I'm sure by now most fans of the Washington Capitals have heard about an incident that occurred just off of press row yesterday afternoon in the immediate aftermath of a thrilling 5-4 OT victory by the Caps over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The thumbnail sketch is that Mike Milbury of NBC Sports got into a confrontation with Phil Van Der Vossen, a blogger for Capitals Outsider and the owner of Gunaxin.com.
I've done some digging into the issue overnight, and I'll have some thoughts on it later. However, for now, I'm going to concentrate on exactly what Milbury said that kicked off the incident, and no doubt has some folks around town a little perturbed.
During the first intermission, after the Penguins had taken a 2-0 lead over Washington on a pair of goals by Sidney Crosby, NBC threw their coverage to the in-arena studio where Pierre McGuire and Milbury were reviewing the highlights from the first period -- a period that was more or less dominated by Pittsburgh thanks to some sloppy defensive play by Washington.
In any case, here's what Milbury said when he was narrating the video from the first period. The following was obtained from a video monitoring service that I subscribe to. After I retrieved the transcript, I checked it against an actual clip, one that I can't share with you because it would violate the terms of service:
What a play. What a move. Quick hands. 1-0, sets the tone. Watch the move there. Good head fake on a great pass by Malkin. Passing, shooting, scoring. He's really matured into what everybody thought he was in the draft year, the complete player. To come here and say, hey, Ovie, I'm still your Daddy here. That's special.
To say that Milbury is operating with a short leash with Caps fans is not an understatement. Given his track record and the role he's asked to play by his bosses at NBC Sports, the above crack is hardly out of the ordinary for him. Still, when you add it all together, it's not hard to understand that a significant slice of the fan base doesn't exactly have warm feelings for Milbury.
Now, does that justify what apparently took place after the game? That's another question entirely. More later.
Tags: Mike Milbury, NBC Sports, Pierre McGuire
Well said Eric. There are plenty of talented analysts working in the game today, that could manage to provide between period commentary without embarrassing the network. Hopefully NBC can finally correct their mistake and send Milbury packing in the offseason.
Milbury is clearly working hard to get lined up to take over Don Cherry’s place on HNIC. That said they are both total clowns. If Milbury wasn’t one he would have admitted that by the end of the game it was Ovie who had the last laugh yesterday.
I guess you just have to be a Canadian to like how either Cherry or Milbury do color commentary and analysis. Me – I’m like Bruce Springsteen, Born In the USA, so it’s not my cup of team. However, I sure wish the confrontation between Van Der Vossen and Milbury got some more airtime, especially if Milbury was as big a jackass as is being alleged. This is about as good as Cherry’s “classy” outburst earlier this season. Like I said – both are clowns of epic proportions.
LETS GO CAPS!!!