Be Ready For Bad Viewing

The Sports Video Group has a nuts and bolts look at the 3D broadcast planned for the Ranger/Isle game tomorrow here. For folks who are going to the game and are nonTV geeks who won't care about most of the piece, the important part is thus:

"the decision was made to place the cameras about three rows from the back of the lower level with a camera at center ice and cameras at the slash position but a bit more towards center ice then usual so that the nets around the rink are not in the way. Those three cameras will look over the glass since feedback from demo footage shot in Boston during the NHL Winter Classic found that scratches on the glass are more visible in 3D. But two additional cameras will be located behind the glass."

So, frankly, the people that were relocated, the people in the rows directly behind the cameras and those folks in the 100s, 200s and 300s will all have obscured views in some shape or form. When someone downstairs merely stands up for a few seconds he or she gets screamed at for blocking the view. Now they will have static cameras there throughout the night.

And it is all for people who are paying $20 - or anywhere from $30 to $100 less than the actually ticket holders who will be in the building proper - can watch the game on tv downstairs in the theater in 3d.

Nice, right?

Could this franchise give a bigger middle finger to the season ticket holders right about now? The owner and GM have zero public appearances, the coach is best known for blowing up at the media, and the team on the ice is a pathetic disgrace to the jerseys they wear. Yet again we have to pay for the bloated egos and wallets of the Dolan family.

Don't start with the "well, don't go then" nonsense. Loving the Blueshirt is something greater than the greedy ownership or idiotic front office ... to many of us, it is part of the foundation of ourselves - a life-time love affair, albeit a one-way romance. So we're going to keep buying tickets, we're going to keep heading to the Garden, we're going to keep cheering. We just don't have to like it.

And I don't know about you guys, but I certainly don't right about now ...

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.

Making Must-See TV

The NHL Network is rightly revered among us hockey fans but we've all seen its plethora of flaws. Last week Matt at View From My Seats wrote that "there's so much potential" and he is absolutely right. But, as was also mentioned in the piece, the league has cheaped out on the follow through and "the bottom line is that the league (and apparently Comcast) needs to spend some time and money to make the product better."

VFMS suggest an improved set and better personalities for On The Fly. While the set definitely needs expansion, the bland broadcasters are just fine with me. I don't want Sportscenter attitude and catch phrases. We love our humble, low-key hockey stars so why do we need to get all Stu Scott and put the puck up where momma keeps the cookie jar?

As for the rest of the programming, we agree in that it needs work. First off, there is no reason to play the same in-house promos 18 times an hour. It wouldn't take too much to make some vignettes promoting individual teams. Hell, make the teams themselves produce them. It was a nice change when they aired the 'Great Day For Hockey' spots for the Pens. Then they went away and we are right back to Chris Simpson imitating a bobble head doll as she interviews Jarome Iginla, Zdeno Chara climbing a mountain and Patrik Elias making the world a better place talking about the troubles in Belize (I still say he got that hepatitis from hanging out with Mmmmaaarrrtttyyy and his in-laws). The Cup raising spot remains my favourite commercial of all time but by the end of the playoffs last season I had to admit that I was sick of it. I'd hear that piano piece start and change the commercial. If the local scrap metal buyers can produce their own advertising on the cheap, the National Hockey League can too.

Now that I addressed the commercial breaks, how about some show ideas? I was actually considering putting together true show pitches but don't have the time and sadly feel they would fall upon deaf ears with the powers that be. I don't think they will with you guys so here are a few, with basic breakdowns. All can be done quite cost effectively by the way ... all names are negotiable:

*Home Ice Advantage: Virtually a travel show, this gives an inside look at each of the NHL's buildings (and beyond perhaps). Not only will you get a history lesson and guided tour by a player or personality, you would also get inside tips from season ticket holders - where the best food is, the best views, the minutia that makes each barn special. MLB Network has the Cathedrals Of The Game, and let's face it, hockey arenas provide a much bigger advantage for the home team than baseball does. So let's take a look how and why.

