Man, retirement from blogging has been so great. But something about this season so far has been total shit…
Being that ROOT broadcasts are completely unwatchable, the radio with Mike Lange is always the way to go. The thing about Lange is that you can be watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and listening to Lange’s call of the game at the same time and not miss a beat.
But something has gone south in the radio booth. And that’s Phil Bourque.
Bourque used to be a pleasure to listen to. But over the last year and half his criticism of Evgeni Malkin has gotten to the point where it’s almost unbearable.
Take a few nights ago, after Malkin made a mistake Bourque went insane:
(paraphrased)
” I can’t take this anymore. And I am not sure how much longer the Penguins organization can take either.”
Really, Phil?
Stuff like this has been all season long. You know when your dad calls you about it every game, it’s bad.
So, what’s going on here? We think it could be a few things:
- Malkin stuck Bourque for cash – Always a possibility. Bourque owned a restaurant for 12 seconds, so maybe Malkin offered to give him money and then backed out.
- Malkin did something else – We know Bourque is involved in the dark world of autographs. Maybe Malkin said he was going to go to a show, and then didn’t come.
Bourque strikes us as the type of guy that wouldn’t take someone doing him or one of his friends wrong. He’s not a big enough man to separate that from calling the game fairly, so instead he’s gone all in on the anti-Malkin train.
And now that train his full speed down the tracks.
Now, we know. We’ll get called “Malkin fanboys,” for questioning the heralded Pittsburgh media. But honestly listening to a game, and hearing the things Phil Bourque says about a guy who is no question in the top four of players to ever play for the Penguins, is an absolute fucking joke. It’s actually more than that. It’s a fucking tragedy. In an era where there is a large portion of fans that think Pascal Dupuis was an important part of the Penguins franchise ( he’s probably one the of least important players maybe ever) to see #71 run down by a major voice during the game is sad.
Could you imagine the Capitals own broadcasters running down Alexander Ovechkin? There are no home team announcers that do that. None.
Are we saying you can’t criticize Evgeni Malkin? Umm, actually yea. At this point in his career, if you’ve watched one or more seasons of him play hockey you know what you’re getting.
He’s going to do a few stupid things every so often, but he’s recover and make an unreal pass, and get a goal. In case you missed the last 10 years, he has 781 points in 666 games. That means every time he’s stepped on the ice during his NHL career he’s good for a point. That puts him at 15th all-time NHL history. Among active players, that puts him at #2. For all the Duper fans out there, Dupuis got a point .47 per game. Which means, despite his great personality and that time he took a pic with you, he showed up for less than half of the time. Glad you got a picture with him, though. lol.
Can’t believe we’re going to say this, but at least Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey shy away from going down that path.
Back to Bourque though. We’re openly questioning his integrity as a broadcaster. Either leave the personal problem you have with Evgeni Malkin at the door or step away from the game altogether. We know that the Penguins state-run media enjoys watching Malkin get tossed through the dirt, but we’re hoping that someone starts realizing the issue with the unwarranted criticism.
The Penguins just released a great documentary on their history. Remember the last hour of it doesn’t happen without #71.
UPDATED
That didn’t take long, here is exactly the type of people this post was tailored to:
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