Former Lightning coach John Tortorella admits he made a mistake getting into an altercation with a fan last week and said he embarrassed himself and the New York Rangers, the team he now coaches. Near the end of a Game 5 loss in Washington, Tortorella squirted water and then threw a water bottle at a fan behind the bench at Washington's Verizon Center. Tortorella was suspended for Game 6 because of it. The Rangers once had a 3-1 series lead, but lost the series in seven games.
"It's a bad mistake by me,'' Tortorella told the Associated Press. "I regret it. I put the New York Rangers organization in an embarrassing situation. I'm embarrassed by it. I am an intense person, which is a positive, but it also turns into a negative sometimes.''
Speaking of Tortorella and the Rangers, check out this story (rumor? gossip?) in the New York Post about why the Rangers should be and might be interested in Lightning star Marty St. Louis.
Tom Jones doesn't sing "It's Not Unusual'' or shake his hips (well, unless you're willing to pay cash), but he does have plenty to say about sports. If it's funny, crazy, weird, irreverent or worth arguing, Tom has his opinions. So pull up a chair and get his two cents -- and give him your two cents, as well.
E-mail Tom Jones:
Marty to the Rangers? Who'd ever believe anything coming out of the pie-hole of Larry Brooks?
Posted by: Ray | May 01, 2009 at 02:53 AM
This is what I hate most about the offseason. Did you hear Lecavalier is going to the Wild for a a bag of pucks and a Tim Horton's coffee? I heard Stamkos and St.Louis as a package deal for Paul Gaustad. The Lightning need to start making the post season to, if nothing else, spare us a couple of months of listening to the slop churned up in the rumor mill.
Posted by: Danger | May 01, 2009 at 11:13 AM
When the Rangers hired John, they were still in contention for a playoff slot although the team was going through a bad spell. John was then joined by his new found center, Sean Avery (earlier, Torts had virtually demonized the guy and called for the end of his NHL career on Canadian national TV) and managed to find a way into the lower end of the playoffs. Buoyed by some reasonable vestiges of success and inspired by the brilliant goaltending of Ranger backstopper, "King Hendrik" Lundqvist, the New Yorkers surprised the Caps and ran up a 3-1 lead in the series. The golden glow of press attention triggered Avery and his coach to find the center of attention where all the little red lights of the TV cameras were focused.
It was at this point that the two gentlemen with narcissistic personality disorders made their bid to capture the media attention that they both need so desperately. Avery and Tortorella ably snatched defeat of of the jaws of victory, and like the psychic vampires that they are, sucked the emotion and energy out of the New York Rangers who were left to surrender somewhat meekly to the resurgent Washington team.
I do not know what the Ranger President/GM, Glen Sather, is thinking about at this stage of his career, but, as a guy who engineered some magnificent successes in Edmonton, he seems to now be reduced to directing and marketing a three ring circus in Madison Square Garden. Its a circus starring two of the biggest and most self-centered clowns in the NHL.
Posted by: The Gong Show | May 01, 2009 at 12:38 PM