Pants’ Turn! It’s 6:30 AM and I am doing Foxy Friday. Before I take a nap under my desk. Since Dawn Cherrie was so mean to Maxime Talbot last week, this week WUYS is giving him some love. So what if he called Ovi a “douche”? We were all thinking it! (Okay, okay, I’ll stop.)

Gun show.

Squee!

Every Pens fans loves Max Talbot. Every team has one, and he’s OUR guy.  Sure he plays 12 minutes a game and is more about energy than scoring, but Max has repeatedly been something that you can’t teach, train or capture: Max is clutch. In the ’08 Cup Final, he rescued us with a Game 5-tying goal (34 seconds left in game), allowing the Pens to win in triple OT and stave off the Wings for one more game. I was in the conference room at my office, lying on the table screaming at the TV so loud security came to check on me. The Pens lost that series, but Max was not to be stopped.

In the ’09 Final, Max scored both of the Pens game 7 goals to win the Stanley Cup. Mr. Pants had tied me up by then, for fear I’d hurt myself, so I settled for shouting and weeping openly on the couch.

Max is Mr. Personality, and if you don’t like that personality then you and Ovi can go have dental work. It’s also a very well-documented fact that ladies love Max. (Again with the Google – it’s 94% awesome, 5% sasquatch beard and 1% open-mouth kissing.  You’ve been warned.) And why not? He’s French, furry and fun. And he loves to make TV commercials:

And translate for Flower, who is one breath away from going to Laugh Land and ruining everything:

And of course there’s the play that will probably go down as Max’s Pens legacy.  Game 6 vs. Philly in ’09, the Pens are getting stomped 3-0.  They haven’t scored in 1.5 games.  Max makes a bad pass and gets mad (or even – you decide).  He picks a fight with Carcillo, basically volunteering to get his ass kicked, then dusts himself off and promptly tells the Flyers fans to “shhhhh.”  Dick move, right?  Except the Pens immediately start scoring – 5 unanswered goals – win the game and send Carcillo and his pals to the golf course.  If you believe in game-changing moments, in momentum and in fate, Max won the Cup for the Pens twice in the same year: once with his swagger, once with his skill.  And that is foxy.