Lemieux: Crosby better player than me at that age

DETROIT -- Mario speaks! After maintaining a profile at the 2008 Stanley Cup final that is as low as GM's current stock price, Mario Lemieux, the former

Michael Farber | May 30, 2009

Lemieux: Crosby better player than me at that age /

DETROIT -- Mario speaks!

After maintaining a profile at the 2008 Stanley Cup final that is as low as GM's current stock price, Mario Lemieux, the former superstar-turned-Greta Garbo of NHL owners, held a 12-minute press conference prior to the start of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final Saturday between his Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings.

Tanned, rested and ready -- and sporting a lightweight Palm Beach sport coat that was redolent of summer -- the tieless Lemieux was as amiable as he was back in 1999 when he bought the team and returned to the ice. Of course, he had an economic imperative to be publicly chatty then. Since retiring early in the 2005-06 season, the first in the NHL career of his current tenant, Sidney Crosby, Lemieux has generally kept his counsel.

But in front of perhaps 50 media members, he covered the waterfront, chatting about the 21-year-old Crosby -- "A better player than I was at that age" -- the post-lockout game -- "I think it's great," a swell compliment from the man who once trashed the "garage league" of clutching and grabbing -- and other assorted stuff.

The highlights:

On comparing himself to Crosby, who still lives at Chez Mario: "He's a lot more mature than I was at 21. He was a lot more mature at 18 ... He's a special kid. He's a better player than I was at the same age, for sure."

On the similarities between the 1984 champion Oilers and the current Penguins: "It would be nice to follow what Edmonton did, for sure. Similar type of team with the core guys we have, you know. (WayneGretzky) and (Mark) Messier, and of course we have (Evgeni) Malkin and Sid. Pretty much similar to the two teams (with) the way they played." The most astonishing thing was not what he said but that Lemieux even deigned to say it.

Published May 30, 2009

MICHAEL FARBER

Along with the pages of Sports Illustrated, you'll find senior writer Michael Farber in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Farber joined the staff of Sports Illustrated in January 1994 and now stands as one of the magazine's top journalists, covering primarily ice hockey and Olympic sports. He is also a regular contributor to SI.com. In 2003 Farber was honored with the Elmer Ferguson Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for distinguished hockey writing. "Michael Farber represents the best in our business," said the New York Post's Larry Brooks, past president of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. "He is a witty and stylish writer, who has the ability to tell a story with charm and intelligence." Farber says his Feb. 2, 1998 piece on the use and abuse of Sudafed among NHL players was his most memorable story for SI. He also cites a feature on the personal problems of Kevin Stevens, Life of the Party. His most memorable sports moment as a journalist came in 1988 when Canadian Ben Johnson set his controversial world record by running the 100 meters in 9.79 seconds at the Summer Olympic Games, in Seoul. Before coming to Sports Illustrated, Farber spent 15 years as an award-winning sports columnist and writer for the Montreal Gazette, three years at the Bergen Record, and one year at the Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, NY. He has won many honors for his writing, including the "outstanding sports writing award" in 2007 from Sports Media Canada, and the Prix Jacques-Beauchamp (Quebec sportswriter of the year) in 1993. While at the Gazette, he won a National Newspaper award in 1982 and 1990. Sometimes Life Gets in the Way, a compendium of his best Gazette columns, was published during his time in newspapers. Farber says hockey is his favorite sport to cover. "The most down-to-earth athletes play the most demanding game," he says. Away from Sports Illustrated, Farber is a commentator for CJAD-AM in Montreal and a panelist on TSN's The Reporters (the Canadian equivalent of ESPN's The Sports Reporters in the United States, except more dignified). Farber is also one of the 18 members on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. Born and raised in New Jersey, Farber is a 1973 graduate of Rutgers University where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He now resides in Montreal with his wife, Danielle Tétrault, son Jérémy and daughter Gabrielle.