Just bad journalism, let alone Sportscasting
I had a number of beefs with todays TV broadcast from ABC… Of course I’ve already mentioned TV flubs… but there’s a bigger flub that I really am pissed off about.
What happened to the Tampa Bay versus Philadelphia rivalry story?
There was brief mention of the Lightning and Flyers facing off once before, in 1996, but there was no mention of the bad blood between those two cities. No mention of how 1980 and 1996 only helped fan the flames of a closet rivalry between the two cities that grew into something with the Bucs / Eagles battles of the last few years. Where was this coverage?
I’ll tell you were it was - straight up Disney’s ass.
ABC / ESPN are smarting mightily not having “marquee” teams (ie teams they covered profusely during the season) in the playoffs. So instead of building up the games, they are building up one team and hoping to high hell that team advances — Philadelphia. I’m not trying to tear down Philly or trying to trash talk on the Flyers and their fans because Philadelphia is a formidable team… but honestly they are desperate to have one team from the northeast corridor in the finals to guarantee that media market watching.
And you know what? That’s bad for the league.
Continuing to stack all of their eggs in few baskets is what is detrimental to the league on TV. ESPN’s coverage used to be a huge thing when they visited an NHL city. It was an EVENT. Now? It’s passe. There’s no fire to things any more… Why? Because they are covering most of the same teams nightly and give teams outside the major media markets only passing attention.
Tampa Bay included. San Jose included. Calgary included.
SO instead of building up a series primed to be a big sports rivalry, ABC took game one and made it bland and boring and stacked in the Flyers favor making this series seem more one sided than it is. It didn’t give people a reason to watch besides their local teams playing, it didn’t encourage the nation to watch, and it sure as hell didn’t seem to care about trying to sell either team as great examples of professional ice hockey.
And yet these assclowns are going to get a contract extension from Gary Bettman… Oh well, he doesn’t know better. The last 15 years of his reign have proved it.
May 9th, 2004 at 11:05 am
I find it interesting the St.Pete Times artice failed (or forgot) to mention the Lindros-and-his-gang-of-thugs incident in the parking lot in 1998. Five assholes against Nazarov and his girlfriend….just pathetic. What happens on the ice, stays on the ice. It takes real men to make a girl cry hysterically. I was actually an usher at the Ice Palace the night that this went down, and I took this personally. I actually had a friend of mine (from Philly) try to justify this whole crap-fest. Let’s not get started on the Philly fans…..but to make a blanket generalization…they are all pricks.
/rant off
By the way dig your site, it is informative AND thoughtful, a rare combo on the web these days. Keep up the good work and GO BOLTS!
May 9th, 2004 at 11:43 am
Good memory on Nazarov! Also — the team was abyssmal then. What was Eric trying to accomplish? Save ego after being humiliated in some way by the worst team in the league? Please!
Thanks for the props, Alex… It’s hard to stay informative knowing that you can find most news briefs on Google’s news search. You feel kinda bad when you’re out of the loop on a news story and should have covered it.
May 9th, 2004 at 5:43 pm
What really stuck in my craw about that night was that Lindros DID NOT EVEN DRESS for the game. He was out with an injury. I can’t remember what was wrong with him, but let’s face it….Lindros, hmmmmm…..concussion? The guy has some mad skills, but I have next to zero respect for him. This incident cemented that, plus the fact that he never seems to take responsibility for his own off nights at the rink. It is always “The refs were missing all the holding out there” or the equally famous “The ice was horrible tonight.” The fact that the Rangers did not even make the playoffs says volumes about Lindros (and the other high-priced talent on that team). Do you think that in any other sport, that such a large assembly of that sport’s best players would be such a failure? Example: the NY Yankees, contenders every year, in spite of all the egos involved. The NBA has the yearly “Dream Team” that has brought back World Championships and Olympic Gold. Pro Golf has the Davis Cup team… OK, bad example, if you look at last year. You get the idea. Lindros - Playoffs = Karma.
May 10th, 2004 at 5:06 pm
Then again, it’s ultimately about the advertising dollar for the NHL, ESPN/ABC/Mickey, etc.
First, there are the popularity contests to be won between teams with a long history of being good, compounded with the over-time bandwagon effect versus teams that are only recently good, or are dismissed by fans by default for their general lack of exposure in the media.
Hate to say it, but would you rather buy advertising space at The Joe or in Toronto where every game sells out, or at MCI or Ice Palace where sellouts are rare? If you say Ice Palace or MCI, then a fool and his money are soon parted. If you say The Joe or Toronto, then aren’t you putting your advertising eggs in one basket?
As far as it being bad for the league… of course it’s bad for the league and the TV guys! That Philly is the only “major market” with a team still in the run is going to equate to lower viewing statistics anyway, regardless of the previous broadcast schedule.
Had major broadcasters and advertisers paid more attention to Tampa, San Jose or Calgary over the course of the regular season, that may have changed the viewing numbers tonight… but only slightly, and with negligible effect; the Rangers fans that aren’t watching wouldn’t watch anyway. What it would have done, however, is reduced their revenue stream over the course of the regular season. More Stars and Wings games equals more money (or, return on investment, really). Simple as that.
Shit. I’d rather watch a “marquee” matchup on a Tuesday night in November than watch the Caps play the Penguins in a stunning yawner. And only if I couldn’t get the ‘net feed for a Bolts game.