#24 – Not Sure If Serious or Playing Dumba

[dekedangle_rpf_mod]

This is the twenty-fourth post of Deke Dangle RPF Anon, a community for all your ice hockey anon meme needs.

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Comments

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Not a Pens fan, but he's a very good defenseman. People will make a lot of concessions for the lack of chill and taking bad penalties if a player generally does more to help the team than harm it. They'll still get pissed about the penalties and stupid moves, but it's more of a "why must you be like this?" than a "I want this guy off my team NOW". My team has a player who has a similar habit of losing his temper (although he's been better lately *knocks on wood*), but he's also a talented player, and most of the fans I know, myself included, just sort of have a long-suffering reaction when he pulls something dumb.

I think there's also the fact that Letang has an adorable family, seems like a really good teammate, and a lot of people (both Pens and non-Pens fans, based on what I've seen) feel endeared to him because of his medical issues and him having overcome some adversity there.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

There's also Catherine's miscarriage, can't forget that.

Part of me wonders if his stroke/concussion history played a factor in that. There's so little research out there about the short and long term effects of both especially at his age.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

NA

In her miscarriage? No, I'm pretty sure his concussion history did not cause that.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

+100
WTF, AYRT.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

I've had 2. They just happen, for often no apparent reason, in about 20% of pregnancies. We don't need to drag this into the dramatically cursed legend of the Pens, jesus.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

DA

I think that was just awkward wording from the AYRT, and they meant that his stroke/concussion history might play into Letang's anger/lack of chill issues. Catherine's miscarriage would be a separate issue. That's how I read it, anyway.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

da

Yeah, I think it's pretty clear from the context of the conversation that that's what was meant.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

You know he wasn't the one that was pregnant, right? How the hell would his health issues cause his wife to miscarry?

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

The quality of a man's sperm can have an effect. But a concussion is unlikely...to do anything to his sperm.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah pretty much this. When I see he does something stupid on the ice I'm like 'come on Tanger' and when he does something dangerous, I call him an idiot, but he is good at his job.

And yes, his negative chill when someone insults a teammate (and him being willing to show this negative chill on instagram), his adorable kid and his beautiful wife are all plus points to him as well.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Why would his beautiful wife be a plus point to him?

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Wasn't she a reality show star/personality? Also, for the same reason that TJ Oshie's wife is a plus to him - beautiful, media savvy, etc. People like beautiful families with adorable children.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, she was, although I don't know how much that is or isn't common knowledge. She's also very generous in sharing photos of her family and from her own daily life (and occasionally even interacting with fans -- she answered a fan's question asking after her hair stylist, lol) and comes across as extremely likable on her public social media.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Ayrt

Partly because I'm shallow and she takes gorgeous pictures. But I also love her instagram and I wouldn't have known about it if she hadn't been with him.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Mte, yeah she's beautiful and his kid is cute but that has nothing to do with Letang's behavior and it certainly won't make me dislike him less.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

No one's mentioning his family as something that excuses his bad behavior or as a reason you can't dislike him. The question is why he's so popular, and it's not rocket science to understand why fans would be drawn to a player with a nice family who posts their photos all over social media and have cute interactions with other players (also fan favorites) and their families. It fosters personal investment, in the same way that players with a lot of public "personality" do.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

I'd add that love of Letang seems to coincide with love the of the core and their friendship, particularly the Crosby-Letang-Flower trifecta. There is a goldmine of friendship material for them and they all really love each other. It's easy to love Letang when you know how much (and how loudly) Crosby and Fleury love him.

I'm also a huge fan of his personality and I think he's not so secretly a giant dork. His hotheadedness can be a double-edged sword but I think it's a) not as uncommon or unique to Letang as people portray it as and b) is more justifiable than even Neal's crap was. Neal used to just get angry and hurt people. Letang is almost always going after someone who messed with the goalie, or Maatta, or Dumoulin.

What's the difference between losing your temper and slashing someone, which happens a billion times a game on every team, and crosschecking them in a scrum because they pissed you off? One just gets more attention. I don't think he loses his cool more than any other hotheaded hockey players, but because he has a reputation for it it gets talked about a lot. See how Crosby is still the only captain int he history of the NHL who ever whines to the refs.

Re: Fandom Venting

[(Anonymous)]

Do you happen to be a Colorado fan?