Monday, October 5, 2009

keenan takes to OTR

as per usual, michael lansberg's half-hour tsn show featured a series of "fluff" questions, answered by the key guest and the 3 additional panelists. today saw mike keenan in the hotseat, and anders "bubba" eriksson was one of the others.... i gotta say i was largely disappointed in the questionning until the last thirty-or-so seconds when lansberg dropped the bomb:

"did robyn regehr's comments bother you ?"

"it just surprised the hell out of me.... " responded iron mike, point-blank and went on to suggest that regehr had called a meeting with keenan earlier in the season and told him that he was supportive of the coach. " i don't understand why he said that."

no indication was given by keenan when "earlier in the season" was, but if it was anytime around november/december then hey ---i was fully supportive of the coach in that timeframe as well... keenan certainly lost the confidence of the team sometime around early february (i like to think it was the day he verbally lashed gio for getting injured) and regehr was certainly no exception.

other telling keenan soundbytes:

when asked to define a "mike keenan player," the former bench boss outlined a "heart and soul" kindof guy.... when asked to name a current player of this ilk, he says (get ready for it): *ahem* .... chris chelios.

CHRIS effin' CHELIOS ?!??! are you KIDDING me ?!?!? this answer is SO telling of mike keenan's "cowbell" it's completely outrageous, to me.... in this singular response, it is entirely explained why he hated gio, why bertuzzi got so much ice time, why iginla suffered, why boyder was never given any responsibility, and EXACTLY why regehr said what he did when keenan got the sack....

lansberg: "who was the saddest to see you go ?"
keenan: "craig conroy."

lansberg: "who was the happiest ?"
keenan: "regehr."

lansberg also queried keenan on the former defenseman sitting to his right. i will acknowledge that it would have been rude to answer differently, but it went like this:

lansberg: "you liked anders [eriksson] as a player ?"
keenan (without hesitation): "YES !"
lansberg: "why ?"
keenan: "cause he's got the skill level to play in the nhl, he can play special teams & has the experience to help younger players."

i'm paraphrasing but apparently keenan is either the most polite guy in the universe or he actually thinks anders is nhl calibre.

anyhow.
i thought i'd just clue you all in on what went down today for people who are unemployed like keenan, eriksson & me.
:)

5 comments:

RobWoolley said...

Holy shit.

Add Senile to Iron Mike's resume stat.

Calgarian in SJ said...

Total agreement.
I would've bet money he was going to blurt out "Messier" ... then I couldn't stop laughing after hearing "Chelios". Whatever you say, Mike.
"Who's the greatest team you've ever coached???" Get serious.
That phony kissup Landsberg should have had the corleones to ask Mike why he never practiced the PP in Calgary lol

walkinvisible said...

it was definitely a missed opportunity for some hard-hitting questions, but let's not forget it's OTR. the fact that lansberg even MENTIONED the regehr comments seems commendable, to me.... it's not like he was gonna roast the guy on national television....

"messier" would have been a terrible answer to "name a CURRENT mike keenan type player." mind you, messier is about as relevant, currently, as chelios.... i FULLY expected keenan to say "iginla." the fact that he didn't speaks volumes.

Calgarian in SJ said...

My goof on Messier. Yes, he did say "current".

walkinvisible said...

no matter.
he still had any number of "heart and soul guys" to choose from that are relevant (like... uh OVECHKIN). and he chose effin' chelly. hilar.