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Must be a Thursday.

Even I’m getting tired of hearing Bryz rip the Philly media. They both suck. Bryz is a disappointment in goal and a majority of Flyers beat reporters are second-class citizens of the Philly media world not on the level of most of the guys and gals who cover the Eagles and Phillies. So, on its face, it’s hard to disagree with a lot of the sentiment here as told to Russian media* and transcribed by Dmitry Chesnokov of Puck Daddy:

What about the awkward rumor that you fell asleep during a team meeting? We in Russia laughed a little, of course. But how did you react to it?

“How could I react to that? It is just stupidity. They just started writing ridiculous things. What can you do? It got to the point when they started collecting who knows what.”

It looks like bullying.

“Not really bullying, but pure unprofessionalism.”

Why wouldn’t you approach one of the wiser, experienced ones to stop this?

“It is impossible. Because…. I don’t think they would ever want this…”

The point of no return has been passed?

“It never existed. For the media they need to have a goalie who is at fault for everything. It has always been like this and it will always be like this.”

What about the Phoenix media? Didn’t you have media there?

“There were two or three journalists there. They were great guys. Same can be said about people in California.”

But Bryz’s problem, and the reason he’s (rightfully) picked on, is because he completely doesn’t get it. He has not been good, he’s been a disappointment. We can argue the degree to which that is the case, but not even the most hardened Type OB zealots can claim that he’s lived up to expectations, or close to it. And Bryz has no clue that no one, especially in Philly, likes a guy who deflects blame (but not always pucks) coming at him from all angles. It’s the defense. Miscommunication. The media. Too many games. Tired. The sun and moon were in awkward alignment. Whatever. The humongous big disconnect between his salary coming from the type of enthusiasm and interest that he seems to hate and his thoughts on why you shouldn’t care so much is laughable, as evidenced by this:

It seems at times that you skillfully change topics. They try to tell you that the price doesn’t reflect the quality, and you try to steer the conversation in a direction different from the questions asked. You tell them they don’t understand hockey, and they are trying to figure out your game. Is this the cause of the misunderstanding?

“Perhaps. It is very possible. They, journalists, are not the ones who should be worried when the price doesn’t reflect the quality. The management should be worried about that, and not journalists. They are not the ones paying me out of their pocket.”

Yeah, dick, they’re paying you with money pocketed from fans. Your huge $5.6 million cap hit not being commensurate with its results hurts the team, which in-turn hurts the fans, for whom the media is asking questions. Sure, we should blame Ed Snider and Paul Holmgren for most of that. But when you’re the guy who signs a $51 million contract, you should – at the very least – expect to answer some tough questions when you play like a league average goalie. God, I’m so fucking sick of this. At this point, I wish the Flyers would amnesty him just so we can stop all this whining– his, the media’s… mine. Ugh. It’s all so unsexy. So unbecoming. I feel so, so passive boyfriend. And you don’t want to be that guy. Never be that guy, guys.

More from Bryz here.

*Why is it that, in Europe, they always do these interviews in a faux corner emblazoned with sponsors? You see it all the time in soccer. Can’t they green screen it or something? Or find just one sponsor, like we usually see on press conference backdrops here? Europeans are so much more liberal and accepting of things being sponsored than we are. Could you imagine the (my?) snark if Lisa Hillary and her nice blouse interviewed Bryz in front of a billboard for Comcast and NBC properties after Flyers games? Gratuitous. Obnoxious. Smart…? It’s revenue. Perhaps it could off-set the cost of Bryz’s existence. So Maybe the better question is: Why don’t we do this in America?