Paul Kukla pointed out this item that should make everyone (aside from my podcast partner Tom) either scratch their head, or laugh their (bleep) off. From The Buffalo News:

Goaltender Ryan Miller called it a “slanted officiating job” today and said the men in stripes weren’t behaving too well either.

At the end of a 5-1/2-minute session with reporters today in the Amherst Pepsi Center, Miller was asked about an end-of-practice chat with coach Lindy Ruff. The Buffalo goaltender revealed he was telling his coach that one of the officials swore at him during a stoppage in play a couple of minutes before the Sabres received a bench minor for arguing an interference call on Thomas Vanek.

“It was just about the referee last night, a brief conversation I had with the ref that was a little surprising to me,” Miller said. “He told me to “go [bleep] myself’ because I was just asking a question. I was just kind of joking around [to Ruff], saying, “Maybe that kind of started what got the bench minor going.’

On, noes, Mr. Miller. Did the man in the stripey shirt make with the bad language?

For those of you who have never seen a broadcast of a hockey game, or ever been to one, or those who find it impossible to read lips, there is more salty language thrown around the game than panties thrown at a Tom Jones concert. And when the language isn’t being thrown at the opposition, it’s being thrown at the refs. Some of the most chicken [bleep] acts involve skating away from the ref while giving him the business. The fact that there aren’t ten minors for abusing the ref a night is a testament to these guys patience and tolerance. If you had some tool ripping the job you were doing in the media, would you want to deal with him? (yes, Miller said the officiating was “slanted” after the game, I know) Refs get ripped all the time. Perhaps Miller deserved to be ripped back. And frankly, do we even know if this really happened.

And what led to this (bleeping) comment, Mr. Miller?

“To be honest, I was respectful. I asked him a question and he told me maybe I should “go [bleep] myself.”

Notice how Miller doesn’t tell us what he asked. Maybe he asked:

“Do you remember where you left your glasses?”

or

“Say, do you think this officiating is as slanted as I do?”

or maybe even,

“Excuse me, sir, but would you perhaps like another donut, you fat pig?”

Maybe Miller should go (bleep) himself.