I have received many emails in outrage about Mike Milbury’s comments on NBC regarding our franchise. I was at the game and was not able to personally see the segment or hear what he had to say.Evidently, Mike called the team the Washington “Crapitals” twice in his broadcast. This has upset our fans, our blogging community, our employees and team officials. I reached out to Mike Milbury last night via NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Gary called me and we spoke. And then Mike called me and we spoke late last night. Mike calmly explained that he meant no harm. He had a slip of the tongue when trying to start a commentary about our play. He meant to say the Washington Caps but instead he said the Washington Craps. He laughed and then stated we weren’t playing well at that time in the game and we were playing like the “Crapitals”. He was trying to be funny and trying to recover – on air – and he misspoke. He formally apologized to me and he wanted me to convey his apology to our community. He is respectful of our team, our fan base and what we have done of late with the team. He told me he even bought two Alex Ovechkin Caps hats for his children to proudly wear. He was sincere in his apology. I have accepted his apology and believe we should all move on. Also, I was told that another NBC announcer said that half the stands were full of Flyers fans?? To that comment, I have no response. It was self evident who was in our arena; what color the fans were wearing; and how supportive our fan base is of the team.
Ted's Take
The area around 421 is always dominated by fans of whoevers in town.
Milbury and Mcguire ought to stick to what they know about.But there isn’t anything that falls into that category.Probably the two biggest idiots associated with hockey.Mike said two weeks ago there was no way the caps would make the playoffs.”They’re done”.Check out the deals he made as GM.Laughable.Ask an Islander fan about Mikie.I Guess they’ll be back for Game 5 )
after all when was the last time you heard Milbury’s record setting season! Jealous putz. Good work Caps! Everybody has an off night.
Lifelong Flyers fan living in DC. The comment was intentional, not a slip-up. His goal was to be funny. I was really bothered by the childish comment and wonder again why Bill Clement was sacked? Sure he was a former Flyer, but he brought a professional product to the ‘coolest game on Earth’.
Bring back Clement!
How do you buy an Ovechkin cap? Is that more BS? Apparently his kids have better taste than he does. I was at the game so I didn’t hear it, but I was very disappointed in the Caps play as I am in the game I am watching now. Have we burned out Ovie and the boys!
Hi. I’m a lifelong Flyers fan, living near Philadelphia. I admire Mr. Leonsis’ gentlemanly response to the Milbury “slips,” and I am in awe of the classy way the Capitals fans have posted here. Please realize that not all Flyers fans are Neanderthals, and not all Flyers fans like the “homerism” of our announcing. I hope the series is a good, hard-fought one and let’s focus on the games and not Milbury.
Get em’ Ted!
I’d just let it go. The guy meant no harm. We gotta stand together and win Game 3 and 4 in Philly. More physical and more shots. GO CAPS!
….And with all that said, here’s hoping taht OV, and the rest of the CAPS team make Milbury eat his words tonight!
GO RED!
Of the NBC folks, I was sad to see John Davidson leave (albeit to work for St. Louis). Hint to NBC- look at former goaltenders (much like former catchers in baseball make great analysts). Kelly Rhudey is working on the “B” team on HNIC up here, and does GREAT work. Worth staying up late for the second game!
Good luck Capitals!
Mike Milbury is a known moron. I don’t think any fans of any team should take seriously what this idiot says! If you don’t believe me that he is a moron then ask some Islander fans and see what they tell you!
))
Mr. Leonsis, you are AWESOME!!!
Go CAPS!!!!!!!!!
NBC obvously wants him to be like Barkley is on TNT..everyhing he says is contrversial and moronic.but it gets people to watch and gets them riled up.
Just to clarify a couple comments above….
Doc Emerick definitely did not make the comment about the crowd; In fact, he was the only one who appeared to stay out of it. Macguire made the comment and Eddie Olczyk immediately started laughing at him.
Second, Milbury is a joke…He also referred to Ovechkin as a “dog with his tail between his legs”….NBC commentators are a bunch of biased jerks but i guess i can’t blame them when NBC shows the Flyers, Rangers or Penguins every freaking weekend!!
