Buries It.

June 15, 2009 8:14 PM

Anyone know why "Buries It" is one of Mario Lemieux's nicknames, and the source of where it started?
posted by ajackson to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

because he kept doing just that?
posted by caddis at 8:26 PM on June 15, 2009

Well in hockey that means drives a puck deep into the net, so that's probably a reference to hard, accurate shots.
posted by rokusan at 8:26 PM on June 15, 2009

FWIW, I've been a Penguins fan since I was old enough to know what a hockey puck is, and I've never heard a fan call him this. I wouldn't be surprised to read "Mario 'buries it' Lemieux" as a goofy nickname in a sports article in a newspaper, I suppose. But I certainly wouldn't expect anyone in Pittsburgh to know you're referring to Lemieux if you just said "Buries it."
posted by keribear at 8:29 PM on June 15, 2009

That wasn't one of his popular nicknames. His nicknames are Super Mario and Le Magnifique.

Buries it has to do with him burring cancer. He also buried the puck a lot =] Here is a pic of him signing a buries it 66 jersey.

The Mario Lemieux Foundation is also sometimes referred to as the Buries It Foundation by fans\supporters.

/Caps fan, guess I know my enemy better than the enemy does
posted by zephyr_words at 9:49 PM on June 15, 2009

As someone on the other side of the planet to Pittsburgh, would it not have something to do with the regularity sports commentators would say "buries it" after "Lemieux" on the tube or radio given he scored so often and reliably?
posted by micklaw at 10:41 PM on June 15, 2009

I don't know, but it has a real ESPN ring to it.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:13 AM on June 16, 2009

Its a common hockey expression for a shot that just goes deep into the net.
posted by Ironmouth at 6:27 AM on June 16, 2009

I'd put my money on The Pensblog as the source -- if it didn't actually originate there, that's certainly where it gets the most use. The nickname isn't one that is used in, you know, actual conversation, but it's tossed about pretty frequently on the Internet, especially among the regular posters on The Pensblog / the Penguins forums.

I'd be willing to bet that the nickname comes from the phrase that Mike Lange, the longtime [30+ years] play-by-play announcer used to use after a goal: "... and 66 buries it".
posted by alynnk at 7:23 AM on June 16, 2009

I was still wondering about the origin so I went back and asked pensblog since that's where I've seen in the most and agreed with alynnk. They said it got coined there in a game recap where Crosby missed a shot. The staff or a commenter said, "66 buries it" referring that Mario would never miss that.
posted by zephyr_words at 9:35 AM on June 16, 2009

alynnk and zephyr_words buries it.
posted by ajackson at 8:34 AM on June 20, 2009