If there’s one word to sum up John Tortorella’s Game 2 post-game presser, it would be “no.”
Oh, he also threw in a a couple ”we’re going to keep it in the room” responses, you know, just to add a little variety.
It’s no secret that Tortorella holds a cold contempt for the media, and quite frankly, there’s not too many guys in the sport—or any sport for that matter—who has the stones to be as short as Torts is with the media in, of all places, the city of New York.
But during the press conference following the Rangers‘ 3-2 home playoff loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, most agreed that enough was enough.
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said Tortorella treats the press with such “disdain,” so “disrespectfully” that it “galls” him. NHL Network analyst Craig Button, a former GM with the Calgary Flames, called Tortorella’s media Q&A’s a “joke” and a “travesty.”
Although Tortorella’s propensity to give the media the cold shoulder has made for some great YouTube fodder over the years, most are sick of it now.
Writes Steve Politi of the Star Ledger:
Tortorella got a few YouTube laughs with his routine at news conferences early in the playoffs, but now the reviews are all about the same.
The act is tired, and especially so on a night when it isn’t unreasonable for the fans to expect some answers. You can say he doesn’t owe the media a thing, but the paying customers can’t ask the question themselves. And it’s a fair one: Why was your team so flat for most of this game?
I for one was actually disappointed that Torts didn’t go off on somebody. Look, everyone knows that answering questions after a game for a coach is part of the gig in any professional sport, and it’s highly unlikely that any of them—win or lose—enjoy it. And while it’s true that the least Tortorella can do is answer a few questions, as long as he is technically making himself “available” to the media, he’s technically not doing anything wrong; i.e., the league can’t fine him for being a smart ass.
And while it’s hard to imagine just how uncomfortable it really is sitting in on one of his pressers, it would be refreshing to hear a reporter open up with a smart-ass question during the next presser, just to see if they can get a rise out of Tortorella. At least that way, it would lead to a rant, and that way he’d at least talk for over a minute.
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