I guess its just sad that the NHL got their wish with Ovie making it to the playoffs and bringing some exposure nationally to the sport and we have to listen to a bunch of idiot commentators bash the most exciting player to hit the ice in years…
Who cares if he had a bad period? What about the 65 goals and MVP season he just finished? No respect…
Just to clarify a couple comments above….
Doc Emerick definitely did not make the comment about the crowd; In fact, he was the only one who appeared to stay out of it. Macguire made the comment and Eddie Olczyk immediately started laughing at him.
Second, Milbury is a joke…He also referred to Ovechkin as a “dog with his tail between his legs”….NBC commentators are a bunch of biased jerks but i guess i can’t blame them when NBC shows the Flyers, Rangers or Penguins every freaking weekend!!
I guess its just sad that the NHL got their wish with Ovie making it to the playoffs and bringing some exposure nationally to the sport and we have to listen to a bunch of idiot commentators bash the most exciting player to hit the ice in years…
Who cares if he had a bad period? What about the 65 goals and MVP season he just finished? No respect…
McGuire probably checked his sources by glancing above the Flyers bench during warmups when the kiddies were allowed to come down and watch their team do the pregame.
An obviously incorrect statement given for no apparent reason but personal bias, coupled in the same broadcast with what could have been a simple slip of the tongue but which was then repeated deliberately deserves an on-air apology.
We fans are not stupid. We know ut was intentional and meant to mock the Caps on national TV. We should not be so quick to forgive, we are deserving of respect. I have emailed NBC and know many others who have. No biting our lips! We won’t be disrepected and we there should be a price to pay. Just like Don Imus did. I have also told NBC that my family won’t be watching any more NBC sports broadcasts until Milbourn apologizes on the AIR. We have to hit them where it hurts the most: vierwership.
Ted;
Buy the network. Then fire that guy…preferably out of a cannon.
Milbury needs to stay home for game 5. He’s bush league. That gerbil knew where he was and what he said. If he’s there for game 5 I hope he is the bench reporter and someone spits on his gerbil head.
I’m glad Joey B. and Locker are back behind the mic tomorrow.
Let me tell you this, i emailed you 2 or 3 weeks ago about the way Mike Milbury commented about the Washington Capitals. He never had anything nice to say except how we would never make the playoffs and how we blew it in that lost weekend against PIT/BOS…All he ever does is say crappy things about the caps. Furthermore the whole freaking broadcast was spent lambasting the Caps yesterday. I didnt mind the loss, but to hear constant analysis of how we basically sucked at everything made me want to puke. CAN YOU PLEASE GET US OFF THESE FREAKING DAY GAMES!!!! Why do we have to help NBC’s ratings as they continually trash us every game. Many of those guys are so anti- Washington. At least let us have our own broadcasts and enjoy Laughlin and Benanati. They are so much more insightful, and Laughlin tells it how it is , good or bad. NO MORE NBC, AND DONT BELIEVE MILBURY…HE LIES!!!!!
Overreact much, people? Let’s face it, they WERE playing like crap, Ovechkin DID come across like an immature 22 year old, and they should learn from it.
The host of washington post live just did his final thought about the game’s broadcast, specifically how terrible the announcers were when compared to Joe and Craig. Eveyone is taking notice.
I, too, have been to many Caps/Flyers games in DC where the Flyers fans were louder than the Caps fans. I, too, did not hear a single pro-Flyers chant or any cheering when they scored. I think 5% Flyers fans would be a very generous estimate.
McGuire’s statement goes beyond the realm of an understandable mistake and into the realm of malicious slander. What would motivate him to tell such a baldfaced lie? Or, how can he possibly be stupid enough to think his estimate was correct? Either way, his statement makes no sense.
Agreed, as much as Milbury’s slip was awful, it’s even worse that Pierre McGuire alleged that the arena was half-filled with Flyers fans. That’s an outright lie, and predictably poor journalism on his part.
