VIDEO: Howie Rose Trolls Neil Greenberg for Not Including John Tavares in Top 25 List
During the second period of the Islanders’ game against Carolina tonight, MSG play-by-play man Howie Rose went off on a hard troll rant against ESPN’s Neil Greenberg (without explicitly mentioning his name). Earlier in the week, Greenberg had come under fire on Isles fan’s Twitters and blogs for the “Top 25 Players Under 25″ list he posted on ESPN. Most notably, Greenberg left off Tavares and draft classmate Matt Duchene from the list. Tonight, Tavares extended his league best point streak to 12 games and moved within 8 points of the league scoring lead. Here’s the video of the rant:
I can’t give Howie Rose points for the part of his rant that follows the ‘blogger needs to get out of his damned basement’ routine. That would be the line about being a “housebound agorophobe” who needs to get some sunlight. That’s all about five to ten years overused and tiresome. At least go after his statistics or something.
However, the rant echoed what fans have been saying online during the week was a breath of fresh air to hear the criticism coming from someone with such a high visibility. Troll on Howie, troll on.
Video courtesy Keith.
About Kevin Schultz
Kevin was formerly an NHL blogger for the now defunct AOL Fanhouse and was the creator of the hockey comedy blog Barry Melrose Rocks. He now covers the Isles for Islanders Point Blank. You can follow him for instant updates on the team and talk hockey with him on Twitter @schultz88. View all posts by Kevin Schultz →42 Responses to VIDEO: Howie Rose Trolls Neil Greenberg for Not Including John Tavares in Top 25 List
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john mcmanus says:
Mr. Greenberg seems to be the victim of a cranial-anal inversion….maybe he should change sport interests to badminton
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littleomar says:
I posted this in the game post. But since Kevin put this up, I decided to repost it here: Howie Rose’s little rant about JT not being listed in ESPN’s top 25 under 25 was a bit much. He referred to Greenberg as a “housebound agraphobe”. I believe he meant to say agoraphobe, which is a fear of leaving one’s home. Agraphobe is someone with a history of past sexual trauma irrationally fearing they’re likely to be abused again. Howie Rose is an idiot. When he tries to sound smart he is even more of an idiot. I am a clinical psychologist, but a 10 second google search could have got me here as well. Go Isles!!
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Gregaaron says:
Well DSM only lists one of them, so will give him the layman’s benefit of the doubt.
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Tedge77 says:
Any hockey fan could care less about ESPN. They are irrevalent as far as hockey goes. I cant remeber the last time i watched them anyway. I have never heard of this guy besides. He should stick to covering dog shows or strongman contests. thats all ESPN is good for
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Dk says:
BEASTLY ….. 91
Nothing else to say
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claude says:
So who still thinks Streit will remain the captain next year?
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whaaaaaaaat says:
his play has been better of late, and he had like 5 shots on net tonight and assisted on the first goal
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Danfromouteast says: Yeah Neil you know hockey Tavares doesn’t belong in the top 25. You my friend made a complete a*****e out if yourself to not only islander fans but pretty much anyone who watches Nhl hockey. Even duchene being left off is a little foolish. Did Neil ever hold a hockey stick?
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Damian in Buffalo says:
Just plain stupid, but I have to agree with an earlier post, what hockey fan really cares about what ESPN has to say, I mean that have Barry Melrose as their hockey expert, enough said there!
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starz31 says:
haha I love Howie’s ending comment as he gets back to the game: “and here comes the marginaly-talented Mr. Tavares…”
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bc says:
as a diehard isles and mets fan, i listen to howie do about 240 games a year, and i think he’s one of the best in the biz. you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt, because he’s half kidding with everything he says. and his point about greenberg is 100% accurate
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Kevin says:
Agree. He’s been doing it long enough, Howie is an excellent play-by-play man!
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Anthony Y, (Bay Area, California, formerly Oyster Bay, NY) says:
Hahahahaha, Howie Rose annoys me a lot, but this was funny. Love that JT ended up getting a great OT goal as well. Tavares new nickname should be “T25″.
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snowang must go says:
Was wondering what a agraphobe was. The espn writer is out to lunch, but the Islander announcers are horrible.
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Blizz says: Why because you do not know what an agoraphobe is?
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PotvinRocks says:
You know the guy that wrote “Moneyball” really believes that Billy Bean is a genius because he invested in Scott Hattaberg. Yet he doesn’t mention that the pitching staff that features 3 Cy Young winners. What’s my point? Numbers are NOT the end all be all of athletics. So Howie and Butchy and everyone else who said that Neil Greenburg is wrong because he is using some numbers to justify his theory without watching an Islanders game and seeing the drive Tavares has to create offense on every shift. On a night to night basis I’d make the argument that he is the best player on the ice. That’s because I watch the game so I see that he is one of the top 10 players in the league.
