Mike Babcock is, to put it mildly, a polarizing figure in the hockey community. Many view him as one of the best in the world, a surefire Hall-of-Fame coach who exudes all the characteristics that a leader should embody.

Many others think the game has passed him by and that his stubbornness and refusal to adapt to the modern game tarnishes his standing among the all-time best bench bosses in NHL history.

Then, there’s Mike Commodore.

The former NHLer and two-time Babcock-ego victim (according to Mike Commodore) went on an absolute Twitter rampage on Wednesday after the news broke of the now-former Maple Leafs head coach’s firing.

Warning: The tweets below contain inappropriate language.

Folks....I have been dreaming about this moment for years...... — Mike Commodore (@commie22) November 20, 2019

Hey Mike Babcock....your daily National TV time is over. Finished. You are a fraud. Nobody gives a shit what you have to say anymore. Let that sink In you arrogant prick. — Mike Commodore (@commie22) November 20, 2019

Hey Mike Babcock....simply put your players quit on you. They quit on you because you are a terrible human being. You are an average coach with an extremely oversized ego. You finally got exactly what you deserve you selfish prick. The hockey world is ecstatic. — Mike Commodore (@commie22) November 20, 2019

Folks...I will be honest, I had a nice quiet evening planned tonight..but circumstances have changed...tonight is a night for celebration...celebrating the demise of Mike Babcock.



I am gonna get #InOne. — Mike Commodore (@commie22) November 21, 2019



That’s just a little snippet of the aggressive rant, and if you’ve followed Commodore in any capacity over the past few years, none of this is new or surprising to you. But for those who are confused or baffled by this man’s absolute hate for Babcock, let’s break down their strange history.



Is this grudge hilarious? Pathetic? Both? I truly cannot decide. I am just here for the content, so here it is: the history of Mike Commodore’s beef with Mikey Babs, from the perspective of Mike Commodore.

(All Commodore quotes pulled from a May 2019 radio interview with 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit.)

Essentially, Commodore feels that Babcock tried to screw his career over twice — once earlier in his career and again at the end. In the summer of 2002 Commodore was acquired by the Anaheim Ducks in a deal with New Jersey where he would first feel the wrath of the first-year Ducks Coach.

”I don’t know who Mike Babcock is. I've never heard of him, I’ve never had a run in with him, nothing. There’s no previous history whatsoever. I show up to camp, fight everybody in camp, I’m supposed to play (when the season starts). I’m penciled in, but he has someone else he wants to play. Sends me down to the minors, carves me in the papers, says I showed up out of shape.

“I swear to god, I never showed up out of shape because I wasn't talented enough to do it. I would have been in the East Coast League and done in, like, two years. ... I was never able to get rid of that reputation, like, 'The guy doesn’t work out,' because he want to the fu*king paper and said that. I read it. I’m like, are you fuc*ing kidding me?”

Commodore, who never ended up playing a single game for the Ducks that season, thought he was making his way into the lineup about halfway through the 2002-03 season, until Babcock brought out the pinchers, that is.

“They called me up and did a fat test on me. I’m not even playing in the game. They do a fat test on me, a pinch test. For anybody that's done that test, it's very subjective. Somebody that you put on the front of a magazine that’s ripped out of their mind, you can make them, like, five percent body fat. You just grab the three points where there’s a little bit of extra skin.

“I was always around 10, 11 percent body fat. They do this fat test and I’m 22 percent body fat. It was a brand new strength coach, and he’s like, 'Hey, I gotta fire this in.' So he hands it in to Babs, and Babs waits and gives it to me in front of the team. I don’t know any of these guys. So I told him to go fu*k himself. I’m like, 'You know what, fu*k you. Your test is fu*ked. Let’s go do a real test. I'm not fuc*ing 22 percent body fat, fu*k you.' And that’s when I was done in Anaheim.”

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