Jen: It was definitely something that you wanted to be perfect. Thereâs no one more deserving to be more recognised. And knowing he had to do it without the fans there - you know, you just wish he could have got that ovation that he deserved, and celebrate it with them. So we wanted to make it extra special.
We were set for Valentineâs Day against the Capitals, and here we were doing it instead on Feb 21st⌠To be honest, the stick he got on the ice is back at the engraverâs, getting the date put on it for his 1000th game. We started in January, reaching out to all the teams. Not one person we asked said no.
And I can tell you that you guys saw quite a few videos from a lot of high-profile people, but Sid actually got a personal video with over 45 minutes of messages from friends, families, people at home, guys he played with at Rimouski⌠To not have fans, we wanted to make it extra special for him.
Steg: You had to be cognisant and respectful of the superstitious nature of Sidney Crosby. How did you handle that part of it?
Jen: So, I never, ever, ever said the word to him. I never said the word 1000 to him once. I think it was Wednesday the week before, and I said, âHey, Thursdayâs a day off, and Iâm thinking Friday youâll be availableâ. And he looks at me and Iâm like, âFRIDAY⌠youâll be available, because the media will want to talk to youâ. And he gave me the wink, like, okay. We never said anything but he knew it was gonna be the first time he answered questions about it. I didnât bring any requests to his attention prior to that.
We had an idea to watch his first game with him, but we havenât done it yet because we didnât wanna ask him till it was here. So, yeah, weâre superstitious from that factor. I actually called his sister and I said, âTaylor, you gotta help me. How do I proceed with this one?â and she helped with the family stuff. I called Kathy, his girlfriend, and she helped with the friend stuff. Itâs funny to see how many people - I canât imagine what he felt like hearing all the messages and watching all the videos, because there were a few of them that made me tear up, because he is just so respected across the board at all levels of the game.
Steg: Whose ideas were they?
Jen: (on Sidâs 1000th game tribute mosaic) âŚOne of the funniest moments of last Saturday was, after the game was over, I saw Geno bending over and  he was counting to make sure there was a thousand!
(on tying the skates) You know, I donât know what player came up with that but that was probably the highlight of the night for him. He didnât even notice. He was so in the zone. And he turned around and looked around and was like, âOh my godâ. When they switched legs, I was laughing so hard. They really full on when in. I fully expected they would have done it in Washington too since they won. (Metzer: He would have required it right?) Yeah, I thought for sure this was gonna be a new mandate! That everyone was gonna have to tie their skates just like him.
Metzer: Sidâs such a great human, but it humanised him, seeing the emotion. When he came together with Geno and Kris Letang, was that kinda a cool moment for you guys too, to just see the big three having an emotional moment. You could just see the affection between those three guys.
Jen: It was actually quite funny to me because of everything thatâs been in the media recently about the core and the changes in management, what the future of the team looks like. I donât think Iâve ever seen the three of them have such an incredible moment - and Iâve seen them win three Cups together. They really were sincerely proud, sincerely thankful for each other and all the things theyâve accomplished together
Steg: It was nice to see Sid with his girlfriend too.
Jen: Yeah! Kathyâs wonderful. I didnât want him to be alone out there. We had to ask the league for permission to have the guys on the ice, cus we felt like he was on an island by himself with no fans in the building.
âŚI feel like for someone whoâs in his 16th season, nothingâs slowed down. On the ice or off the ice. He is still such a big magnet for our team and attention - and deservingly so. He shows up day in and day out.
The night of this game, there was a long delay before he did media and the true story was, we couldnât find him. He worked out after the game (laughs). He brought a protein shake to media with him. We were looking all over for him. Sid was so long because after he took all his pictures, he went and worked out. We couldnât find him! His teammates had all already worked out, showered, there was a cake- and it was just so funny. No one knew where Sid was. He was working out.
-Penguins Live Weekly on Sidâs 1000th game with Jen Bullano, 27 Feb 2021
In which sid is utterly sidâŚ
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