Sidney Crosby's New Tough Guy Act Is Wrong Direction for Star

Playing in his first playoff action in two years, Pittsburgh Penguin star Sidney Crosby has inexplicably decided to become a tough guy. 

This is not the right path for this skilled scorer. Hopefully, his recent behavior is just a result of his Penguins getting trampled by the Philadelphia Flyers. They trail in the series 3-0, and in the third game, this became more than Crosby's temper could withstand. 

The Penguins ended up losing, and along the way, Crosby started instigating fights. It started with grabbing and quickly escalated into a full-out scuffle with Claude Giroux.

Crosby played this way almost the entire game, and afterwards, he did not seem to regret his behavior. 

Sam Carchidi, the Flyers beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, tweeted out this quote from Sid.

"

Crosby on Voracek: "I don't like him." Why? "Because I don't like him.I don't like any guy on their team." #Flyers #Penguins

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) April 15, 2012"

Carchidi also added this response from the new tough guy.

"

Crosby: "You know what, we don't like each other. Was I going to sit there and pick up his glove for him? What was I supposed to do?"#Flyers

"

"— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) April 15, 2012"

Why This is the Wrong Direction for Sid the Kid

There's nothing wrong with not backing down from his actions in his comments. The problem is that Sid did not acknowledge that this is not going to help his team win. 

After a loss like this, focus needs to be on what can be done to improve, and the Penguins are not going to improve by Sidney Crosby becoming an enforcer. 

They have other players to take care of this—like James Neal or Matt Cooke. They need Sid to be striking fear into the souls of his opponents with his prodigious goal scoring talents and not his far less prodigious fists. 

Crosby needs to forget about retribution or showing his competitive drive by instigating fights. He needs to be above this. He can't let anything distract him from scoring goals.

That's the reason anyone cares about him the first place, and it is and will continue to be the reason he is a great player.