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funniest thing about this “list” is that you have to pay to see it. what a joke!
One more thing… does that OT goal only count as 1/3 of a goal in Greenberg’s “system”, since it happened in the offensive zone, and one of his linemates passed it to him allowing it to happen?? Hahahaha
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anthony c says:
That’ll do howie. That’ll do.
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Dan C. says:
Agoraphobe is a word.
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Pingback: Islanders Announcer Calls Neil Greenberg an Housebound Agraphobe, And That’s Not Even a Word
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howie rose i applaud you
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RICH L says:
Maybe because of the way he has been playing we should bestow the nickname on JT of “TANK”, because he is unstoppable.
Tank Taveras, it has a nice sound to it.
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This game was exhibit A for how silly that ESPN list was. The two best players on the ice were clearly JT and Jeff Skinner, who was also not on the list.
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How about an analysis of the top 25 and their linemates. Jonathan Toews (3rd overall in 2006)is no doubt very very good. However, how about JT plays every night with Patrick Kane (1st overall pick in 2007)instead of Okposo or Moulson? Does JT then make the list? I think so!
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Pingback: PHT Morning Skate: Where we respect John Tavares | ProHockeyTalk
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isles71 says:
…hey wait I got that too!!! First thought it meant fear of argyle socks, but I scared of everything!!! Nice to be able to put a name to…Thank again Mr Rose!
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IslesFan says:
Sorry, Kevin, but I think Howie’s rant was perfect. It was a bit offensive but it was appropriate.
As for ESPN, I don’t know which is more of joke, ESPN itself or the fact that ESPN gets better ratings from poker than hockey. In any event, ESPN has made themselves irrelevant in the world of hockey, so nothing they say about hockey should even be acknowledged.
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drive for five says:
Better get JT help soon.Would trade 3 old farts for 1 very good player soon.I just hope he doesn’t get hurt.
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Jonathan, Smithtown says:
What is the matter with you man, goes around saying the H word like that.. You should be ashamed of yourself.
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Howie Rose is the man.
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John Tavares reminds hockey fans of what it was like to watch Gretzy play. When he wants to win, he does.
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Isles316 says:
Good for Bowie and butch. They get criticized enough. They stuck up jt in a big way. Good on them.
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Mark P says:
Some of these new age stats cloud people judgements.
anyone who actually spends time watching Tavares understands what he brings.
Plenty of Isles Fans, Rangers Fans, and Devil fans that I loosely call “friends” have all come back this year and acknowledged what a talent we have.
It’s more than just the stats and the points. He is the best player on the ice almost every night.
Sometimes Snow get’s it right. -
jmont6 says:
well said Howie! And just so you know this reporter who made this list score 100% on the DBRI index that I invented. In case you are wondering it stands for Douche Bag Reporter Index.
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Orange&Blue says:
First off, great job, Howie. ESPN is full of kiss asses who never call out players because they are too busy being friend. Howie tells it how it is and that is fantastic. If it werent for Barry Melrose, ESPN wouldnt know the NHL existed.
Yep, how true it is. The only reason Tavares is not thought of as a superstar is because he wears the orange, blue, and sometimes black of the New York Islanders. Same probably goes for Duchene playing in Colorado. If either these kids played in a major city they would be poster kids for the NHL. Imagine, but not for long, if JT were a Ranger. His face would be everywhere.
The definition of a star is player who makes his team and teammates better. There is no better example than John Tavares. Just ask Matt Moulson, PA Parenteau, Kyle Okposo, Travis Hamonic and Andy MacDonald. Guys who see significant icetime with JT. He has made their careers and helped some of his teammates earn lucrative contracts. They guys worked for these contracts but JT is the catalyst of this team.
JT is going to pick this team up on his back and lead to the playoffs and respectability. There is no doubt about it. I just wish Garth would get this team some more help
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Great job Howie and Butch ripping into yet another moron from ESPN.
Who gives a crap what anybody from ESPN thinks about the NHL. They are too busy being in a love affair with basketball in any league. They’d rather show NBA D league highlights than the NHL’s.
ESPN is full of dorks anyway. You see these schmucks doing the sports news. Where do they find these guys. The girls are better than the guys lol.
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Nice job, Howie. Garth, get on the phone with Scott Howson and trade for Rich Nash. JT is great but he needs some help. Enough with the draft picks. Time to make a big deal. Its been almost 5 years since Smyth trade. Times up!!!
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Christian says:
I like Howie Rose, for one, because he’s not afraid to tell it how it is. Even Butch got in on it… Who would’ve thought!
Well, Howie was right, it was ‘stupid’.