The National Hockey league may not carry quite the following as the NFL or NBA, but it still features some of the world's top athletes. One such athlete is Washington Capitals' captain Alexander Ovechkin. In recent news, the brute stated that he met Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin, and apparently he's a pretty nice guy. This is hard to believe, given Putin's insanely intense views and practices as a political tyrant.
Alex comes from a family of athletes. His father is a former professional soccer player, and his mother won two Olympic gold medals while competing for the Soviet women's basketball team.
It is unclear if Alexander's skill is genetic or his talent is god given. Nonetheless, he first started playing Hockey in the Russian super-league for the Dynamo Moscow at the impressive age of 16.
Since then, Alex has been a prominent face in the NHL.
At one time, he even led the league with 65 goals and 112 points. In turn, he was awarded the Rocket Richard and Art Ross Trophies. But, not all good things last.
Recently, the super star had a meeting with the infamous leader of Russia. According to TMZ Sports, Alex claimed Putin was actually quite nice:
"Hockey superstar Alex Ovechkin says when it comes to Vladimir Putin, a lot of people have the wrong idea -- because the President of Russia is really a 'nice guy.' The Russian-born Washington Capitals superstar was hanging out in L.A. yesterday when we asked if Putin's as intimidating in person as he appears on TV. Alex told us he didn't want to get into politics, but it's clear he's a fan of Putin -- and even picked him to beat Obama in a hypothetical steel cage match."
As sweet as those comments are, it is hard for some of us to just throw our trust to the wind.
Especially after examining this report by LA Times, one can see just how ruthless the dictator can be:
"His graduation to dictator took years. In that time, he dismantled Russia's electoral system, took over its media, saw many of his opponents killed, jailed or forced into exile, created one of the most ruthlessly corrupt government systems in history, made peaceful protest punishable by jail time, waged a long and brutal war on his own country's territory and a short one against a neighboring country, Georgia..."
What are your opinions on the situation? Let us know in the comment section below.
