Summer was going along a bit too quietly for my liking and thankfully, Penguins forward Max Talbot stepped up to the plate today and hammered one out of the park. No, not at the Winter Classic press conference today when he was firing pucks through the uprights at Heinz Field, but instead over the airwaves of Pittsburgh radio 105.9 The X. As Talbot was being interviewed to discuss the upcoming Winter Classic press conference, the hosts of the program chided Talbot about his thoughts on Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin. Dan Steinberg of D.C. Sports Bog gets us caught up on the details.
“I just hate the guy,” Max Talbot told 105.9 The X on Tuesday as part of some Winter Classic press tours, when asked about Alex Ovechkin. “I can’t lie. Sorry. Even moreso for a guy like Ovechkin. Like, seriously. Ok. Yeah. I don’t like him.”
There was lots of laughter through all of this, and the hosts were egging him on, saying “we agree completely” and “don’t apologize” and the like. Then they asked Talbot when he realized that his dislike for Ovechkin extended beyond normal, competitive on-ice rivalry.
“The first time I met him, actually, when I met him off the ice,” Talbot said. “You hear a lot of stories about a guy, but sometimes they’re not true. You hear of guys who’re not good guys, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, ok, I’ll give the guy a shot.’ The first time I met him, let’s say he didn’t give the best impression to me, so better reason to hate him even more.”
It was the ripped jeans, wasn’t it, Max? Or maybe the techno music? The cackling hosts asked Talbot what exactly happened at this first off-ice meeting.
“I was actually at the NHL Awards last summer with Malkin, and we brought the Stanley Cup over there after the season,” Talbot said. “Malkin knew Ovechkin, and introduced me to him, and the first impression wasn’t great. I’m not really gonna say what happened, but I’m like, ‘Ok, this guy is a real douche.’ ”
That is, of course, if you choose to go ahead and take all of this name-calling seriously. I’m sure any of the chatter we’ve heard/read about today pales in comparison to the sort of stuff these guys say to each other on the ice. In other words, this is just a blown up hockey-branded version of a schoolyard game of name-calling and everyone should enjoy the rise they’ve gotten out of millionaires sniping at each other verbally. After all, we should just be thankful that Max Talbot didn’t say anything about Ovechkin’s girlfriend because that’s when the real trouble starts.
