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Magic or Bird? Elvis or the Beatles? Ovechkin or Crosby?

Elvis Presley

Baseball fans dressed as Elvis Presley watch the pregame ceremonies during “Elvis Night” at a baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox, Friday, Aug. 21, 2009, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

AP

Over the last few years, I’ve tried to find a great comparison for the Sidney Crosby-Alex Ovechkin rivalry. For quite some time I went to basketball and flip-flopped between Kobe-Lebron and Magic-Bird (personally, I prefer Magic-Bird since both players came in the league at the same time, although Russia doesn’t exactly equate to French Lick, Indiana does it?). You could look back to the old days of Chamberlain vs. Russell or even go way off the map and compare the two players to professional wrestlers which, naturally, I did once before.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. “The Hitman” Bret Hart: Not a bad parallel to the Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby rivalry when you think about it. Austin/Ovechkin appeal to the simple fan with brashness and aggressiveness; Hart/Crosby are vaguely whiny, undeniably talented Canadians. Crosby might even have a disturbing obsession with baby oil and strange sunglasses for all we know.

Really, though, my favorite analogy comes from Uma Thurman’s “Elvis vs. the Beatles” discussion from “Pulp Fiction.” Just substitute “Beatles” and “Elvis” with “Crosby” and “Ovechkin” and then run through Thurman(aka Mia Vincent)'s dialog and see how it relates to the way people feel about the two stars. (Warning: there might be a little paraphrasing in there, in case people want to yell at me for missing the occasional conjunction.)

Mia Vincent: " ... For instance, there’s only two kinds of people in the world: [Crosby] people and [Ovechkin] people. Now [Crosby] people can like [Ovechkin] and [Ovechkin] people can like [Crosby], but nobody likes them both equally. Somewhere, you have to make a choice and that choice tells you who you are.”

Jump for more Crosby-Ovechkin talk and a chance to vote to declare yourself an Elvis (Ovechkin) or Beatles (Crosby) person ...

Earvin 'Magic' Johnson,  Larry Bird

** FILE ** *In this March 25, 1979 file photo, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, left, of Michigan State, and Larry Bird of Indiana State during a news conference in Salt Lake City. Michigan State will play for the title in their home state on the 30th anniversary of the game that put the school and college basketball, on the map. Magic Johnson and his 1979 teammates will be watching a few feet behind the bench. (AP Photo/Jerome McLendon)

AP

The other day, I was discussing the Crosby-Ovechkin feud with a few guys from Defending Big D and I made this point: my feeling is that if you stripped Crosby’s last name from his jersey or did something else to give people the “Pepsi Challenge,” hockey nerds would adore Sid. His game (when you boil down to its core elements) is subtle and nuanced. Although he’s obviously talented (just watch him skate), he is among the elite because of his hockey intelligence. Crosby is among the most driven athletes in all of sports. Just look at the way his faceoff numbers have improved from his abysmal 45.5 percent rookie rate to the league’s tenth best percentage of 56.2 percent. Ovechkin, on the other hand, is a superhuman (almost video game-like) talent. His skills are slap-you-behind-the-ears simple yet equally unstoppable. I’ve never seen a player who can match his ability to release a horrifying shot from anywhere like him; he’s basically a threat to score the second he crosses the blue line. Obviously, he’s not afraid to clobber an opposing player, either.

So, with tonight’s clash between the Crosby-fueled Penguins and Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals just a few hours away, I cannot help but ask: are you a Crosby person or an Ovechkin person?