During Game Two of the Caps-Pens series, two bold fans brought a sign and held it behind the glass for Pierre McGuire. The fans, Matt and Todd, started a revolution. Their sign, written in sloppy but emphatic marker, read “Shut up, Pierre.”

The internet demanded we make t-shirts, which we did. Then, a few days later, an RMNB reader had “shut up pierre” tattooed on his leg.

On Monday night, Matt and Todd, both studying for their master’s degrees, reached out to us and explain below.

The story of the sign begins years ago when Pierre’s clear bias for the Penguins and his love for Pittsburgh became apparent. We continually question his analysis (or lack thereof) of Washington Capitals hockey. He never has anything good to say about the Caps and certainly is quick to downplay any successes we have, however minor they may be. He is quick to defend Crosby the second he gets breathed on. Thanks to our friend, Alex, it has become an inside joke between our group of friends to yell “Shut up, Pierre!” or “F**k you, Pierre” each and every time he comes on for his “analysis.” It’s gotten to the point where we mute the TV when he comes on.

Fast forward to Sunday, May 24. The Caps defeated the Flyers. I keep in contact with one of my old Executive Officers from the Army. Long story short, I was able to get a hold of a pair of tickets to the Saturday game, which happened to be Game Two. Because the game was obviously going to be nationally televised on NBC Sports, we knew this was our chance.

We attempted to get some poster board from the grocery store – no luck. So, we stopped at the CVS in Urbana to pick up the most eye-catching colored sign possible: hot pink. Todd’s fiancé equipped us with some markers to make the sign once we acquired the poster board.

We arrived at the Shady Grove Metro station around 3:45. It’s go time. To the hood of the truck we go, stenciling out the now infamous “SHUT UP, PIERRE.” As you can see from the first picture, we made a little error; we almost ditched the idea at this point because it was in black Sharpie and there was no time to get another poster board. That’s where the “Let’s Go Caps” fix on the upper right came in.

We had the sign wrapped up on the Metro ride and the time we spent inside Greene Turtle so there was no reaction there… until we went into the arena. The individual checking tickets was unsure about the sign. (Read: she probably doesn’t watch hockey and did not understand the sign.) Nevertheless, the sign made it past the roadblock. Down we go to the 100 level for warm-ups and seek out Pierre’s perch. We find our way into a row that we think will be in view of the camera and start holding up the sign, switching off when our arms get tired. Todd was in his Holtby Winter Classic jersey, which you can see the front of from the far-away photos. The reaction we got from everyone around us was priceless. Even the partner-at-a-law-firm-rich-as-crap guy let us stand in his seats because he liked it so much. To his credit, he was an actual fan.

When saw Pierre walk out, I scampered down to the glass. (That’s me in the Carlson jersey.) It was hilarious because he definitely saw the sign. I know this because he has a small screen to his left inside the glass that allows him to see himself and he can adjust the camera accordingly. I held it above his head, and it showed up on screen. He noticed immediately. He moved the camera down, thinking I couldn’t see his screen. But I could, so I moved the sign downward. Appearing on the screen again was the sign! I thought we had checked his mate. But alas, he moved the camera to his left, my right. Again, I moved the sign making it appear on the screen again. (Apologies to the lady I almost trucked and probably blocked her view for a few seconds.) The producer must have made the call to cut away, because the screen was just an overhead shot of the ice after that.

The reaction since has been great. To be honest, despite following RMNB pretty religiously, we didn’t even know our sign was captured until Saturday night. Our friend Jason was like “hey, did you guys see the guys with the sign that said ‘SHUT UP, PIERRE?” We noticed the shirts earlier last week and had just thought one of you guys had seen our sign at the game and thought it was a great idea. So we started doing some research and found out that we had a pretty legit response online. It was awesome to see everyone feels the same way!