While I didn’t think Milbury’s comment was professional, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Pierre McGuire and others’ color commentary and nagging, nitpicking criticisms of the Caps and their fans whilest praising Philadelphia every chance they got during the game. I felt like I was watching a local Philadelphia station rather than a national broadcast. The 50% flyers fans comment is especially absurd and ironic because, during the pre-game segments, NBC commented on how enthusiastic the Caps fans were (with all of the red in the stands which anyone watching could see for themselves), asked Ovechkin about how he felt about the support the team had earned (words to that effect), etc.
Personally, I’m proud of my fellow Caps fans for your presence at the Verizon Center — Washington looks like a strong hockey town this playoff run, no doubt about it.
Finally, why can’t they at least have the home team commentators when the game’s at home? I hope, if we have to listen to these same NBC commentators again on Saturday, they get a reality check (in the form of two more Caps victories heading into that game would be optimal) before then.
Milbury should be in the house this Saturday as well. Instead of a “Flyers Suck” chant, we need a unified “Milbury Sucks” roar during the first period. Who is with me?
Put the TV on mute — I hope there are some signs in the arena Saturday about Milbury. Ted is right to let it go — he made the point to the League, and to NBC. They’ll watch their P’s and Q’s Saturday — the mail has been delivered! I hope Sombrero Guy brings his eye test to the Phone Booth Saturday! Maybe he can personally administer the test to McGuire.
I was at the game and thre was no way that it was half Flyers fans. I would only say 10-15% of the crowd were from the city of brotherly mullets.
Thought I was the only one who noticed the “crap” (pun intended) that the announcers were talking. It was like I was listening to the Flyers announcing crew. Caps got outworked, but they were due for a let down; they had won 8 in a row!!! The guys will come back strong Tuesday night and pull out another “W.” Go Caps!!!!
What a wind bag Milbury is. What a letdown is must be to wake up every morning and know that is the best it is going to get. He should drive his car into a lake.
It definitely was a slip of the tongue, no reason to be angry about Milbury.
McGuirre at the same time was unbearable, had to turn the sound off to.
I am a lifelong hockey fan (New England/Hartford Whalers – season tix for 16 years) Phoenix Coyotes (season tix for
and a newly minted Caps fan (Last 15 games). My sister has had season tix for years in DC and has FINALLY convinced me to take a walk on the Red Side. Mike Milbury was awful on the air. There is no way on earth that the VC was “half full of Flyers fans” or that he got tongue tied and accidently said “Crapitals”. How bush league. Surprised? No. Appaled? Yes. C-A-P-S CAPS CAPS CAPS.
if Milbury wants to talk about “crap”, he should take a look at the Islander teams he put together in the 90′s/00′s
What can you do about getting us OFF of NBC? I know, I know…you can do nothing about the broadcast schedule. For Pierre McGuire to INTENTIONALLY diss the 18000+ Caps fans there by intimating that there were thousands of Flyer fans there is more disrepectful of the Caps, their fans and their organization than a slip of the tongue. Is he that anti-Cap or just color blind?
The broadcast on NBC was awful. No way around it. Horribly unprofessional towards the Caps. But they also need to put the effort out there to change peoples’ minds, unlike they did last night.
It was obvious it was a slip of the tongue the first time Milbury said it, and in the process of acknowledging he misspoke he tried to make a joke about how bad the Caps were playing (which was kind of true). I don’t understand why everyone is so upset about this.
Now McGuire saying the Verizon Center was half-full of Flyers fans–there should be an apology for that because it was demonstrably incorrect and gave the impression throughout the country that Caps fans aren’t supporting their team.
I couldn’t take the biased color commontator in the first period so I started listening to the radio.
The delay on wjfk helped me. If the radio is behind the TV I can pause my TiVo and synch it up manually. When there isn’t a delay on radio, the TV is generally behind radio due to the digital delay. I cant fix that.
Was that the same guy who was so in the tank for the pens on the last caps NBC game?
Piere Maguire is Dick Vitale’s idiotic embryonic twin, he has been living off of a couple of water boy rings with the Pens for years now, but he’s a Jersey boy that probably roots for the Flyers in his spare time.
As for Milbury, really, his track record as GM speaks for itself. He’ll say anything just to be heard even if he’s the only one inthe room.
