Another day, another professional athlete going off on a reporter whose coverage he doesn't like.
This time it was veteran NHL defenseman Dan Boyle cursing out New York Post reporter/columnist Larry Brooks after Boyle's Rangers lost their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series four games to one to the Penguins.
During cleaning-out day at the Rangers' practice facility in Tarrytown, N.Y.., a pouting Boyle imperiously declared he wasn't going to talk to reporters until Brooks left the area. Here's video of Boyle angrily telling Brooks to "get the f— out" of the room.
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Brooks is off-camera during the confrontation, but you can hear him standing his ground. The look on the face of the unnamed reporter to Boyle's right is priceless:
And here's a transcript of the heated back-and-forth between Boyle and Brooks via Yahoo Sports:
“I don’t want him here,” said Boyle.
“What?” Brooks said. “You know, the feeling’s mutual, man.”
“Nobody likes you. Nobody respects you. Just so you know,” said Boyle.
“OK,” said Brooks.
“At least I’m leaving here with the respect of my teammates,” said Boyle. "Instead of [expletive] someone like you, who tries to bury somebody. That's all you do. . . . It's not a critique. I'm telling you I don't want you here. I have no respect for you. I want you to get the [expletive] out.”
“I don’t care what you think,” said Brooks.
“I can tell you to get the [expletive] out if I want to!” said Boyle, his voice now raised.
“You can, but I don’t have to listen to you,” said Brooks.
“Yeah, ya do!” said Boyle. “I want him out. And that other [expletive] clown, Brett, or whatever the [expletive] his name is. Where's he at? Everyone else is fine. I want him out. It’s my right."
Rangers staff stepped in to calm the scene down, and suggested Boyle not speak to the media at that time.
"Can they not all stay here? I have tons of respect for some of these guys. I just don't want him here. That should be fine," said Boyle.
At this point, Brooks hadn't left yet.
"Can you just [expletive] leave?!" Boyle asked again, loudly.
"If you had asked me politely, I might have," said Brooks.
Boyle: "POLITELY? Why would I be polite with you? Are you kidding me?"
Brooks then told Boyle to "grow up," Boyle laughed that off and Brooks walked off to another interview.
Boyle was a frequent target for Brooks. Brooks wrote at the start of the season that “allowing Anton Stralman to escape as a free agent in order to sign Dan Boyle on July 1, 2014, stands as Glen Sather’s most regrettable decision of the final 10 years of the Rangers president’s tenure as general manager."
The “Brett” in question was fellow Post reporter Brett Cyrgalis, who wasn’t in attendance Tuesday morning in Tarrytown. He hammered Boyle in an article published after the Rangers' elimination. Boyle was a healthy scratch in Game 5. “He was a big-time disappointment for the Blueshirts, and that might be how his career ends — watching instead of playing,” Cyrgalis wrote.
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Of course, passions run high in situations like these. Boyle was a healthy scratch in the playoffs after a disappointing season. The NHL career of the 39-year old unrestricted free agent is probably over, so maybe he just decided to let it fly.
Brooks is an old-school columnist whose tell-it-like-it-is style style gets under the skin of many people. He had similar confrontations with cranky ex-Rangers coach John Tortorella. But Brooks is a must-read for Rangers fans in the Big Apple who appreciate his honest take on the club.
Bottom line: It wasn't Brooks who benched Boyle for Game 5. That was the Rangers.
Boyle and other pro athletes who go off on reporters should take a deep breath and chill out. Dealing with media questions, and sometimes critical media coverage, is part of being a pro.
If you don't like it, then give up your multimillion-dollar salaries and go do something else. There are plenty of players in the minor leagues dying to take your place who won't mind seeing their name in the newspapers, either way.
Besides, don't athletes frequently complain about columnists who rip them publicly but never show up to face the music in the locker room?
Well guess what: Brooks is one of the few people who'll face the players in the locker room.
As Craig Carton of the "Boomer and Carton" sports radio show pointed out Wednedsday, if Brooks was man enough to face Boyle after ripping him all season, then Boyle should be man enough to face him.
Boyle will never listen. But Brooks actually had some advice for pro athletes like him who act like spoiled, petulant brats: Grow the F— Up.
