TV On Tuesday

I had a rare night off from work without a hockey game on the agenda so I spent the evening kicking back and relaxing in front of the tv. As luck would have it, ESPN debuted their one-hour documentary, King's Ransom, about the Wayne Gretzky trade.

Now, my personal sentiment is that the deal set the NHL on the path of doom - it precipitated the first wave of expansion, which brought Bettman ... and, let's face it, he has steadily stuck the knife in the sport ever since. But that's just my opinion.

The documentary wasn't ESPN's worse work, it wasn't their best. It had that slick over-produced ESPN look to it complete with the staged overly-sentimental, well-lit shots of Gretz walking around an empty Western Forum. ESPN, being ESPN, they had full access to all the relevant archived video and all of the major players in the drama - even Glen Sather. And Sather sounded like he cared - who knew? He certainly shows no passion nowadays when it comes to Rangers. But was it me or did they make Pocklington look like the victim?

I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, but it was nice to see hockey given primetime airtime on a real network. I still don't think that viewers can fully grasp the impact that the deal had in Canada - even with the old man-on-the-street interviews - and maybe even the impact that it had here in the States. Janet was given a chance to respond to her critics but I remember as a kid hearing that she was the main reason Wayne left Edmonton, ahead of the greedy and incompetent Pocklington.

After watching the 30 in 30, I turned over to Versus to see the Flyers/Caps. Some observations:

*The Rangers don't have nearly the amount of talent that either team has, but the Blueshirt crease is better cared for by Hank than by either of their netminders. It should make for some interesting games down the line.

*Tom Poti scored a great goal. For the Flyers. Hahahahahahahahaha. And then he turned away from the puck to swing his purse at someone and the game-winner was scored in OT. I hate you Poti!!!!

*It was strange seeing Blair Betts in orange, and wearing No. 11 to boot. Damn shame he won't be donning a jersey for a month or so since he dislocated his shoulder late in the third. Get well soon Bettsy!

*Something hilarious about seeing "Welcome To Comcast Country" during the Versus broadcast.

*Nothing intentionally amusing or even redeeming about the telecast itself. I was in Newark on Monday so this was my first Versus game and the ads are constant and obnoxious and nothing I would ever, ever tune in to.

*I tuned out the intermission report. It seems that the producer told that collection of incompetent cast-offs to amp up the emotion and controversy and it certainly made them more annoying and more obnoxious - if that is even possible.

When the game ended in OT I flipped over to NHL on the Fly to watch the hilite of same game I watched in HD replayed in SD. That's sad. The NHL spent money to 'upgrade' their set (if you can call it an upgrade) but kept their same outdated equipment. Sad.

Ya Know ...

Even when ESPN deigns to cover hockey, they screw it up. This morning's Sportscenter had Josh Elliott mediating between Matt Barnaby and Barry Melrose during a short season-preview segment. Barnaby (the former Ranger) picked the Blueshirts as the sleeper in the East. So, as ESPN is apt to do, they ran b-roll over his explanation. The video they ran? Scott Gomez skating with the puck and Colton Orr winning a fight. Really?

We already get mediocre, half-assed work from Versus - we don't need it from the self-styled "world-wide leader." Go talk about football, baseball, soccer - the sports you own the rights to and have hired people who actually know about the games - we can toil in 'anonymity' without the condescending coverage. We moved on a long time ago.

Goooooaaaaaaallllll!!

ESPN has clearly been increasing their coverage of the NHL in preparation of bringing the game back to the Worldwide Leader. They have actually started including most every NHL game highlight to SportsCenter and have included pullouts and spotlights - like what they did with their minute-and-a-half Winter Classic highlight. Last night, as it was a Barry Melrose night, they had the famous mulletted puppet on to talk pucks. They led the show with a remarkable Rick Nash goal and then had Steve Levy and Melrose gush about it. Here it is:


Now both of them called it the goal of the year, maybe of the last two years, before reigning in that comment by showing the Ovie-on-his-back goal. That may prove to be the goal of the century - whatever. The Nash goal was fantastic, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't even the goal of the year - this was:


And now I'll tell you why: While Nash's goal came at a better time (last minute of a tied game with 4-on-4 action), Toews' was more impressive; the baby Hawk did it against better defenders, at full strength and at full speed!

But if you are that hung up on context, then look at it this way - Nash's goal won a regular season game for Columbus against Phoenix - two mediocre young teams that will likely miss the playoffs. Toews' goal may have proven to be the spark that will reignite one of the Original Six franchises. It showed Chicago fans that the kids that the Hawks accumulated were actually the real deal and helped get the ball rolling to make them relevant again. ESPN has always been given to a bit of over-dramatization, especially when it serves their best interests. In this case, you shouldn't don't believe the hype, just admire the skill of both players and feel heartened because the NHL will be back on a real station soon.