I’m glad everyone else is commenting on yesterday’s game because I was sitting there thinking to myself “what is going on here?” I’ve never heard the NBC guys make more stupid comments and the idea of muting the TV was sounding better and better. They seemed VERY pro-Flyers….and I’m a Flyers fan! OK, settle down! I’m a Hershey Bears fan too so I adopted the Caps 2 yrs ago and I’m cheering for them in the series. I hope Milbury shuts his mouth next game because his comment was inexcuseable and he should apologize on air because it was totally classless.
Mike Millbury….the guy that has traded away: Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo, as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Raffi Torres….took Dipietro over Gaborik or Heatley…and how about the Alexei Yashin Cashin for Jason Spezza……
Ted you are too kind…Mike…get bent.
Everything about NBC was horrible yesterday. From the name calling to the anouncers drooling over Philadelphia and not knowing what was actually going on in the game I was very upset. Everytime Joe B. and Craig L. aren’t calling the game I’m miserable. At least they can call a fair game. They don’t talk smack about the other team the whole game. National coverage is nice exposure for the Caps, but only when the announcers know what they are talking about.
Yeah, I guess it’s Ted’s jb to let it slide.
But I won’t let it go. Especially since he didn’t just apologize. Making some excuse is worse. you said it, you did it. Man up.
I heard Milbury and he did indeed have a slip of the tongue and misspoke. He did not intentionally call them the Crapitals, I heard it first hand. After he slipped he corrected him self but then said they were playing like crapitals (in his opinion) and, well, they lost and got shutout… so yeah they didn’t play well. Too much individual play inn my opinion… a road trip is just what they need so the guys won’t be trying to show off.
Until Milbury apologizes *ON AIR* or is fired I will not be watching the NHL on NBC. Period.
Hey Ted. What’s with the day games? Millbury is an idiot and like others have said look at his record as a GM. The beer tastes much better around 7PM. Anything you can do?
TED,
I have a simple remedy. Pull Milbury’s and or NBC’s press credentials for Game 5. NOT IN OUR HOUSE! NBC and the NHL would be forced to take action. Not just a “sorry about that” over the phone on a conversation you had to force through Gary Bettman. A sad day for NBC and the NHL.
Well said, Ted.
NBC deserves zero respect with their awful coverage. They stopped showing playoff OT hockey to do a couple hours of pre-race coverage for a horse race for crying out loud. NBC is a terrible network, and I could care less what any of them think about the Caps.
Who cares what Mike Milbury thinks? He’s only on NBC because no NHL team will hire him. It’s like people calling our beloved Redskins the “Deadskins.” So what. The “Crapitals” have Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, etc. So we’ll see how long Milbury and his ilk continue to call them the “Craps”.
Ted,
Thank you! I have always said you are a class act. This is just another shining example. It’s funny that Milbury called Alex an “immature 22 year old” that apparently plays for the CRAPITALS. Yet he buys AO hats for his kids. I don’t think he was sincere.. He was just trying to save his Job. I’m interested in hearing what Mr. Bettman had to say. Hopefully he was just as upset as us fans.
Thanks Ted!
I am still in shock that NBC did not do a double intermission special on Cr0sby yesterday.
Small steps I suppose.
The only thing that really pissed me off was the fact they were calling Ovechkin a “primadonna” apparently they have never met him or even watched him play a successful game because I think he’s happier when OTHER people score than when he scores…he’s such a team-player and a good guy.
The coverage on NBC was beyond terrible. Eddie Olyzck was the one who said that the stands were half full of Flyer Fans. I saw 2 Flyer fans in the lower bowl which is half the arena right there. Pierre was the one who corrected him and said it was 75/25 but that seemed rediculous too. Imagine that… Flyer fans in an arena 2.5 hours away from their own city.
I completely agree with John. Poor, poor coverage like this is very bad for the sport and it makes Capital fans look terrible, especially when lately, we don’t deserve it at all.
My hub and I watched the game also and was very disappointed by NBC and their announcers were very one sided and that was for the Flyers. I didn’t really care how they keep saying that Ovie got the team here either. He has done alot but there is no I in team. I love Ovie and I believe that he would want to share the spotlight also. I also think with all the young talent that we do have that they should’ve been mentioned also.
