NESN’s Jack Edwards tries to clear the air with Lightning’s Pat Maroon
Bruins
In November, Edwards made a comment about Maroon’s weight during a match.
Pat Maroon (above) spoke with NESN’s Jack Edwards for 10 minutes Thursday in their first interaction since Edwards made comments about the Lightning forward’s weight.
In November, NESN broadcaster Jack Edwards commented on Lightning forward Pat Maroon’s playing weight, which the player didn’t take lightly.
On Thursday, two months later, Edwards and Maroon got into an argument in the Tampa Bay locker room, according to The Athletic. The pair discussed the intentions of the comment, its impact on Maroon as well as others, and the great respect Edwards says he has for the player. After the 10-minute conversation, the two shook hands.
During the game between the Bruins and the Lightning on November 29, Edwards spoke about Maroon. “Listed at 238 pounds, that was day 1 of training camp, I feel like he’s had a few more pizzas by then.”
This was the first of several comments made about Maroon’s weight. Others mentioned things like intermittent fasting and pre-game meals.
“It wasn’t meant to be petty. I went to Pat and explained this to him,” Edwards said. “He took his feelings out of his chest and I listened to everything. I wasn’t going to leave. I let him go as long as he could. I wanted him to know that I respect him as much as any NHL player for lasting as long as he has.
Initially, Maroon made it clear that he didn’t appreciate the comments from the broadcaster, who has worked for NESN since 2005.
“You don’t talk bad about someone like that for a minute straight, for no reason,” Maroon said. “I get it – if we’re on the ice and guys are tweeting and doing these things, that’s part of hockey. That’s part of it. But someone on national television when (potentially) millions of listeners are watching or listening, and he just cut me off.
After the incident however, Maroon decided to turn it into something positive. He took the opportunity to raise awareness about mental health and addiction.
Maroon and his teammates raised over $60,000 for the Tampa Bay Thrives charity in response.
After the chat, Maroon didn’t comment on the interaction, but Edwards had a few other things to say, including, “I try not to regret things. I try to learn from them.
Edwards also wanted to clarify that this was not an isolated remark about Maroon’s height, but merely part of a longer joke that he ran for most of Maroon’s career. .
“The reason he’s been a member of three straight Stanley Cup winning teams and four straight Finals – the list is really tiny for guys who’ve changed franchises – is because he’s the motionless object, and a lot of that has to do with its immense stature,” Edwards said. “So over the course of 18 years there has been an ongoing joke about training camp weight and mid-season weight, and it was in the ongoing context of that that the joke occurred. “
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