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!