Ted,
I’m a new season ticket holder and glad I chose to do so or else I wouldn’t be able to get into the stadium. I’ve been a Caps fan for 20 years and I have never, I mean never, seen the city back the Caps as they are now. Not this early in the playoffs, or as they did down the stretch. Back in the day, the Flyers, Penguins, and Rangers fans would come close to splitting the arenas. The Flyers faithful aren’t even close. The great thing about this is you and the rest of the org stuck to the plan you decided to go to just before the lockout. Now the young talent is carrying the team, and will for years to come. I applaud you for you foresight, the young players that are getting it done, and the vets that are helping the youngsters figure out how to do this at the NHL level. I am sure good ol’ Olie is assisting with the nerves as well. Our boys just have to withstand the first 10 min of tomorrow’s game because the Flyers fans will give them energy just as we did. After that they can settle in and play the type of game the Flyers did. I have non-hockey fans asking me how my Caps did, thanks Ted!!
Funny, Lindsay Czarniak makes the same slip a few weeks ago and she gets a pass because she’s purportedly attractive.
I’m not worried about the NBC broadcast being biased. I’m concerned that it’s unprofessional and inadequate. The league deserves better. The sport deserves better. Let’s get some professionals in there. Jeez.
The Capitals are on national TV because the NHL is trying to sell the sport to America. Poor coverage like this is worse for the sport than Ovechkin’s performance yesterday.
I was shocked that he said it, and I do think he should apologize on air.
Not to worry. Up here in Canada, “Mad” Mike Milbury is a laughingstock. We always check our sources, and whatever he says holds absolutely NO credibility. Probably the worst GM in the history of the NHL.
Many of us up here have adopted OVIE and the Caps as our team.
Caps are great to watch. You won’t win the Cup this year, but with a few tweaks (defence)the Caps will be VERY serious contenders for at least the next 7-10 years.
Enjoy, OVIE and friends come around once in a lifetime!
Thanks goodness I’ll be at the game this Saturday so I don’t have to listen to those half-wits on NBC.
With apologies to half-wits everywhere, this has been a:
I don’t buy it. I was outraged to hear him say it, and laugh about it, on the air. I wouldn’t accept the apology and would demand that he be replaced. There’s no place in broadcasting for that kind of slanderous statement.
NBC’s coverage has always been atrocious. I never thought I’d say this, but I miss Gary Thorne and Bill Clement doing ESPN’s hockey broadcasts.
Guys, give it a rest. Fans always think announcers are biased against their team. NBC does a great job with the games and it’s great to be on national TV! Milbury apologized. What ever happened to accepting an apology? Enough already.
Go Caps!!!
I agree with the person above. I’m an Isles fan in the Philly area and watching games broadcast on Comcast in Philly is more painful than a roid. I belive the guy’s name is Jim Jackson who does Flyer’s play by play. A Flyer could decapitate an opposing player’s noggin’ and Jim would wonder why a penalty was called.
This is part of the reason why the NHL struggles on TV. Their national networks (NBC and Versus) only cover about five teams (Cryers – whoops Flyers – I apologize, Penns, Rangers, Wings and Avalanche). Their commentators know very little about the rest of the league.
Thank you, Ted, for addressing this. You handled it with dignity.
I agree with the poster who said Milbury should apologize on air. Would he dare to call them the Detroit Dead Wings? I think not.
Thanks goodness I’ll be at the game this Saturday so I don’t have to listen to those half-wits on NBC.
With apologies to half-wits everywhere, this has been a:
I’m a Caps fan from Philadelphia and you guys have no idea what bad commentating is until you see Flyers broadcast on Comcast. It is the most bias bunch of hogwash ever. They basically stated that the Flyers LET the Caps win game 1. And you wonder why Flyers fans are so brain washed???
I’m sorry Mr. Leonsis but I won’t take anything less than an on air apology!!!!! Besides, he insulted every Caps fan out there not just you.
“Mispoke” The world needs to ban that word because it gives idiots, racists, bigots, jerks, an excuse to say stupid things and then recant it when people complain. I admire that you forgave him, but you know and the rest of Caps Kingdom know that he meant to say crapitals. He just apologize because we complained. I know he is not remorseful. How can you have a slip of the tongue twice!??! The same word??!!?