*The Locker Room: A look at everything that goes into getting on the ice. It would include a look the newest, coolest equipment out there. Sure there would be some product placement by league sponsors, but it could be done in an informative way - how to pick the stick curve that suits your shot? how should your skates fit? what should you look for in a helmet? And once you have that, what ways should you train? What kind of exercises should you do? Drills? If working at Sports Authority for years taught me anything, it's that most people don't have a clue.

*Puck Stuff: Like Sal's Puck Junk blog, it would cover memorabilia. While his site centers on cards, it could go even further with everything from board games to jerseys. The game-worn sweater market is huge, take a trip to the MeiGrey summer sale. Thousands of people go on YouTube to watch box-breaks for the newest Upper Deck line, so why not include something like that? Patrick Roy is said to be a huuuge card collector, have him give a tour of his set up. Get a tour of the manufacturing plants for some of this stuff. Press Pass TV did it with Mitchell & Ness and it was nerd-tastic.

*Ye Olde Hockey Pub: Writers, bloggers, former players ... this is where the personality should come out. A Best Damned Sports Show Period with the hockey (J.R.!) without much of the duchebaggery. Think the ramblings of your house league buddies meet the Hot Stove meet The Sports Reporters. Hell, even get John Saunders to host it. If he can handle Lupica, he surely can take care of Wyshynski. NHL Live was at its best when it was EJ with Donny Pucks for a reason - they know the game, they love the game and they deftly handled the topics of the day. Now add a few beers, a set that doesn't include the NHL Store's checkout girl picking at her thong and some strong personalities butting heads while playing rod hockey.

*International Match Of The Week: Well, this isn't really a program but why couldn't the NHL air a Swedish/Finnish/Swiss/Czech league game? (No Russians, not with the Ice Cold War going on.) Every once so rarely (too rarely) we are treated to junior or minor league matches, so why not see them play on the other side of the pond? As I saw in Switzerland and England (and read in Tropic of Hockey), there is a planet of pucks out there so let's see it. The NHL needs to realize that promoting the sport of hockey - even if it isn't their own games - can only be good for them in the long run.

What do you think? Would you tune in?

Broadcasting Bungles

Just a quick note: If you have NHL Center Ice or can find the game online, I suggest you check out the Phoenix Coyotes game in Anaheim right now. Prime Ticket is giving a preview to their new 'Rinkside' view. It has the standard play calling but uses only low cameras - the robos at either end atop the glass and handhelds in the corners and between the benches.

It is an attempt to give those at home a feel for the speed and intensity of the game and, personally, I think it is awful. You can't tell where the puck is most of the time and I think some of the cameramen are having the same problem as well. People complain about not being able to see the puck on the regular broadcasts and this isn't making it much easier.

And one last thing, while I am finding faults with mass media, the folks over at Yahoo! seem to have put up the wrong picture ...

No Wonder No One Likes Hockey

Hockey, by far, is the best sport in North America to watch in person. But it is not even one of the top four sports anymore. As Bettman has moved so many teams into the States, and the large assortment of minor league teams all over the country, it is not for lack of availability.

The main reason is that the game is virtually-impossible to follow if you are not in the actual arena. While this could degenerate into yet another ESPN Is Trying To Kill Hockey post, it is more a Goddamn, Why Do You Suck So Much post.

First off, I got out of work a bit late so I missed the start of the game. I got into my car in the middle of the first period and had to search the entire AM dial on the radio to try to find the game. ESPN Radio, which usually has the games, instead was covering basketball - that's a rant for another time. So I searched and searched, and finally found it, where? Bloomberg Radio.

What???

The Islanders air their games on a financial radio station. What a joke. Plus the promos they air are hilarious: they had Ruslan Fedotenko doing a station ID and he can barely speak english. Awesomely bad.

There was very little that was awesome about the actual broadcast, with the colour guy piping in nonsense as play was going on and the play-by-play guy responding rather than *ACTUALLY DOING HIS JOB* and explaining what was happening.

