tries to grill Maverick
"Who was covering Cougar when you were showboating with this MIG?"
But wasn't that exactly what Maverick was doing when he was fucking with the MIG? He was literally covering Cougar. That MIG was THE direct threat to Cougar. Maverick couldn't shoot at him, so that's why he was fucking with him.
Cougar got into trouble because Maverick left him to go after the other MiG. That's what Iceman means, he's basically saying 'why weren't you being his wingman and covering him to stop him from getting missile locked?'.
shareNah don't think so. Mav was doing his job there too. Thats when he missle locked the other one to get him to leave.
The "showboating" comment was most definitely meant to refer to the MIG he inverted against. That particular move is what made Maverick famous/notorious in class that day. Remember he and Goose had to correct Charlie and then tell their story about the incident, to which the other guys playfully call it bullshit. The scene in question was right after that.