Boston Globe Mike Milbury finally has his say on being fired by NBC

[Fenway]

NBC paid Milbury for the 2021 season and has gotten his final check and he now speaks

Mike Milbury finally has his say on being fired by NBC, and other thoughts - The Boston Globe

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The last paycheck from NBC has cleared.

“Now it’s time to say something,” Milbury said Thursday on a phone call from the Cape. “I don’t want to end 46 years of a career like this.

“I want to explain the comment from that day. As a player and coach in the league, I’ve been on a lot of road trips and around a lot of guys that are young, fit, well-compensated, have celebrity status, and when they go on the road they play hard and they party hard. And a lot of their attention is on women, and I certainly don’t mean that in a bad way.

“Now I get it, everybody else has other ways to party, but that’s my experience and I stand by it. It’s biology, for [goodness] sake. So sometimes their lust for companionship was a distraction. So I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the comment, but apparently it was to other people. And I got dismissed from my job.

“Excuse me, but I’m not going to be canceled. I refuse to be canceled. The only thing that’s going to cancel me is the grim reaper, and I can see him in the distance, but not yet.

“While I’ve been on this sabbatical, I’ve thought many things. Long walks. There are many social inequities in the United States, and I am glad they are being addressed. Great things. I think we can all agree with that. But it’s become a tsunami of social change and tsunamis are indiscriminate. They’ll wipe out the good and the bad and anything in its way, and I don’t think that’s right. It makes heroes out of people that aren’t heroes, and villains out of people that aren’t villains, and maybe worst of all, a social tsunami is too quick to point a finger and too quick to declare guilt by legacy, and I’m not going to accept that. Just because bad things happened in the past doesn’t mean I’ve got to be guilty for things that happen today. I don’t buy that.

“What if I had said there aren’t any dogs here to distract the players? Or any wives? Or children? Do I have to describe the whole pantheon of the human race in order for it to be politically correct? . . . I didn’t feel like I was offending anybody. Has your wife ever been a distraction in your life? I hope you give me the right [expletive] answer.”

Milbury said he approached NHL commissioner Gary Bettman a few weeks ago.

“I wanted to know if everybody really felt this horribly about it, and he told me he couldn’t remember exactly what I had said,” said Milbury.

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[AM Bruin]

If Milbury wants a job he should certainly be considered. A man shouldn’t have to lose his career over such an innocuous statement.

 

[McGarnagle]

Right or wrong, I love that he's sticking to his guns and not apologizing.

 

[Demon Eyes]

I don't even remember that he was fired and what for

 

[bp13]

Amen Mike. Could not agree more with every word.

 

[Primary Assist]

Whatever his next job is, he'll be a shoe-in

Edit - Sorry, I thought I was on the main boards. Reminds me of the time I got lost on the T and ended up in Braintree...

 

[Gee Wally]

Whatever his next job is, he'll be a shoe-in

Edit - Sorry, I thought I was on the main boards. Please dont hurt me...

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Strong statement from Mike. Good stuff. He's clearly thought a lot about this, as you'd expect I suppose. Had to go back and remind myself what he actually said in the bubble, and yep it really was absurdly innocuous. I get it's one of those things you 'can't say' anymore, but it's not offensive unless you're trying really hard to be offended by it, and it's certainly didn't warrant being fired. So good on him for having his say now, hope he finds some further work in the hockey world if he wants it. Feel like he's still got a lot to offer.

 

[Healthy Wrap]

Not a fan of his, but good for him. Political correctness has gotten so far out of hand.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I can’t stand Milbury’s arrogance and overall attitude that I feel he conveys in the booth. Just has a know it all, I’m smarter than you type vibe.

However, even if it was “off color”, the reaction to what he said was clearly and obviously an overreaction IMO. Even if you really don’t like what he said...can you really feel good about threatening a person’s career? For just saying something like that? For Christ sake, he’s not a criminal.

