by jgr80
Full disclosure: I'm upset that there's no more hockey.
I suppose it's time though. I cheered on a lot of losing teams this year. And not because of any particular affinity for underdogs. It started the awful Maple Leafs... I won't comment any further about them.
I jumped on the Penguins bandwagon early on. They were always my second favourite team. I was wearing the Crosby jersey I bought in Korea for every game they played. They were still winning at that though.
Then there was Team Canada at the World's. They won every game I watched in person, which was incredible to see. Ended up losing the big dance though.
Then back to the Pens for the rest of the playoffs, only to come up short in the finals. The three teams are all lovable losers. Still... a disappointing year for hockey.
Speaking of hockey losers... how about the CBC's coverage of the NHL versus that of NBC. In previous years, the American stations just never seemed to get it together. CBC was always the station to watch.
Not this year. NBC melted the ice right out from under CBC when it came to live coverage. I'd still give a slight edge to CBC for intermission coverage since still they have Cherry.
Let's compare... Here's NBC highlights from last night. Mike Emerick and Eddie Olczyk are on the announce team.
And here is an example of CBC's coverage. I wasn't able to find anything from last night. But it's almost as though Bob Cole isn't watching the game or that he doesn't care or something. He's especially bad whenever the whistle blows and there's no action on the ice. He just kind of keeps talking (about nothing) until the puck drops again instead of letting the color guy come in with interesting tidbits about injuries or stats or whatever.
I was surprised. NBC stepped up their game. You can decide for yourself. I know this is a controversial thing to say in this country. I've always liked CBC HNIC, but NBC wins this round.
2 comments:
Although I am admittedly a sucker for nostalgia, I feel an important point has been missed that may have something to do with the 'sub-par' broadcasting as of late. First of all, Bob Cole is one of my favorite play-by-play announcers for CBC. Perhaps it's because he is as old as the hills, and whenever I hear his voice, I get a real sense of tradition and it's familiar to me. And we all like what we know. However, I believe it was the Bob Cole and Harry Neale team that sounded the best to me. Since the departure of Neale though, the color commentary of Greg Millen has left me wanting...I do agree that there seems to be a lack of direction in between gameplay as of late. But I believe it's because either Millen can't get his facts together quick enough, or he just doesn't have a clue. And so Bob is left to fill in the gaps, and let's face it, he's a play by play guy, with a great sense of humour mind you. He's had some pretty hilarious quips in the last couple of years that have left me holding my sides. I also think that as far as voices go, he has the best, bar none, in the business. The excitement that he is able to create just by his tone, and the way he calls the plays as they get more exciting. It's that sense of urgency in his voice. He also knows the format like the back of his hand, the way his tone changes just before they cut to commercial to segwey. And in big games when the crowd gets really loud, and he lets them do the 'talking' for certain instances, I find brilliant.
My point is that maybe the criticism of HNIC can be better placed elsewhere, as opposed to ol Bob. I think he's still got a couple good years left in him, they just need to get someone who's really on top of things and knows what they're talking about to round out the team.
...Let's go Leafs...
segue.
Bob is the only part of HNIC that I really despise, so I think the criticism is correctly placed upon his shoulders.
I like that he is a Leafs fan though. As is Don Cherry. As is Ron MacLean. The other fellas cheer for those dastardly ugly Habitants. For shame.
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