Goalie Carousel

ESPN.com actually has a interesting SportsNation hockey poll posted. I put the questions below with my answers starred and explanations next to them. If you want to vote, click here.

1) Which team made the best trade for a starting goalie?
**41.7% Florida Panthers - got Tomas Vokoun from Nashville - This one is a no brainer as Vokoun (when healthy) is a top five goaltender in the NHL, Toskala may not even start and Manny became overrated playing in the Wild system.
37.1% Toronto Maple Leafs - got Vesa Toskala from San Jose
21.2% Boston Bruins - got Manny Fernandez from Minnesota

2) Which team made the best free agent signing for a goalie?
29.2% Phoenix Coyotes (Alex Auld, David Aebischer)
23.5% Buffalo Sabres (Jocelyn Thibault)
17.9% Pittsburgh Penguins (Ty Conklin)
14.4% New Jersey Devils (Kevin Weekes)
13.0% Edmonton Oilers (Mathieu Garon)
**2.0% Chicago Blackhawks (Wade Flaherty) - Ok, so I picked the least popular option but watch out, Flaherty is a wise old veteran who will give the Hawks stability if he is called on. Phoenix signed two backup goalies who had bad years in 2006-07 and the rest of the goalies on this list are has-beens, even Weeksie who was unspectacular for most of his time in a Rangers jersey (the West Coast road trip last season being a lone, but important, exception).

3) Which team that will rely on a rookie as a backup will have the best season?
42.9% New York Rangers (Al Montoya)
**18.2% Minnesota Wild (Josh Harding) - I didn't pick us because I don't think Montoya should be our backup, Stevie Valiquette should. He won arguably the biggest game of the regular season last year (vs. St. Louis), so he should have a shot. And Josh Harding is an utterly stellar prospect and a good kid - read about him here. Montreal's kid Price will probably turn out to be the best of the bunch but, like Montoya, I don't think he will be the backup there - Jan Halak will.
16.2% San Jose Sharks (Dimitri Patzold/Thomas Greiss)
14.4% Montreal Canadiens (Carey Price)
8.3% Nashville Predators (Pekka Rinne)

4) Which team that didn't sign or trade for a starting or backup goalie should have?
48.4% Los Angeles Kings
14.8% Nashville Predators
13.7% Montreal Canadiens
8.4% San Jose Sharks
**7.5% Calgary Flames - If anything happens to Kipper, this team is screwed. That simple. The Kings will have Dan Cloutier healthy and will have Jason Labarbara out to prove something. Labarbara was spectacular last year but was stuck in the AHL due to waiver limitations. He should be able to take the job this season and hold onto it, while the fiery Cloutier pushes him for ice time.
7.2% Minnesota Wild

5) Which team's free agent loss hurts the most?
41.3% Los Angeles Kings (Mathieu Garon signs with Edmonton)
**31.5% Pittsburgh Penguins (Jocelyn Thibault signs with Buffalo) - I explained my thoughts about LA in the last question and the Pens in this case really have no one to push young Marc-Andre Fleury, oh he of the golden pads. Dany Sabourin is young and not very good, he looked like crap last season playing behind Roberto Luongo in Vancouver. We did fine without Weeksie and Jamie Mac's only noticeable accomplishment the last few seasons was this.
16.7% New York Rangers (Kevin Weekes signs with New Jersey)
10.6% Calgary Flames (Jamie McLennan off to Russia)

Total Votes: 6,006 (as of Sunday afternoon at 3:30)

Well, It's My Day Off ...

So, of course, I am thinking about work. But being as I work in television and the main topic of this blog is hockey, a concurrence of matters isn't a bad thing.

What is on my mind is the possibility of the NHL picking ESPN to dance with yet again, after spurning it to dance with the ugly new kid in school (Versus). Granted the league is going back on its knees begging, pleading and likely doing more things carnal in nature, it is a good move but there should be some mandated elements to how ESPN can broadcast the game.

First off, hockey broadcasts now are very regimented - open at the top of the hour, commerical breaks soon after the periods' 15 and 5 minute mark (barring delays) and then usually three breaks during the intermission - one going in, one in the middle and one going out. And you know what, that's fine - leave it. Just don't start trying to shoehorn more advertising into the game itself. The score bug doesn't need to include the logo of McDonalds or Michelin or whatever.

And for that matter, the bug should not cover any more than 10% of the screen. Versus had that monstrous bug banner that covered the top, then would plug in lower thirds over score crawls so almost the entire picture was covered with crap that wasn't the game you tuned into (sorry I don't have any pictures but if you watched, you know what I am talking about). Game bugs should have the score and time, and that's it.

