There are a lot of things that will stand out from last night’s premiere of HBO’s “24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic” series. As Joe discussed, we’ll get some unique looks at the sport as well as some rare, candid moments from coaches and players.
But the beauty might be in the wildly different situations the two teams find themselves in right now. Sure, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost two in a row, but they’ve generally been on fire. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals are suffering from something they haven’t experienced very often since Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench: a prolonged losing streak.
Such a rash of defeats brought out some colorful language from Boudreau. In fact, after watching that clip, I’m not sure if people should just limit the profane parallels to New York Jets coach Rex Ryan alone.
While some people utilize obscenities with the finesse that a chef uses spices (“not too much rosemary” ... “just sprinkle in a swear word or two if you drop something heavy on your toe”), Boudreau’s profanity-laced speech reminds me of those times when the previous person at a restaurant messed with a salt shaker and all of its contents fall on your food. Boudreau’s f-bomb heavy rant almost over-saturates his message, not unlike how pervasive profanities can be in a Quentin Tarantino script.
Either way, the angry tirade made its way onto the HBO show and it turned many heads. In fact, it got the attention of Boudreau’s mother, who probably wanted to put a bar of soap in her son’s mouth.My mom already called me about how many (swear words) I used,” Boudreau said Thursday.
The first episode of the reality series, “24/7: Penguins-Capitals, Road to the NHL Winter Classic” aired Wednesday night. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the two teams as they approach their outdoor game Jan. 1 in Pittsburgh.
The Capitals are currently in a seven-game winless streak, and Wednesday’s show included footage of Boudreau colorfully yelling at his players on the bench during a timeout and in the locker room. During one particular speech between periods, Boudreau used a particular curse word 15 times in the span of a minute.
“It was a passionate speech. It wasn’t anything that I’m sitting there and manufacturing up the word, just to say the word,” he said Thursday. “When you’re talking with passion, sometimes I don’t know what’s coming out of my mouth, quite frankly.”Let’s hope that no one - not even Tarantino - would manufacture such a speech.