Sports

NBC’s Milbury off on criticism of Sedin twins

Listen, we’ve all heard this sad song before from Mike Milbury, the ugly American who apparently thinks it is insightful hockey commentary to mock the manhood and masculinity of Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

Of course, Milbury was once coached by Don Cherry, the jingoistic Canadian who has spent decades polluting the air by defaming athletes whose first language is something other than English.

So the question is, what on earth is wrong with the North American television network executives who make the decisions to hire these people to spew their ignorance?

Henrik and Daniel, the twins from Sweden now one victory away from owning one more Stanley Cup ring apiece than Milbury and Cherry were able to earn in a combined 28 seasons of NHL employment, have led the league in scoring in each of the last two seasons; Henrik in 2009-10, Daniel this year. Henrik won the Hart Trophy last year; Daniel is a finalist this year.

But they are more than exceptional athletes. They are gentlemen and ambassadors for the sport.

So because they are having a difficult series against the Bruins, Henrik blanked thus far and Daniel limited to two points, a goal and an assist in Game 2, Milbury must demean them.

They aren’t North American, after all, so they must be belittled. They don’t bite, they don’t stick their fingers in other people’s mouths, they don’t seek to decapitate their opponents and they don’t mouth off in the press.

So they are not men.

A year ago at the Olympics, there was Milbury — the guy who traded Roberto Luongo, a young Olli Jokinen and the chance to draft either Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik for Rick DiPietro, Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha a year before trading Zdeno Chara and the right to draft Jason Spezza for Alexei Yashin — calling the Russian team “Eurotrash” following a gruesome performance against Canada.

So having a rough go of it against the Bruins, The Sedins are “Thelma and Louise,” according to Milbury. They are women.

If that is the case, we have a pretty good idea who personifies the white trash truck driver whose rig gets blown up.

Boston must be so proud.

So must NBC and the NHL.

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Good Lord, we trust that if the Canucks should win Game 6 tomorrow night and thus get to raise the Cup on Boston ice, Henrik the captain will have the sense not to directly hand off the chalice to Aaron Rome.

Mike Murphy, the NHL VP who ruled on the Rome case, is a man of integrity, but he had no business whatsoever consulting Brian Burke before handing down the sentence, regardless of whether the current Toronto general manager once was in charge of discipline for the league.

It was a conflict of interest to speak to Burke, fired as Vancouver GM before moving onto Anaheim and then Toronto. It is a conflict of interest for the league disciplinarian to consult with any general manager before handing out suspensions.

New rule that should be adopted in conjunction with the revised Rule 48, which prohibits illegal checks to the head: A player suspended for violating Rule 48 may not be replaced in the lineup.

In other words, the team plays short for the duration of the sentence.

Good for Luongo, by the way, in addressing Tim Thomas‘ aggressive style when answering a question following his Game 5, 1-0 shutout victory about the difficulty of handling pucks that bounce off the boards.

Reporters deride players for saying nothing and mumbling clichés; now we criticize them for being candid and saying something substantial?

Woe is us.

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The Rangers have been notified Chris Kreider has made the irrevocable decision to return to Boston College for his junior season. The 19th overall selection in the 2009 Entry Draft is taking a full course load this summer to advance his commitment to earn his degree.

The Blueshirts, by the way, are all but certain to file for salary arbitration against one of their eligible impending Group II free agents as a mechanism to trigger a second buyout period in August.

It’s a fireable offense, isn’t it, for Columbus GM Scott Howson to even be talking to the Flyers about taking 26-year-old Jeff Carter and his contract that runs through 2021-22 in exchange for Jacob Voracek and the eighth overall pick in the upcoming draft?

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So it’s the Cup Final, which means it should be another week or so before the Hockey Hall of Fame’s discredited selection committee reveals its annual snub of Fred Shero.

How is it possible, by the way, that neither Mark Howe nor Kevin Lowe is in?

Best defensemen never to win the Norris Trophy: 1. Scott Stevens; 2. Brad Park; 3. Howe.

Question: How fast before the push is made to induct Colin Campbell?

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Yep, it sure is something the way these NHL players fail to respect each other on the ice. Have to wonder why these guys aren’t emulating the great traditions and players of the past such as Boston’s venerated Eddie Shore, whose check from behind nearly took the life and ended the career of Toronto’s Irvin “Ace” Bailey.

Bet no one ever called that Shore a woman.

larry.brooks@nypost.com