Sports

McGuire wastes ‘privilege’ by refusing to report on spat

Somewhere in the NBC Gift Catalogue must be safety-first NBC steak knives — those with a lifetime guarantee for a dull cutting edge. And the NBC frying pan, the one that comes with the “Don’t Place Near Open Flame” warning. And, for gardeners, the revolutionary NBC watering can, with holes-on-both-ends!

NBC is so peacock proud of what it can do on NHL telecasts that it waits for the best possible moment to do it — then doesn’t do it!

I wish I had an answer for why NBCSN did what it did — or didn’t do — in Monday’s Game 4 of Rangers-Devils. I wish I had a good answer to all reasonable questions about illogical telecasts. All I know is that the closer we’re taken, the further away we’re sent — or sentenced.

At 3-0, Jersey in the third, Rangers coach John Tortorella sent out mixologist Mike Rupp to shake and stir.

Not that it was a strategy that prevented the Devils from winning Wednesday’s Game 6 in the Garden — home ice Stanley Cup advantage has become a myth ( L.A.’s 8-0 on the road) — but Rupp succeeded, even sucker-socking Devils goalie Martin Brodeur.

So began an angry, lean-way-over-the-bench verbal hassle between Tortorella and Devils coach Peter DeBoer, an ugly scene separated only by NBC’s “Inside The Glass” man, Pierre McGuire, who has spent his time inside the glass reporting what can be seen outside the glass, even from the last row.

McGuire wisely hit the mute button to save us from language that cable TV otherwise purposely includes because it can. But when the coaches were done, what did McGuire have to report?

Nothing.

Though we didn’t expect him to quote either man, he couldn’t provide the gist of the debate, a cleaned-up version? Who hollered first? Did Rupp’s name come up? McGuire never said.

Being up close and personal was what McGuire’s “Inside The Glass” status was predicated upon, no? So where was NBC’s producer to demand that he provide even a bit more than nothing from inside the glass?

Were we to pretend that we didn’t see McGuire standing there, the discordant coaches four feet from his corresponding left and right ears, eyes and lapels?

The next day, McGuire explained to Mike Francesa that he didn’t want to take advantage of a “privileged position” — a suspect answer that Francesa, who hangs up on people who make sense, easily swallowed.

But McGuire and NBC had turned his “privileged position” into a worthless one — one that not only didn’t answer obvious questions but led to added questions about NBC’s inability to sensibly deal sensibly with the sensible in its audience.

If that was McGuire’s and NBC’s position on his position — they were restricted by real, tacit or imagined agreement — why not explain that to viewers rather than drop them into the disadvantaged position to wonder why NBC’s reporter — right there, for crying out loud! — shut down like the captain of the Oyster Bay Clams.

NBC has bewildered throughout its Cup coverage. Why, late in close games, distract us from desperate play to insert a box showing the goalie heading to the bench? Can’t we take the play-by-player’s word for it? Why risk an obstructed or distracted view of a tying goal?

Wednesday, late in the third, NBC missed the Devils’ game-winner to a close-up, following the puck into the near corner. Late in close Cup games is no time to get fancy or aerobic with live shots. That’s when you stay high, wide, risk-free. Don’t lose the most important live action to what tape machines can handle.

Wednesday, Travis Zajac’s goal to make it 3-0 was selected as the Scott Trade Value Rising Play. But it was hidden behind the large Scott graphic, low and center. Did no one at NBC see this coming? Why not always place that graphic high and center?

Yeah, I know. It’s easy for me to sit back and criticize. That’s the problem. It’s too easy.

Robbie looks first, runs later

Just Askin’: How come it so often escapes Yankees broadcasters that Robinson Cano first looks before he runs (or decides to run), rather than run first and look second?

* Not that Jimmy Dolan’s available to answer questions, but I would start with: How would you react if the restaurant in which you were dining or the store in which you shopped tacked on a $5 “facility fee”?

* Monday at home in the rain, the Yankees lost 6-0 to Kansas City. Though roughly 15,000 attended, the Yankees announced 39,229. Doesn’t that mean that about 25,000 paid customers were ripped off while the 15,000 who did show were just plain suckers?

* Peter and The Wolf: If you had to cast someone who looks like an ax murderer for your horror flick, wouldn’t you reach out to John Tortorella? And if you had to cast someone with the blank, blinking look of a poor soul being chased through the woods by an ax murderer, wouldn’t it be Pete DeBoer?

* Hey, kids, moms and dads! Uncle Bud Selig has changed June 3’s Sunday 1 p.m. Cardinals-Mets — John Franco “Day” — to an 8:05 start for ESPN money. Text poll: Who will be asleep first, the kids — who have school the next day and whose folks, who have work the next day, bought tickets to the game — or Uncle Bud?

* SNY’s Gary Cohen is another who too often finds meaning in stats not worth a mention. Monday, after Met Ronny Cedeno — career .246 singles hitter — doubled, he said, “Only his third extra-base hit this year.” Only? He had batted just 43 times.

* Doc Emrick even makes smooth out of in-game ads. After a Rangers penalty, NBC focused on Devils’ assistant and ex-NHL star Adam Oates. “A great coach of the power play,” Ed Olczyk said. “And unbeknownst to him,” Emrick said, “it’s sponsored by Jack Daniels.”