Everyone Should Be So Embarrassed

“You know guys, to be honest, I don’t know where you get this information. Be honest, did you read yourself what you wrote? That’s embarrassing. You have to prove your sources. That was never happening. You became not professional journalist, it’s embarrassing, seriously. You’ve got to do your job better. I’m only pointing at guys who were involved in this because it’s really embarrassing and you have to be better. Step up, guys. Prove your information, find a reliable source.”

That was Ilya Bryzgalov telling reporters, who rolled over like fainting goats when challenged even a little bit by the $51 million goaltender, that they should be embarrassed of themselves and need to do a better job.

Setting aside the obvious irony in the most disappointing player in hockey telling five-figure reporters that they need to Andy Reid (v.), let’s talk about the job those scriptubators are doing. Because it is embarrassing.

The report about Bryz sleeping was immediately brushed aside because it didn’t come from someone in the inner-circle of puck nuts. Their reactions on Twitter were hilarious. How dare someone who is not one of us have a source. Lindsay Lohan RUMORS! Not a story! CSN was, laughably, all too happy to  be a mouthpiece for Flyers denials. [And newsflash: this shouldn’t surprise you! They are owned by the same people!! Comcast will never be too blasphemous when it comes to the Flyers. Never.] But even more laughable was the reaction from Sam Carchidi, of the Inquirer, who took to Twitter to yawn over the story… and then wrote two stories on it, one of which was the lead on Philly.com Sports on Wednesday (!!!). Here’s what he wrote about Bryz’s comments last night, his second story about the non-story:

Afterward, in his first comments since the story broke, Bryzgalov criticized those who reported he had slept during a recent team meeting. The Fanatic — the team’s flagship radio station — and the Daily News reported the story, citing unnamed sources.

Speaking in a calm but hurt tone, Bryzgalov vehemently denied the reports, calling them “embarrassing” and adding “you’ve got to prove your sources. That was never happening. You became not professional journalists. You’ve got to do your job better….Find reliable sources.”

Speaking in a calm but hurt tone?! WHAT?! Watch the video (after the jump), I’d argue that Bryz was in better spirits, and more confident, than just about any other time that he’s met with the media in Philadelphia. It’s like Sam was getting a shoulder rub from a low-level Flyers PR staffer while he wrote that. Make it sound good, Sam. Gooood. Yeah. Like that.

The fact is, reports from unnamed sources happen every day in the media – in sports, news and entertainment – and they always look worse, or more substantial, in words. Did Bryz fall asleep? Did he close his eyes and yawn and act unprofessional like he does just about every day? We’ll never know for sure. That’s standard in all media. Stories are often reported by people who weren’t present at ____ event. Initial reports are hammered into fact, and even then, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. But there are players and people within the organization that had a problem with the way Bryz handled himself at a team meeting this week and that have a problem with the way Bryz conducts himself on a daily basis. It’s ridiculous to think that’s not a story.

And even more ridiculous is that Carchidi and his cohorts, most of which I’m guessing are so far within the Flyers bubble that they have no idea what people care about anymore, probably never realized – or even understood – that this was likely their most-read story in weeks or months. They have no clue which of their tales from the OB dungeon are popular. I’m guessing most of them think Google Analytics is a job opening. Some actually thought Nick Grossmann’s injury was the top story of Wednesday.

But if the Bryz sleeping thing had come from “one of their own,” Carchidi and every other beat writer would have been frothing at the mouth, including perpetual angry man Randy Miller, who asked Bryzzz the sleeping question last night and who went on a Twitter rant about integrity after the game…

… and also fluffed Bryz in his game recap, which opened with 11 paragraphs about the non-story:

Bryzgalov responded calmly but with meaning.

Miller, the Phillies-turned-Flyers reporter who, as pointed out by one CSN employee, was all-too-willing to sell books over Harry Kalas’ grave, is the hypocrite of all hypocrites. His Tweets were directed squarely at Daily News reporter Frank Seravalli, who was the only beat writer to back up the reports of Bryz sleeping that first came from 97.5 The Fanatic and this website. But here’s the thing: a source tells me that Miller and Seravalli have an ongoing feud and are not on speaking terms (full disclosure: Miller and I got into it on Twitter last year). Miller, who had the gonadotrophins to lecture about integrity, threw all of his out the window with his claim that Claude Giroux had words with Seravalli:

After a Philadelphia radio station first reported the story and an area newspaper also ran with the story, team captain Claude Giroux had words with the beat writer who authored the newspaper report in a hallway outside the Flyers’ practice-rink locker room Thursday following the team’s morning skate in Voorhees.

I’m told that Giroux did, in fact, have words with Seravalli yesterday– they were talking about getting lunch in Montreal this weekend. Giroux was in no way confronting Seravalli about his story, or at least not in the manner that Miller would like you to think he was. But Miller saw them talking and jumped to the conclusion that, and made it seem as though, G was about to give Seravalli a beat down. That’s misleading. And embarrassing.

Bryz video after the jump.