ESPN

[Orange Seats]

ESPN is driving me nuts:

 

Earlier today they had a feature which basically was "Who the hell are these 'Sabres'???"

 

Big hockey headline all day: Forsberg needs surgery. WHO CARES.

 

On Sportscenter tonight: Senators are like Detroit Pistons, they can come back from being down 3-0.

[jad1]

ESPN is driving me nuts:

 

Earlier today they had a feature which basically was "Who the hell are these 'Sabres'???"

 

Big hockey headline all day: Forsberg needs surgery. WHO CARES.

 

On Sportscenter tonight: Senators are like Detroit Pistons, they can come back from being down 3-0.

 

 

Yeah, they're just like the Pistons...except the Pistons won a championship....and the Pistons haven't choked in the playoffs the last nine years in a row.

 

Other than that, they're just like the Pistons. :lol:

[frisky]

Since they gave up hockey to OLN, they have been giving hockey in general the shaft. I don't even watch ESPN anymore unless football is on. I think OLN is giving more hockey coverage than they used to.

[Goodfella25]

Since they gave up hockey to OLN, they have been giving hockey in general the shaft. I don't even watch ESPN anymore unless football is on. I think OLN is giving more hockey coverage than they used to.

 

 

ESPN is a piece of crap channel that puts about as much effort into hockey coverage as I do into following baseball. I couldn't tell you the name of more than 5 players in MLB, let alone spell their names. ESPN seems to have that problem with hockey....have you ever seen some of the box scores they post on their website?

 

BTW, Barry Melrose is a complete tool and and sportscenter spends more time on football when it's in the offseason than they do on hockey when its in the playoffs

[Taro T]

Since they gave up hockey to OLN, they have been giving hockey in general the shaft. I don't even watch ESPN anymore unless football is on. I think OLN is giving more hockey coverage than they used to.

They gave hockey the shaft when they DID broadcast it. I can't honestly say that I am surprised that they simply "make it official" now that they will shaft hockey at every possible occasion since they don't broadcast it.

 

I still like Buccigross, but he is pretty much the only one there that doesn't diss hockey and AFAIK (or care) it appears that he is only an internet contributor now. (I have no idea, as I haven't watched ESPN in months, is Buccigross on TV there anymore?)

[ddaryl]

ESPN has hit the toilet IMO.

 

I could not believe that ESPN News channel only started the Sabres / Senators highlights at 1-1. Is it really too much to ask to see all the golas in a playoff hockey game. Especially over baseball coverage, and Barry Bonds' steroid infested home runs.

[Bmwolf21]

They gave hockey the shaft when they DID broadcast it. I can't honestly say that I am surprised that they simply "make it official" now that they will shaft hockey at every possible occasion since they don't broadcast it.

 

I still like Buccigross, but he is pretty much the only one there that doesn't diss hockey and AFAIK (or care) it appears that he is only an internet contributor now. (I have no idea, as I haven't watched ESPN in months, is Buccigross on TV there anymore?)

The only thing I wish would carry over to OLN and NBC are the in-game production values - knowing how to follow/anticipate the play; zooming out (I can't say that enough) so we can see the play developing; getting the stupid announcers to A) shut up about stupid crap no one cares about and call the frigging game (the "hockey dollars" chat comes to mind) and B) limiting how much Cammi Granato speaks during the play. Look, she might be the most recognizable/best women's player in U.S.A. hockey, but she is brutal on the mic, stuttering and unsure of herself, and she isn't really giving any insight whatsoever.

 

I like Bucc as well, but I rarely see him doing anything on-air with hockey. If OLN was serious about building their hockey coverage, they would look into adding Bucc and maybe bringing Gary Thorne in for next season. I am sure he has a contract, but he's a pretty good and entertaining Play-by-Play guy, and would add a lot to the OLN coverage.

[DWarner]

Yeah, he does SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight. He responded to my Mailbag question last week about the horn after away team goals on OLN.

[wjag]

If you think ESPN is bad, try living in Baltimore. They no longer put hockey box scores in the Baltimore Sun. If they "choose" to cover hockey at all, game summaries are typically 20 words or less. With the Capitals right down the road, you would think hockey would have a bigger play here, but it doesn't. The Baltimore Sun gives multiple pages to the loser Orioles and the underachieving Ravens. Hell they even extensively cover Basketball and the Wizards, but hockey, hell no. I stopped watching ESPN for hockey highlights as well. The fact that hockey is relegated to OLN tells us fans all we need to know. It just isn't appreciated that well outside of cities that have teams.

 

Sabres Fan in Maryland

[Spandrel]

That is the way things go. They picked up the NBA and lost the NHL, so now NBA Playoff coverage dominates the channel. Booch is the only true "hockey" guy over there, and he ain't that big a fan of the Sabres, either. Although, this morning on SportsCenter, even Mullet admitted that neither the Devils or Sens would likely come back from this hole.

[Hirly5]

I can see why people would be frustrated with ESPN's coverage but lets face it, ESPN has no monetary interest in hockey. They need to promote the sports that they make money off of which is NFL, MLB, and NBA. I havent watched one bit of the NBA playoffs this year. Nor do I care to but that is all I hear about on ESPN Radio and tv.

 

Also, hockey really isnt that popular. The games last weekend got out rated by golf. I believe it drew a 0.9 rating. Until hockey becomes more interesting to the public, it is going to be shoved to the back burner. It doesnt help that OLN isnt showen in alot of markets either. I think it will take time but to me hockey is on the same level as soccer in America. It has a niche following and mainstream America could care less about it. The NHL needs to string together a few good years and improve its marketing or it will remain on the back burner.

