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Mike Milbury Shoe Incident
February 7, 2009
Imagine getting beaten by your own shoe. Well, that is what one unlucky New York Ranger fan experienced at the hands of former Boston Bruin "Mad" Mike Milbury. In what could be described as another incident in the long Boston-New York sports rivalry, the "the shoe incident" will long be remembered as one of the funniest moments in sports.
The incident occurred immediately at the end of a 1979 game in which the Bruins defeated the Rangers 4-3. A Ranger player tried to pick a fight with Bruin Al Secord after final buzzer. Their scuffle occurred along the boards where members of both teams joined in to break up the scuffle. Words were exchanged between the players and that seemed to be all at the time.
All hell broke loose when a fan took a stick and hit Bruin Stan Jonathan from above the glass. Jonathan's teammate Terry O'Reilly immediately jumped into the stands and went after the fan. Soon other Ranger fans got involved, this prompted the Bruins to join O'Reilly in the stands to fight.
Bruin Peter McNabb went after a fan. Mike Milbury who thought that McNabb was in trouble grabbed the fan by the leg and in the process pulled one of his shoes off. Milbury then proceeded to hit the fan with his own shoe. After getting his licks in Milbury threw the shoe onto the ice ensuring that the fan would walk home without a shoe.
It was a true display of one teammate helping out another. This was also the night where Milbury earned his nickname "Mad" Mike Milbury and this being one of the funniest moments in sports.
