Jaromir Jagr Reveals His Favorite Player [Video]

Hockey superstar Jaromir Jagr say his favorite player growing up was … Jaromir Jagr.

Teammate David Krejci agreed. See embed above.

The Boston Bruins forward, whose team lost the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs last night to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games, was obviously joking when he answered the question earlier in the final round. Perhaps he was also in a way keeping it real.

Did you ever wonder why the sports media tediously insists on asking professional athletes to name an “idol” or a “hero” in the first place? Sometimes the responses come across as trite or even, shockingly enough, insincere.

In any walk of life where you encounter various personality types and individuals of varied skill levels and accomplishments, wouldn’t it be better to try to pattern yourself after the best unique components of different people, i.e., the sum of the parts?

The Dallas Stars traded Jagr, 41, to the Boston Bruins in early April. Jagr originally made his NHL debut in 1990 with the Pittsburgh Penguins and has also played for the Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, and Philadelphia Flyers.

CBS Sports quips that “Jaromir Jagr has been around so long in the NHL, it almost feels like forever. That would explain why he was his own favorite player growing up.”

Jagr, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, is one of a small group of professional hockey players to have won the Stanley Cup (1991 and 1992 with the Penguins), the Ice Hockey World Championships (2005, 2010), and the Olympic gold medal (1998). This is known as the Triple Gold Club, and Jagr is one of only two Czech players in the Triple Gold Club. He was also one of the youngest players in NHL history, at age 20, to score a goal in the Stanley Cup finals.

Jagr had 16 goals in the regular season and 19 assists, but zero goals with 10 assists  in the 2013 playoffs.