As for the actual shots of the game, the standard classic camera is the best. It has worked for all these years so directors with itchy trigger fingers shouldn't feel obligated to show tight shots of defensemen with the puck and then lose the play as he sends a breakout pass up-ice. Goal-cams are great for replays but never, ever should be used for live action. Depth of field is lost and its even harder than normal to follow the puck. Rail cam was a nice experiment but you couldn't really follow the play all that well and it blocked the view of people in the building so toss that away. Its great to have a ton of angles for replays, but don't screw with the game action.

Now for the audio - turn up the mics. The sounds of the game are unique and spectacular. From the scrapes of skates on ice and puck on post to the cursing of the players and the jeers of the crowd, the sounds of the game are unique and spectacular and help give viewers a feeling like they are there and we all know that seeing hockey in person is the quickest way to sell someone on the game. And something I have been advocating is the use of the SAP feature or something of its ilk to allow viewers to just listen to the game and not have to hear the commentary. Most sports should have this ...

To also help get people into the game, ESPN should also be forced to bring back NHL2nite. Versus never properly supported their coverage with nightly highlight shows that package up the magic into a half hour setting. There is no way fans get to see all of the top plays from the games they want in Sportscenter - hockey just isn't the cash cow that football, NASCAR, baseball, basketball is in North America. Plus it would be good to get some opinions and analysis again, rather than just being stuck with Brian Engblom in between periods.

Now some people would advocate for a return of the John Buccigross and Barry Melrose but I don't think so. I want Jeremy Roenick and a straight man who knows something about hockey. Bill Pidto was fine as the original host of the show, why not him again? Bucci is a fan of the game but he inserted himself and his music taste into his work and that was quite annoying. Melrose is a nice guy and at times gives good knowledge but he is very vanilla and I don't care what he has to say about players today - he wasn't the greatest player, he wasn't he greatest coach and he looks the same way he did when Patrick Roy made Gretz his bitch back in '93. Melrose will say whatever the producer tells him to say (I know that for a fact) and rarely steps out on a limb. Roenick is a loose cannon and that makes him exciting. And someone like that paired with a good straight man/foil makes for good tv - look at Hockey Night In Canada.

The league should also require a return of the theme song, which was solid. It stood out and was instantly recognizable, even if a knock off of the greatest. It is all about bringing the brand back and pretending that the lockout never happened (as the owners are already doing, giving these idiotic contracts out left and right - five years to Dustin Penner!).

ESPN has unfortunately become the primary source of sports information in America - beyond the local newspapers and tv stations - and their policy is to promote the hell out of whatever they have their hands in and ignore the rest. When hockey went to Versus they did their best to ignore the league when they couldn't find cause to berate it.

But beyond the huge shadow that the ugly corporate ESPN machine has cast over hockey, we should do our best to get the game back there if only because there were good people there, who did some good work and (occasionally) managed to capture the best the game had to offer, even in the darkest of times:

A Return To The Great Satan?

The NHL and ESPN are in discussions about bringing the league’s games back to ESPN2 as soon as the 2008-09 season. The full article is here.

Read it, its interesting.

My opinion? Sure, why not. More publicity for the league would be good, right? Although it the NHL was to return to ESPN I might be temped into returning to ESPN to work on the show and lord knows I don't want that. But seriously, having hockey on Versus has been nearly as bad an experiment as Sports Channel was (or so I am told, I was only watching games on MSG back then).

I do know that Versus has put in a half-assed effort from day one. Their studio shows were poor, their game broadcasts left much to be desired and their graphics were abominable. Once Versus lost their bid for NFL games, they collected as much random crap as they could and surrounded the NHL with it - knockoff mixed martial arts, lacrosse, indoor soccer, etc. But the network didn't even treat the NHL as its top product - that remained rodeo, and how can any fan of major sports take that seriously?? So I guess ESPN is the lesser of two evils? *shudder*

ESPN is the devil ...

Deadspin brought up a post from the Situationist from last week that makes a very good argument that ESPN is trying to hasten the NHL's demise. The well-detailed article is located here.

The sad thing is that ESPN has this power because so many people turn to them for their sports highlights and news, despite the network having virtually no credibility. This is the same network that didn't cover the AFL when NBC had it, but now runs a ton of highlights and encourages employees to wear AFL-branded clothing to work (despite a no jersey and no hat policy ... as I can personally attest to).

Of all randomness, my mom walked in and saw the article and asked 'how can that be? espn covers lots of things and doesn't have the contracts for all of them.' So I thought about it, and now, they pretty much do - outside of hockey. They air baseball, basketball (pro and college), football (pro, college and arena), golf, nascar (and irl), soccer, poker and their own branded X Games (they don't bother with the various tours that CBS and NBC air). So they do appear to cover everything - everything that they have paid broadcast rights to - and the everyday viewer is none the wiser. So when they go out of their way to say that hockey sucks (links available in the story above), the casual sports fans believe them.

As I know most of you already know this, and share my frustration, I guess I just wanted to share the link and lament Comcast's failure to make their pet network (Versus) a capable rival for the Great Satan that is ESPN.