NBC Sports: Quit your QQing!

Full disclosure: I'm from Chicago, so as a matter of principle, I oppose the Red Wings. I'm also tired of them being so good year after year. While I respect the team for their fundamentals and style of play (which has cleaned up a lot since the Blackhawks were a serious rival to them), I support the Penguins for the Cup this year.

With that note aside, I gotta gripe about NBC's whining about two goaltender interference calls in OT last night. They said there was no consistency and implied they were "soft" calls. They flat out called them wrong calls, and said that if they had led to goals it would have been a terrible way to decide the game.

NBC, kindly shut the hell up. First of all, everyone knows consistency is a problem. And YOU are not consistent about griping about that inconsistency. We all know that obstruction hooks, interference, holds, etc. go uncalled all the time b/c the ref doesn't see it or doesn't think it was substantial enough to merit a penalty. What is substantial enough varies from one ref to the next, or sometimes from one period to the next with the same ref. Yet, you insist on saying things like "whenever you get the stick horizontal across a player's body, there will be a penalty." Bullshit. The refs try to do a good job, but they're not perfect.

But these two calls weren't bad or inconsistent by any means. They were easy to make and clearly right. Both involved an offensive player knocking the goaltender around inside the goal crease. It's clear cut. It doesn't matter that an offensive player is expected to drive to the net. He can do so without going in the crease. So what about all those other times when there is contact between a player and the goaltender in the crease when there is no call? That's easy. Those are non calls because almost invariably, the offensive player wound up in the goal crease because a defenseman shoved the opposing player into the crease or knocked him on his ass causing him to slide into the crease. Neither Detroit player that was called last night had any help from the defense.

Easy. Obvious. Stop your whining.