So I massaged the interpretation of the speed limits and made it home in time to watch Versus for the second and third periods. And I gotta tell you, was it hard to watch.

The director tried to 'take you closer to the play' by using a number of angles and some tight shots, but that just made it impossible to tell what was going on. It didn't help that the camera guys clearly had trouble keeping track of the puck.

The second intermission two-way with Dennis Miller was ridiculous. The guy was laughed out of Monday Night Football for being incredibly unfunny and Versus gives him a late night sports show? And they waste some of the little broadcast time they devote to hockey talking to him? Are you kidding me?

I am pretty much as diehard as you can get and if it wasn't that it was a Rangers-Isles game, I would have changed the channel.

The NHL hired John Shannon a few years back to be the VP of Broadcasting and to improve the on-air product. Either he is utterly incompetent or has been handcuffed by the NHL's insane decision to give the game over to the clowns at Versus. The guy worked at Hockey Night In Canada and ran Leafs TV so he knows hockey. But, judging by the Versus product, he knows nothing about trying to sell the game to Americans. Those fools at Versus prove night after night that they are still trying to find their way. Yes they have improved exponentially from when they first went on the air, but they still lag behind even the mediocrity that is the FSN regional networks.

The league's marketing monkeys aren't helping much by selling NHL commercials to air on Versus. So they waste a ton of money to play these (ridiculous) commercials and preach to the choir? If I went through all of the effort to find Versus on my cable system and then to actually pay a premium for the colossal pile of cow shit, and then tuned in to watch the game, I clearly like hockey. Why the hell are you wasting money trying to sell it to me?

I know I am not saying a whole lot more than what has already been said but at some point someone has to say enough is enough. Attendance is down, newspaper coverage is down, television highlight coverage is minimal ... hell, several people I have spoken to had no idea the NHL came back after that catastrophic lockout ... the league simply has to do a better job selling itself and forcing its main national broadcast partner to improve its coverage. Yes the league has a lot of hot young players but if things keep going as they have been, the future will be very bleak.

Even Beer Couldn't Make Me Happy

In this space I would love to regale you with the details of what happened in vicious battle between two of the biggest rivals in the NHL. I would love to continue my game-by-game observations and analysis. I would love to curse out the NHL more for allowing Simon the Barbarian to play even though he is suspended.

But I won't, because I can't.

You know why? Because I didn't see the game!!!! In an abrasive, aggressive and pathetic move, the Islanders/Rangers preseason battle was not televised. Now MSG has made it clear that they are not doing preseason games away from Garden ice, so FSN New York should have picked up the ball but they were too busy airing, and I kid you not, the Wrangler Pro Tour: Ariat Playoffs Rodeo.

Without any kind of press statement, I can only hazard a few guesses as to why it didn't go to air:
1 - FSN decided not to cover it to save costs as it is 'only hockey' - a quite likely explanation that is quite likely the real reason, it is utterly infuriating considering FSN doesn't cover the live games - regular season or not - of any other local professional sports.
2 - The Islanders encouraged this to promote their top-notch broadband service Islanders TV.
3 - The Islanders encouraged this to promote the Islander fan blogs that they support in their Blog Box.
4 - The Islanders did both 2&3 to make the Rangers' services look bad as their On Demand video service has comparably weak content and does not play on many computers well. And the Rangers fan bloggers were shut out. The top beat writer blogs who did live updates didn't capture the action nearly as well as they were too busy working on deadline for their papers.

Now I know that it's only preseason and in most sports many of the exhibition matches don't make air, but it isn't like the local broadcasters were booked with football (just one game, on ESPN, not like either MSG or FSN air NFL games), basketball (hasn't started yet), or baseball (both networks lost rights to the two local teams). So the only live franchises that these regional networks cover all year long aren't worth showing? I am at a loss here and at this point am too aggravated to bother trying to come up with an explanation for the inexplicable.

EDIT: Gotta love YouTube. I love how the Islanders after the game bitched about the Rangers sending a third man in on Simon when in both cases he clearly jumped Hollweg. What scum.