I posted the following on Kukla's Korner in response to yet another stupid article in the Canadian media about the NHL's playoff scheduling and its "kowtowing" to NBC, and felt it a worthy blog post. Please excuse the acid, didn't mean to splash any on ya.
I’m getting sick and tired of this whining in the Canadian media
that -heaven forbid - some playoff games aren’t starting on a Saturday
night.
These dingbats should count themselves lucky they get the
wall-to-wall NHL coverage free of charge that we Canadian hockey fans
enjoy, not just throughout the season but in the playoffs. Some have
the nerve to claim the NHL is showing contempt for Canadian hockey
fans. Try telling that with a straight face to an American hockey fan,
who has to subscribe to Versus, or hope his local cable company carries
the local games, otherwise he’s stuck watching NBC’s minimal regular
season and playoff coverage.
Folks, the NHL isn’t taking Canadian fans for granted or expressing
contempt. The league understands that its fanbase is strong in Canada
and isn’t gonna go away.
The reason for the goofy playoff scheduling is because the NHL is stuck
with a crappy TV deal with NBC. The league, because of its own
mismanagement, is so desperate to maintain its visibility on a major US
TV network that it’s willing to let NBC call the tune when it comes to
playoff scheduling.
It’s a business decision, and has nothing to do with alienating Canadians or treating them with contempt, OK?
Yes, it’s a bit annoying, but hardly worth the reams of indignant columns written by hacks in the Canadian media.
So what if a playoff game starts on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon?
It’s not as though this is a foreign concept. It’s happened before.
Remember Bobby Orr’s famous OT goal? Scored in the afternoon on
Mother’s Day. The famous Game Six when the Islanders began their run of
four straight Stanley Cup championships? Won on a muggy May Saturday
afternoon.
Some folks (including some whose opinion I respect) are calling for
scrapping this TV deal, but what’s better? The current deal, or nothing
at all?
Sure, that’s fine for we Canadians who get all the NHL hockey we want
for free courtesy of CBC, TSN, and Rogers Sportsnet, not counting the
highlights shows on two of those networks plus The Score. We live in
hockey heaven, whereas American hockey fans can only dream about the type
of intensive coverage we enjoy here (kinda like our medical system).
So please, spare all of us the faux outrage and indignation because the
playoffs won’t start on Saturday night, and stop all this pointless
drivel about the NHL alienating Canadians or showing us contempt.
There’s lots of things we can complain about how the NHL conducts its
business. This TV issue isn’t worth it, and quite frankly, these silly
complaints make we supposedly nice, tolerant Canadians look like a
bunch of whiny ####es who couldn’t get to the big clearance sale on
time.
Oh, and yes, you caught me on a bad day. So sue me. Good luck getting blood from a stone!
Spector- I find it kind of amusing how people can be outraged. We have waited this long for the Stanley Cup, a few more day won't hurt. But then I am also an admitted baseball fan, and feel much more annoyed the world series is going into November, and let's not forget that the stinking Super Bowl is in February now.
Oh well, it should be fun, and as a true Northern Californian, I can never root for a team from Southern California. So...GO SENS!
I'm too bummed to complain or even care about it. Strange, but I was feeling it more so today than I did after the Sabres got eliminated Saturday.
NBC is a rinky dink network. They've forgotten how to do sports the right way. Their Olympic coverage is sappy to the point of nausea...and that's their flagship.
Wow. It amazes me what people will cry about; I had no idea this was going on up North. I'm 35 years old and I have buddies my age who still whine about how MLB has day games in the playoffs even though this has been going on since the dawn of televised baseball. One of my best friends complains during every football season that he has to miss the morning games because he has to go to church with his wife and daughter. Yes, really. I thoroughly believe that if these people's dream job were to taste cookies all day they would eventually start complaining about how they always get stuck with chocolate chip over peanut butter and how they have to brush their teeth twice as much as the next guy to prevent cavities. By the way, my advice to my crybaby-sissy friends and to anyone who constantly views the glass as half-empty... build a bridge. Life's too short.
Last edited by KingsFan4eva on May 23rd at 3:38 PM.
As a Canadian living abroad, it's absolutely disheartening to see just how far the NHL has slipped off the national radar during the 10-plus years we've been living down here. Worse, when the league does get some air-time, it's either shock and disdain at the thuggery of the moment, or the league is treated like a joke: Look what the gang that can't shoot straight has done now!
On the playground of American sports, the NHL is the little runt kid that desperately wants to be everyone's friend and will suffer any indignation to be accepted as part of the team. The league gets so little respect this side of the border because the people in charge don't act like the sport is worthy of any respect.
