Talbot Calls Ovechkin A Douche

Penguins' forward Max Talbot is certainly well-known in these parts.  And for many reasons.

Delivering pizza before home games to the kids in the student rush line.

His commericals, which are so goofy, only a Penguins fan can appreciate them.  (The latest can be found here, by the way)

And, of course, being a Stanely Cup Champion.

Well, you can now add mind-reader to his list of accomplishments.

Within an hour or two of me blasting Washington Capitals' Captain and winger Alexander Ovechkin in this space for not attending the Winter Classic press conference at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh yesterday and dropping the ball on an opportunity to help sell the game, Talbot piled on Ovechkin during a radio interview yesterday morning on the Pittsburgh radio station that covers the Penguins heavily, WXDX 105.9.

When asked about Ovechkin not scheduled to be at the noon press conference, Talbot said, "I'm kinda glad he isn't going to be there; I don't want to see the guy"

That was just the warm up, folks.

Later in the interview, Talbot was even clearer about his feelings for the Caps' superstar:

"I just hate the guy".

When asked when those warm and fuzzy feelings for Ovechkin began, Talbot related the story of how he first met Ovechkin, when at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas with Evgeni Malkin in the summer of 2009 after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup.

Talbot said that, while he heard things about Ovechkin that didn't paint him in a positive light beforehand, he didn't want to pass full judgment and instead preferred to form his own personal opinions after meeting him.

After Malkin made the introduction, Talbot found out personally what everyone else pretty much already knew, and said as much during the radio interview yesterday.

"This guy is a real douche"

Well, it certainly didn't take long for those remarks to cause a stir, or get picked up by local and national media outlets.  A sampling of those pieces can be found here and here

You already know how I feel about the matter, so there's no need to repeat those feelings here.  But I will say that any criticism leveled to Talbot for making those remarks is overblown.

These teams have a real rivalry.  A real dislike for one another.  Talbot was just saying how he feels.  Kudos to him for dropping the politically correct approach and speaking his mind.  It's the truth anyway, and everyone around the league knows it.

Good thing I didn't have to post today on the usual 'rah-rah' quotes made about the classic yesterday by the NHL Commissioner and everyone else.  More on that, the logos, uniforms, tickets and such tomorrow.  For now, I'd much rather talk about the scope of the great rivalry between the Pens and Caps.

"I don't think you can imagine it being more intense than it already is," said Crosby.

I can.

Max, what do you think about Alexander Ovechkin?