I created a test to help them with their next round of hiring broadcasting “professionals”
http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i174/blwiseass/?action=view¤t=NBC-Hockey-vision-test.jpg
apologies for my minimial photoshop skills
Milbury’s Track Record as GM: “Milbury has also been criticized for the many decisions he made in which payroll or orders for upper management were not factors. Many young players and prospects that Milbury traded away went on to have distinguished careers, often eclipsing those of the players he received in return. He has traded away defensemen Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Bryan Berard, Eric Brewer, Darius Kasparaitis, and Bryan McCabe; goalies Roberto Luongo and Tommy Salo, as well as forwards Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Raffi Torres. Milbury has also come under fire for his draft day decisions such as choosing Rick DiPietro first overall in 2000 over Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik; as well as his decision to include the 2001 second overall draft pick (Jason Spezza) as part of the Alexei Yashin trade.” To me, that’s a pretty CRAPPY record.
1) How can anyone take Milbury seriously? A guy with a record as a coach/GM that includes trades such as:
a)Jokkinen/Luongo for Parrish/Kvasha
b) McCabe/Bertuzzi for Linden
c) Chara/Spezza for Yashin
2) The guy was in charge for a decade+ and won NOTHING
If he wants to see CRAP, he should start with a peek into a mirror! NBC should fire him immediately. Your a better/more forgiving man than we are Ted!
http://newfaux.blogspot.com/
Solution: Get season tickets which gets you first dibs on the playoffs and come to the games so you don’t have to listen to the Nothing But Crosby (NBC) hacks.
Disclaimer: I am not a paid employee of the Washington Capitals.
I think Milbury just made a slip of the tongue. Pierre McGuire on the other hand has always been anti-Cap. It makes sense since he was a scout and assistant coach for the Pens in the early ’90s. McGuire should stop talking about percentages since he is obviously terrible in math. Case in point: After McGuire claimed that, if asked to vote privately, more than 70% of NHL players would accept an owner-imposed salary cap, NHL player Tie Domi countered that McGuire was completely off-base. McGuire later retracted part of his claim by saying he never should have given a percentage but that he still believed strongly that assertion was true.”
Why aren’t Joe and Craig calling the game? It’s a shame to have such poorly executed coverage during the Playoffs. Not only the comments made but the entire coverage was lousy.
A HUGE thank you for following up on those comments. I was at the game and watched the second period NBC coverage in the club downstairs. It was truly horrifying.
Wanna see a video of him saying it… it’s on YouTube already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQUMq72nkgU
Thank you Ted for addressing this.
It was a Red Army, and it will be a Red Army on Saturday when we look to clinch with a 3-1 lead. Lets go CAPS!!!!
I saw very few Philly fans at the game (it’s about time!). Unusual for they way usually show up in force at Caps Games. The real way you could tell that the Verizon Center was 95 percent Caps fans was the true lack of cheering when the Flyers scored. In the past, you might have thought Caps fans were in the wrong arena when the Flyers scored. Sunday, pure silence. Also, not one chant of “Let’s go Flyers” that needed to be drowed out by Caps fans. Maybe the Caps can silence the Flyers fans up in Philly the next two games. (We did it during the regular season, twice).
The rediculous and irresponsible comment about the amount of Flyer fans in the crowd was made by a former Flyer play-by-play guy, and now the Devils voice, Mike “Doc” Emrick.
His voice, to me, is like finger nails down a chalk board. I never did like him. Now, I have further justification.
Thank God for Beninati.
I’m a STH, and I was at Games 1 & 2. There were a few Flyer fans there on Friday, probably 98% Caps vs. 2% Flyers. Sunday, it may have been about 93% Caps vs. 7% Flyers.
I’m sure if you were unfortunate enough to sit near some of them you knew it by the putrid smell.
Lindsay Czarniak said “Crapitals” on channel 4 a couple of weeks ago. She and Vance laughed, and it was clear that it was a mistake. Milbury’s error was trying to make a joke out of it instead of making clear at the time that it was a mistake.
