Lots of MSU References for Miller Last Night
Did anyone else notice last night during the US v. Canada woo-fest that the NBC color man kept referring to Ryan Miller as the "Ex-Spartan Great", the "East Lansing native", the "former Michigan State goalie", and so on? They made mention that he's a Boston Bruin as well, but I don't remember hearing about "former University of Michigan great Jack Johnson" or anything of the like. Not upset, just found it curious. I mean using "Ryan Miller" and "great" in the same sentence is perfectly reasonable because well...obviously.
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:37 PM ^
I noticed a lot of "east lansing native" but I didn't particularly remember them saying anything about MSU. To be fair, they did mention U of M a few times when Jack Johnson came up.
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:40 PM ^
While the MSU references were sometimes painful, it seemed like they also mentioned Michigan plenty when JJ was on ice...
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:42 PM ^
I heard him mention MSU a couple times for sure, but I wasn't paying that close attention the whole game so I don't remember it being that excessive.
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:56 PM ^
He mentioned that Jack went to Michigan at least once, and I think I heard a few Minnesota references and a Denver. It's just that Miller was kind of important in the game.
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:58 PM ^
Confirmation bias – the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases)
Preconception? The non-fr**p media is against us.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^
Ryan Miller is probably the greatest player for a school that has a lot of hockey tradition. He was also the best player in that game, so for them to talk about his past a lot seems okay to me.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:25 PM ^
Always mentions players' colleges, especially from Michigan. He lives in Port Huron.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:26 PM ^
Ryan Miller also had 30+ plus saves and was being mentioned roughly ever 5 seconds given how much pressure Canada was putting on the USA. Also, he was on the ice the entire game. Johnson really didn't do anything to call that much attention to himself. So yes, Miller was referenced a ton, and some of those times, they mentioned his school.
They did, at least once, refer to Johnson as "Ann Arbor native" and "Former Wolverine".
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:44 AM ^
was when Glenn Winston was sucker punching fools.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:37 PM ^
They mentioned the colleges of most players on the ice. For some reason, the announcers didn't want to simply state the name, but instead say "John Doe, the graduate of University of SomeSchool just made a spectacular play." Miller (and MSU) just got mentioned a lot because Miller was involved in the play what seemed like every 15s.
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:32 PM ^
Watching some of the foreign games (Russia-Czech comes to mind) they kept mentioning where players played in the NHL/KHL. It serves a dual purpose of liming on air "dead time" and informing the average viewer that Pavel Datsyuk plays for the Wings.
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:49 PM ^
he mentioned Jack at UofM and he also mentioned orpik from BC? i think and a guy from minnesota.
and you know, when a guy stands on his head to almost single-handedly stop canada, they're gonna talk about him. i'm sure if jack johnson had as good a game as miller did they'd be throwing UofM around a lot too
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:58 PM ^
FWIW during the ice dancing segments whenever one of the two couples from michigan was performing, they kept saying things like "hail to the victors!" they even showed a pic with one couple holding the "All In for Michigan" towel.
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:35 PM ^
Think they mentioned Rafalski and Dearborn too.
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:52 PM ^
Right now they're all Americans. I don't care what school they went to or what NHL team they play for. I'm pulling for all these guys and I'm really pulling for all the Michigan born players to do well.
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:57 PM ^
i was very pleased to hear how well the state of michigan was represented. when we're playing on the international scene i think we can forget about school allegiances for a few days and just sit back and enjoy just how kick ass our state is at producing great hockey players.
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:09 PM ^
are too hung up on Michigan State. Yeah, Miller went to State. He was awesome there and he was awesome last night and he is a rad dude. eh kills aleins and doesn't afraid of anything...