been better or more beautiful.

• I'm thankful for this ... almost overwhelming feeling I had the other day when sharing a photo studio with our entire staff, with Josh Yohe, Matt Gajtka, Anna Webb, Jared Wickerham, Alan Saunders, my wife Dali, and now Jason, too ... and it was hard to believe we've gotten all these talented people under one banner in such a short period.

Going to take a while to fully absorb that, too.

• I'm thankful to our sponsors, beginning with the two biggest: Chris Hylen, the CEO at GoToMeeting.com, and John Paul, the CEO at Allegheny Health Network, have provided so much more than money with their guidance, advice and hands-on interest. We appreciate every bit as much the good people at Atria's Restaurant, NSSF, Baymont Inn and Suites, Point Park University, Turner's Premium Tea, Stockman Lawnscape, Curtis Pharmacy, Lohman's Beer and Shealer Chiropractic.

Apologies for the full list, but they're no different to us than the readers. They all count, large or small.

• I'm thankful -- and don't pretend you didn't know I'd open up this can of sap at some point -- for you, the readers.

You are the only reason we exist, the only reason we've expanded, the only reason we've accelerated the technical aspects of our site and app, the only reason we head into 2016 as this city's healthiest and fastest-growing sports media company.

It's crazy. Really is.

But I'm grateful, in the strongest sense of the term, to have you along with us.

Thank you!