I’m glad people noticed the biased commentary from yesterday’s broadcast. The statement about the arena being half Flyers fan was totally moronic. Pierre McGuire loses all credibility. This seems to be the case when we are on NBC (see Caps/Penguins game). I can’t wait to hear Joe B. and Locker. Too bad we have have to deal with those clowns next Saturday.
It is aparent to me that the NBC commentator that said Verizon Center was half flyer fans must be just about as blind as NHL Ref’s at times.
Thanks for addressing this. I was at the game, and heard about these comments on the way home. I think I ended up being more upset with NBC at that point than with the loss. I’m glad it has been resolved.
It was NBCs rinkside reporter Pierre McGuire that made that moronic comment.
Milbury said it on the air, then he should apologize on the air. That is usually how these things work. He said it over the air to the fan base and only apologized to the owner? That is not right. He needs to apologize to the entire fan base over the air. Although you own the team, and we love you for it, we fans like to think that it is our team as well.
They didn’t say it was “half full” of Flyers fans. He called it a “house divided” which was clearly misleading, but he also noted it was predominately red, “with some wearing orange and some wearing black.” The ones in black may have been (like me) in last years Caps’ sweater.
Oh and as for Mike Milbury…he was the GM for the NY Islanders when they traded Roberto Luongo *and* Olli Jokinen to Florida for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish.
From that experience, NBC thinks he knows anything at all about hockey?
Haha! I had to watch the game on TV last night, and when I heard them talk about how many flyers fans there were in the arena, I thought I might be going blind because all I saw was red!
Someone needs to send the NBC commentators back to 5th grade so they can relearn their fractions. If I recall correctly:
1/2 = .500000…
500/18277 = .027356…
I don’t think that .027356 = .500000. It would seem that it is somewhat lower.
Of course, the folks who run NBC may have hired these folks deliberately. By hiring people who can’t do basic arithmetic, you can certainly confuse them when it comes to salary negotiations…
These NBC moderators are horrible and so predictable. Crapitals, Verizon center is filled half way with Flyer fans, AO plays like an immature 22 year old. Hey, Philly played a better game yesterday no doubt about it, but your job as a moderator (specially on National TV) is to be professional and knowledgeable. Your moderating skills are far worse then the play of an immature 22 year old. A total lack of respect for the accomplishments of the organization, the fans and the city. Fire these guys and Put Craig and Mr B in charge. At least they have the knowledge and personality.
I’m sure it’s great to have the higher exposure on national television…but every time the Caps are on NBC, there’s a huge drop off in the coverage. I’d rather have Joe B and Lacher than those clowns, any day. The network guys don’t know the team. This isn’t football where you have different announcers every week…the hockey broadcast team is part of the regular viewing experience…brought in the network guys and the mojo was all messed up. (last time on NBC was the Backstrom self-goal vs Pitt…coincidence? Hmmm?)
I got frustrated enough that I turned the sound off and listened to Steve Kolbe. The delay didn’t bother me.
I think he was just trying to be funny. We have more important things to worry about, like winning this series
The idiot who said the arena was half filled with Flyers fans was Pierre McGuire. Ed Olcyk immediately started to laugh at him. As far as Mike Milbury is concerned, if you believe his excuse for saying that, I have a couple of bridges in New York to sell you. How these two clowns continue to be employed by network television is beyond me.
Re: Milbury,
That’s OK, Lindsay Czarniak had that slip of the lip a couple weeks ago in the playoff run.
Ted,
I was there as always. There was one little section in 421 of Flyers fans.
I think it’s FANTASTIC to see the support the boys are getting…this is how it should be every night at VC.
Here’s to the continued support.
Thanks,
Ron
I was also amazed by the NBC commentators statement that the VC was half full of Flyer fans. I watched every minute of the game. All red. I have been to a lot of Caps-Flyers game where the Flyers fans (nearly) outnumbered the Caps fans. This was not one of those games. The comment was in response to an emailed question regarding home ice advantage. It is just more evidence that the “talent” shouldn’t be put on the spot to improvise an answer to a question. These dummies should just read what’s put in front of them.