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First Call: Sir Charles loves Sir Sidney, Mike Rupp eats his shoe | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

First Call: Sir Charles loves Sir Sidney, Mike Rupp eats his shoe

Tim Benz
Tim Benz

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Former NBA star Charles Barkley spent the first intermission of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final talking about how great of a hockey player Sidney Crosby is.

In Thursday’s “First Call,” Charles Barkley loves him some Sidney Crosby! Mike Rupp eats his shoe. And Jenna Fischer has the last laugh.

Sir Charles on Sir Sidney

For reasons still unknown, the NBC hockey crew decided it would spend the first intermission of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final talking to former NBA star Charles Barkley.

Perhaps they thought because Charles knows how to breakdown Klay Thompson’s work in the corner, he could elaborate on Patrice Bergeron’s work in the corner.

Penguins fans who were watching the game were probably dubious at first. But the “Round Mound of Zamboni” won them over with one particular comment.

Barkley was asked by NBC’s Keith Jones, “If Raptors star Kawhi Leonard was an NHL superstar, who would he be?”

Sir Charles said Sidney Crosby. Then, he launched into this love note to Sid.

Like Barkley said, he might not be allowed back in Philadelphia ever again after that take.

Ketchup or mustard with that?

Former Penguin turned NHL analyst Mike Rupp said that he’d eat his own shoe if the Blues won the Stanley Cup.

Well, last night, they did. The final score was 4-1, St. Louis over the Bruins in Game 7.

Well, Rupper is a man of his own word.

I didn’t stay awake through the whole NHL post-game show, but I’m gonna assume he only chewed his way through one of the two shoes.

John and Jenna

The Stanley Cup rivalry within the rivalry continued last night.

You know, the one from “The Office.”

Bruins fan John Krasinski invited David Denman from the show to the game as a way to taunt Blues fan Jenna Fischer.

Denman played “Roy,” who was the estranged fiancé of Fischer’s “Pam” character on the show.

But Fischer had the last laugh once the Blues won.

No word on who Dwight was rooting for. He strikes me as more of a quidditch fan than anything.

Phew!

It looks like the St. Louis Post Dispatch is off the hook.

As you may have seen, the paper accidentally posted some congratulations to the Blues before they won the Cup.

Instead, St. Louis actually lost to the Bruins in Game 6.

What a jinx. That one would’ve haunted the paper for a long time had the Bruins won Game 7.

But the Blues won and bailed them out. So all those ads can run now.

That’s not going to stop people from still taking a few jabs.

“Breaking news: First! Guaranteed.”

All that just to lose?

Astros starter Justin Verlander had 15 strikeouts last night.

In fact, he and five other Astros pitchers totaled 24 Ks of Milwaukee hitters.

But the Brewers still won 6-3. It was a 14-inning game. And Brewers pitchers racked up 14 strikeouts of their own.

Verlander had 125 strikeouts on the season. He trails only Gerrit Cole (130) and Max Scherzer (126) for the Major League lead.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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