The NHL has long had a bush-league quality in the US reaching back to the 1940s and 1950s when the Norris family owned three of the American teams, and getting the circus in Madison Square Gardens each spring was more important than the Rangers making the playoffs.
But with baseball dying a slow, twitching drug induced death, and football and basketball players wilding in the streets, the NHL (and the NHLPA) have an opportunity to marry hard-hitting athletic skill and decent citizens (Ed Belfour notwithstanding) in an appealing package.
Your friend who would rather miss church on Sunday mornings for football? Get him a TIVO. Best investment in the world. I can catch the first period of those East Coast games that start at 4:30 pm which I would otherwise miss, blitz through the intermissions and commercials, and be all ready for the 7:00 starts.
On the downside, it won't automatically swap over to Versus when NBC decides to bail on the game, but you can always record more than one channel to play it safe...
And as for the glass being half-full or half-empty, frankly, at this point I'm just amazed we still have a glass!
The reason for the Delay is simple. The honda center is not avaiable on Saturday nor was Joe Louis. It was an Arean thing.
Also the NHL likes to have game 1 and 7 on Mondays for a 2 simpe reasons. 1. The NBA rarly plays playoff games on Monday night and 2. Most MLB teams do not play Mondays. Making the NHL the Marquee thing on Monday.
So the NHL sets up for 3 Monday games. and 2 Wednesday games. The NBA Finals are Slated for Tuesday Thursday Sundays.
The Nhl does not want to go head to head with the NBA finals
Dont want to be off topic, but what are your thoughts on the Nashville sale? Seeing how Balsille made it remarkably obvious he wanted to move the penguins, there's no doubt in my mind that next season is the last one in Nashville for the Predators ... But would it be a bad thing for Nashville to move to Canada (if Balsille moves them where he wanted to move the pens)? Definitely not.
I may just respect you in the morning. I am a fan and only have the computer to look at scores, ESPN for highlights. Canadians are lucky to see all the hockey that they get. The strike hurt hockey in the U.S. for a long time.
There may be many reasons for starting the Finals on Monday... and really I don't care. But one consideration that has been ignored in all this is that despite going to 6 games Anaheim gets a nice rest while Ottawa might be a bit rusty with such a long layover. Why should the Sens be penalized for winning in 5?
TOASTER: I kinda agree that this upcomin season might be the last fer my beloved Preds in Nashville, i'm just confused that if that's the plan, and, obviously, Craig has been in talks to sell the team for awhile, why would he willingly go forward with Sonnet to put their name on the rink for a long term contract if there's a very good chance Basille will move the team after his season? I'm no pro sports expert, but, i honestly can see the team moving, all the 'red flags' have already been seen by true blue and gold Pred fans for awhile now. If they do move, i'll still cheer whole heartedly for them no matter where they relocate to because, simply put, i'm one of the true blue and gold fans.
The NHL is a joke. Why couldn't they follow the lead of other successful league "insert league name here" and make up the full schedule (regular and playoff) at the beginning of the playoffs. the league awarded Ottawa the Saturday June 2 and june 4th game. Don't they realize that Roger Waters is in Ottawa to perform on June 4 at the SBP. Is Roger Waters going to be the "halftime show"!!! It's hard for arenas around the league to plan activities when their major tenant doesn't have a fix schedule. The NHL is runned like a Bush league by a ####.
If a team is "rusty", that's nobody's fault but their own. It really doesn't matter if you have a month off. College football teams like to drag out the same excuse when they get pounded in their January bowl game. If they win, well then they're "well-rested" and used their extra time to prepare. A loss? Oh, too much time off, that's all it was.
Just handy excuses.
Anyway the layoff between games for Anaheim is nearly as long (6 days). Bottom line is that it is the job of the players and coaches to stay sharp.
I'm sure some Canadian fans/pundits are upset about the Cup starting on a Monday, but it's not like American fans are all warm and fuzzy about it either. If they want to say the NHL is disrespecting them, then include the American hockey fans as well. The move by the NHL/NBC is purely in the interest of ratings, mainly getting American viewers who wouldn't normally watch hockey or only do so casually. They know Canadian and American fans will watch regardless of day. Is the NBC deal good? Certainly not, but like Spector said, it's better than nothing at all. To be honest, I'm more bummed about Versus' coverage. I had low expectations of NBC to begin with, but I expected a much better effort from Versus to promote the game, but it hasn't happened.
haha yea there are two things I would want America to emulate Canada on, it's hockey coverage and its medical system. Haha nice joke on the medical system.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
