The overreaction to Brad Marchand's interview is embarrassing

As you’re all surely aware by now, there was a little incident involving Brad Marchand on Monday night that has a lot of outrage-seekers frothing from their keyboards because the Bruins forward was a little short during his post-game interview.

Here’s the clip — which gloriously features Marchand using only 10 total words to answer three questions from Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas — that has so many feeling Extremely Mad Online today.

What prompted the usually-outspoken Marchand to be so quick and cold in his exchange with Bukauskas, you ask?

No. 63’s theatrics appear to be revenge of sorts for a bit of a snarky question (but clearly a playful one) the rink-side reporter snuck in ahead of Game 2 just a couple days after Boston’s star forward was caught stomping on Cam Atkinson’s stick late in Game 1of the Bruins-Jackets second-round series.

And it wasn’t just Sportsnet’s rink-side reporter who fell victim to Marchand’s trolling, as a scrum loaded with local Boston personalities and national outlets were also given the cold shoulder by the rat master following the Bruins’ Game 6 victory.

So, yeah, that’s it. That’s what all the fuss is about. Surely you were expecting more based on the reaction this has gotten, but I am here to inform you that no one died, got physically hurt or suffered any mental or emotional damage because a hockey player decided to cut a couple interviews a little short. Marchand did not kick the poor reporter’s puppy, or insult his family, as far as we’ve been informed.

Before getting into it a little more, let’s preface with this: It can be both. You can think Marchand is a jerk but still see where he was coming from in his (lack of) responses. You can commend Bukauskas for handling the whole situation like the pro that he is, and still be of the opinion that he was at least a little out of line in trying to be funny and snappy prior to a crucial playoff game.

Kyle is a top-notch reporter and handled everything with a grain of salt and a sense of humour, something all you heroes trying to defend the reporter’s honour from Marchand’s wrath could learn from. This isn’t that serious.

In case you aren’t quite aware of the fuss this has caused — mostly among some media members and bunch of Maple Leafs fans, if we’re being honest — then a quick Twitter search of “Marchand” will paint a lovely picture of the online outrage bubbling over this whole situation.

Rather than pulling up each response for you, here is a summation of the backlash:

• Brad Marchand is immature and not at all clever.

• Only one person in that interview acted like a pro, and it wasn’t Marchand.

• He’s a total jerk and an embarrassment and disgrace to the NHL.

• Marchand should be suspended for being a tool. (Seriously.)

• Feeling bad for Bukauskas because he’s such a nice guy and a hard worker. Oh how DARE Brad subject him to that type of trauma.

• Kyle should ask 90-second questions next time he interviews Marchand to make him stay longer as a punishment! (What?)

It gets a lot worse, but I’ll stop there and let you find the more R-rated posts for yourself.

Though I really don’t agree with any of the backlash, I respect that we all have the right to think whatever we want of Marchand just as he has the right to answer questions in any way he sees fit. He does have somewhat of a duty to be “professional” with the media — a sentiment Boston’s GM reluctantly echoed for the sake of trying to put the situation to bed — but he also shouldn’t have to be subjected to bad questions without being able to come back with bad answers.

So, you’re still upset about all of this. Well, what are you going to do? Force Marchand to have a word count on his answers going forward? Would you like him to read off the same old boring script that 99.9 percent of guys follow when they give their pre- and post-game interviews? How about we tie him to a chair and beat him with a dead rat until he gives the exact answers reporters want?

You give the guy hell when he talks too much and says something ridiculous, but rake him over the coals when he keeps it short and sweet because “oh the disrespect.” Miss me with that garbage, man. If you can’t do your job without a generic post-game quote, then figure it out like the professional you claim to be.

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