Bill Guerin Loses Cool in Epic On-Air Interview with Dan Barreiro
That January 2005 morning in the parking lot of Winter Park when Randy Moss politely told the world he doesn’t carry a checkbook. In 2004, when Kevin Garnett talked about the arsenal he was packing in preparation of game 7 vs the Sacramento Kings. And that 2022 afternoon when Dan Barreiro interviewed Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin on KFAN radio heading into the offseason.
Bill Guerin Gets Angry
Some moments will forever be etched into the brains of Minnesota sports fans forever. Things really started to get interesting around the 12:30 mark when Dan asks a question about Ryan Suter and only gets better from there. But it was the questions about Marc-Andre Fleury vs Cam Talbot and Matt Dumba vs Kevin Fiala that really set Billy off. The entire back-half is must listen. I included a few of the quotes below the video.
If I sound a little pissed off or annoyed, I am. All I hear is Matt [Dumba] getting dumped on and, you know what, it’s not easy doing what he did. Playing in the condition that he did. I like Matt Dumba. I think he’s a damn good defenseman. And people want people want to ride him out of town because Kevin [Fiala] had three good months.
Bill Guerin – Wild GM (KFAN)
“Hey listen, I know there are a lot of ‘experts’ out there. I tell people this all the time. Just be careful when you’re commenting on guys on our team, when you hear from ‘they’ or ‘somebody who told me’. Because ‘they’ don’t know what’s going on. ‘They’ don’t know the conversations we have with other teams. ‘They’ are full of crap.”
“You know what? I’m protecting my guys. I like these guys. I’m done hearing ‘this guy’s gotta go’, ‘that guy’s gotta go’. You know what? We’ll make the decisions. Nobody has to go and nobody has to stay. We have to make educated decisions.”
“Tell ‘they’ that they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about and you call me.”
Bill Guerin – Wild GM (KFAN)
Wow, what an interview…
I don’t know if Dan woke up this morning hoping to get into a verbal altercation with the Minnesota Wild’s general manager, but you could hear the happiness in his voice the longer the conversation drug on. You know it’s a good interview when half of your body desperately wants to shut it off while the other half wants to see how hostile the interaction will get.
Could we see an angry hangup from the normally well-collected Guerin? It didn’t go that far. Barreiro eventually threw him a life raft with some late jokes that helped bring Billy G out of his spiral of rage. Had the seasoned interviewer continued pushing, who knows where it would have landed.
Nonetheless, it was a memorable moment for those who caught it live, like me. Billy’s “I’m pissed off” interview will only add to Barreiro’s local (already HOF) media resume. No sweat for the Minnesota Wild GM, though. You can’t be a successful professional sports executive until you’ve put a good rant on record.
Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan
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