[Spandrel]

Also, hockey really isnt that popular. The games last weekend got out rated by golf. I believe it drew a 0.9 rating. Until hockey becomes more interesting to the public, it is going to be shoved to the back burner. It doesnt help that OLN isnt showen in alot of markets either. I think it will take time but to me hockey is on the same level as soccer in America. It has a niche following and mainstream America could care less about it. The NHL needs to string together a few good years and improve its marketing or it will remain on the back burner.

 

See, here's the paradox of most hockey fans. We want the sport to receive the same kind of coverage and be as popular as the other major sports, but we don't want the sport to "sell out", so to speak. It is a definite dilemma. We want it to be popular, but not too popular. The over-exposure of the NFL, in my opinion, is killing the game. I'd hate to see the same thing happen to hockey.

[rammersdaman]

BTW, Barry Melrose is a complete tool and and sportscenter spends more time on football when it's in the offseason than they do on hockey when its in the playoffs

 

At about 11:20pm EDT on Sportscenter finally finshed their coverage of May baseball games and went to the hockey coverage. The host immmediately informed Melrose that Barry Bonds was due up second in the next inning--Melrose would have to "speak fast." The camera cut away to Melrose and his expression went from horror to grief to anger in less than two seconds :unsure: :( :angry: . He looked like a ten-year-old in his front yard watching his puppy get run over by a semi. Priceless!

[Taro T]

I can see why people would be frustrated with ESPN's coverage but lets face it, ESPN has no monetary interest in hockey. They need to promote the sports that they make money off of which is NFL, MLB, and NBA. I havent watched one bit of the NBA playoffs this year. Nor do I care to but that is all I hear about on ESPN Radio and tv.

 

Also, hockey really isnt that popular. The games last weekend got out rated by golf. I believe it drew a 0.9 rating. Until hockey becomes more interesting to the public, it is going to be shoved to the back burner. It doesnt help that OLN isnt showen in alot of markets either. I think it will take time but to me hockey is on the same level as soccer in America. It has a niche following and mainstream America could care less about it. The NHL needs to string together a few good years and improve its marketing or it will remain on the back burner.

But even when the NHL was on ESPN / ABC and the NBA wasn't, ESPN still treated NBA basketball as the prodigal son and treated hockey like the red headed step child.

 

Ratings were low for hockey, but ESPN did little to nothing to increase the ratings. They buried NHL 2night on the Deuce, they buried NHL highlights 20 minutes into Sportscenter, and I can count on 1 hand the number of times I saw an advertisement of an upcoming hockey game that wasn't broadcast during a hockey telecast. Every single game, you'd hear several times about the big baseball game or college hoops game that ESPN would be showing tomorrow. Did they EVER mention that a hockey game would be on during one of the other broadcasts. (MNF mentioned the NHL all-star game about 2x total, and that was it for ABC cross-sport promotion.) Also, the season that Mario came back as a player/owner, ESPN was showing hockey EVERY Wednesday night EXCEPT on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving they preempted the game for some other stupid program. Hey, we might actually have had an audience that night; can't allow that to happen.

 

Hmm, "no one" watches our hockey telecasts, what should we do about that? How about we don't tell any one that we are showing hockey games except during the games and let's not promote the games on any of our other shows. Wow, boss, that's a great friggin' idea!

 

But wait, I can make it better. How about during our broadcasts, let's not have any segments at intermission, pregame, or postgame to help teach the casual fan about the game, it's rules, it's rivalries, or it's history AND let's always show Detroit, Dallas, or Filly AND let's have the in-game announcing be directed at casual fans (that we conveniently do absolutely nothing to attract to the game) so as to increase our odds of alienating hard-core fans. And finally, let's not forget to switch away to other games that are more lopsided that the one we are theoretically showing as the primary game if the primary game doesn't carry Detroit, Dallas, Filly, or Lemieux. (They did that during the May Day game. They've done it other times as well.)

 

ESPN's camera work was pretty good. I will give them that. That is about the only thing that I thought was good about their broadcasts.

[topshelfcookies]

While the NHL continues to attempt to grow, they should think about some of the between game production that the NBA, NFL and MLB do. I'm talking about some of the NFL Films type 30min shows, that not only promote teams, rivalries and showcase players, but also "teach the game". ESPN has been running NFL Matchup for years, where guys like Jaworski disect plays and whatnot.

Every Saturday for how many years has Ahmad Rashad been hosting that horrible show NBA Inside Stuff? It's horrible, yet the NBA makes sure it's TV partners have those type shows on all the time. Even when ESPN had hockey, it never felt like the league made any push to market itself.

The NHL needs to think of some ways to add some cameras and angles as well. Mike up the coaches on the bench. Put a camera on the coaches platform behind the bench. Do some things to get the fans inside the game a bit. Right now, hockey seems like a foreign world.

 

Think about how many camera angles you get during a typical NFL or NBA game, then think about the NHL. The only time you even get a behind the net camera (which is so great on the PP) is during the playoffs.

 

There are tons of opportunies for the NHL. I think the most frustrating thing about the lack of coverage is this...

 

It's not so much that hockey fans want the league to sell out to corporate America, it'd just be nice to know that you don't have to seriously WORK at finding new articles on the net about the Sabes, or try to figure out which 2 minutes ESPN will be showing hockey highlights.

 

If the Bills were the Sabres - a team that really came out of nowhere, made a run at their division, had some great young players, an experienced head coach and started making a deep playoff run, you couldn't go more than 5 minutes between segments talking about the Bills. After writing this paragraph, I realize that the Sabres are actually the Steelers of the NHL. Minus "The Bus" haha. (Though maybe Teppo, who has never been out of the 1st round qualifies)