Mike has a big mouth. And says things that I don’t think a professional should say. But if he was “okay” by broadcasting standards up until now, that’s a pretty weak straw to break the camel’s back. He made a mistake, but not nearly one he should be taken to the gulag for.

 

[Bodit9]

I don't even like Milbury but he said nothing wrong. Young men with raging hormones want to get laid, breaking news at 11!!

 

[CharaBadSenyshynGawd]

Indeed, mike.

my social media accounts from back in the day are all but wiped off the internet now because on the off chance I get rich and famous it would be snatched away in a second. Jokes that were funny in 2010 are all of a sudden enough to make you lose your job.

hopefully people start to understand the real meaning of “it’s a slippery slope” before we’re all completely neutered.

For a lot of people, this is a “get what you ask for” situation, and Mike Millbury sure won’t be enough to wake them up.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Not a fan of his, but good for him. Political correctness has gotten so far out of hand.

I think like most media sports analysts he has good takes and not so good ones. His hit rate is much better that Edzo's, not that that's saying much.

I actually thought his fat shaming of Nick Ritchie in early 2020 was far worse than what he said that got him sacked. Not because he didn't have a point - I think it's fair to say that at that stage Nick wasn't in his best shape and to his credit he looked fitter in 2021 - but because he kept circling back to it like a dog with a bone. It was excessive. But that's how it goes. I can just disagree with how Mike handled that issue and move on. It's all part of the game and the manner of modern sports broadcasting.

 

[CDJ]

I think they were looking for an excuse to get rid of him, what he said was nothing like what JR said

 

[Ratty]

Classic political correctness gone wild. Same thing happened to Curt Shilling, a great pitcher with a world of lifetime baseball experiences. He was replaced with someone with no professional baseball experiences who dwelt on personalities and other non baseball issues. NBC is gone from hockey telecasts. I hope, but doubt that ESPN will focus on what fans want to hear, hockey, hockey, hockey.

 

[Jim]

+1 for Mike

 

[PB37]

Cancel culture is a sickening social disease. Good for Mike for standing up for himself but i wish these large companies would follow suit and tell these keyboard punks to get bent, get real, and go pound sand.

 

[Fenway]

This is all he said

 

[Fenian24]

I cannot stand Milbury. Terrible player, worse coach, Sweeney level terrible GM and finished the grand slam by being an arrogant announcer who changed his views to be a contrarian.

The fact that he is right about this speaks more to where we are as a society than anything good about Milbury.

 

[Ratty]

I cannot stand Milbury. Terrible player, worse coach, Sweeney level terrible GM and finished the grand slam by being an arrogant announcer who changed his views to be a contrarian.

The fact that he is right about this speaks more to where we are as a society than anything good about Milbury.

But can you even forget Mike sticking up for his teammates and pummeling the snot out of obnoxious Ranger fans? And at MSG no less.

 

[BlackFrancis]

The fault solely lies with NBC and the rest of these cowardly corporations that roll over the minute @fartsniffer gathers an e-posse to echo tiresome mantras at their corporate media twitter.

As if these shut-ins have the attention span to organize a five minute boycott or anyone they can contact via any method not involving birdsite DMs.

 

[WestCoastBruinsFan]

I think he said there were no women in the bubble. Shame.

 

[MattFromFranklin]

Right or wrong, I love that he's sticking to his guns and not apologizing.

I always had the feeling that his comments were trying to point out the habits of players and, well, that they can be dogs and get around in not so many words. Milbury was a player, coach and GM. He knows how these players think. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if he went through what he was describing when he played.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

I think they were looking for an excuse to get rid of him, what he said was nothing like what JR said

Absolutely. They wanted an excuse... what he said wasn't terrible even in this age.

 

[Gordoff]

Here's hoping that ESPN hires him. If their coverage of the expansion draft is any indication, their broadcasts are going to be a snore-fest.
If they want to make a splash, add some color, some eyebrow raising commentary they could do a lot worse than MM.