NHL and the media, part 5

Today while I was driving I heard on the radio Dan Moriarty and Lincoln Kennedy talking hockey.
Great!
Kennedy was talking about how he's becoming a hockey fan. How watching today's game of the week, Capitals versus Penguins, was part of his professional development, and because it featured Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin.
Then Moriarty says he grew up playing hockey, so he's a fan. Kennedy said something like, "What else could I watch? I'm sports fan, there was really nothing else to watch."
So the banter continued like that. Hey this is great I'm thinking. There was hardly anything derogatory like one finds with most sports talking heads, like over at the four-letter.
So then they segued into basketball and said something like, "Now we're going to break down some college games."
Then I realized what was missing. While Moriarty and Kennedy talked about hockey, it's relevance, that Kennedy had watched the game, what they didn't do is break down that game. Heck, they didn't even mention the score of that game!
Hockey has a long way to go.

NHL and the media, part 4

When I first started this NHL and the media series I expected it to be a two-part series. Obviously it's grown.
A comment I had about one of the blog entries is essentially, "What's the point?"
Good question.
It's to highlight the lack of impact the NHL makes. Or more correctly to highlight how little the sports media thinks of hockey. See for all the fans' passion, for all the derision laid at GaryBettman's feet, the real problem is changing perception. It's my opinion that hockey fans need to change that, speak up. Not to other hockey fans, but to the radio and TV shows, to their sponsors, and to the networks and websites.

So on that note, another snapshot. This time, more sites but just one day - this morning.

CBS - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


ESPN - one video link, one link for same game


Fox - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


NBC - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


Sporting News - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


Sports Illustrated - no NHL coverage, no photos, no links


Versus - only a banner for a future NHL game


Five NHL games last night, and only one site mentioned one game. Surprisingly enough it was ESPN; the sports leader's website that lived up to its nickname. The NHL's U.S. broadcast partners, Versus and NBC, failed. That is just nothing but badness. Below is my reasoning why the sites and editors are able to get away with such scant hockey coverage.

When I answered the above question I remembered another blog I read awhile back, Greg Wyshynski's Why your local newspaper chooses not to cover the NHL.

"Economy bodychecks NHL coverage" was the headline on William Houston's story in the Globe & Mail today, in which he discusses how newspaper sports departments are scaling back coverage for hockey.
As I read it, I wondered if he used his story "Newspaper coverage is way down in Canada, U.S." from back in May, took out all the references to Canadian newspapers that chose not to cover an all-U.S. Stanley Cup final, and then added in some extra doom and gloom for hockey in America.

OK, so the article he mentions, from the hockey-loving country of Canada, is doom and gloom. Hmmm.
Wyshynski continues.

You'll notice these examples come from warm-weather NHL cities, which was no doubt blood in the water for Canadian fans who would like to see every team from St. Louis down to the equator relocated to the Yukon. The story doesn't mention the Columbus Dispatch, which has two beat writers, a columnist, two blogs and a podcast dedicated to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Then again, the paper owns a piece of the team; if only the Palm Beach Post had a stake in the Panthers.
Houston's story has a lot of doom and gloom. The reactions to it have been equally grim. But I think it's always darkest before the dawn.

I'm glad Wyshynski is seeing a positive, many in Canada and the northern states don't.
See it's this kind of doom and gloom tactics, the anti-Bettman bias, the anti-Sun Belt bias that's just infesting fans. So much negativity, so much bile and so much hatred. When hockey loving fans and the hockey loving media complain it is ammunition for mainstream U.S. media outlets, ones who aren't all about hockey, to pile on, and they do. See the examples above. Looking at them, I can hardly tell it's hockey season. Why should they cover something when the fans who supposedly love hockey so much, hate everything about it?

NHL and the media, part 3

Catching up with my RSS feeds I found some older articles from mlive.com's George James Malik about WXYT and the Detroit Red Wings.

In WXYT boldly delves into Wings talk Malik praises two of the stations DJ for chatting about the Wings.

WXYT's Terry Foster and Mike Valenti officially talked about the Detroit Red Wings in earnest for the first time on Wednesday, ...

Wow the first time this season and roughly 50 games into the season. For Hockeytown that's sad and depressing.
My response there:
Whenever I've been to Detroit I've never, NEVER, been impressed with the sports talk stations there. As with most every other city in the states it's way, way too much American football. If not that sport then some other celebrity tangent or other non-sport topic. No hockey, no basketball, no baseball and I've been there enough times when those sports overlapped hockey season.
Other than the Red Wings broadcasts, there are only two positives for WXYT: the FM feed is on iTunes and the Jeff Riger post-game Wings shows.

Malik also found the AP article on USAToday about the Detroit Pistons moving to WXYT, which is something I blogged Monday. I doubt the veracity of Malik's headline, Pistons' deal with WXYT won't take precedence over Wings games, and first statement.

The Associated Press notes that the Detroit Pistons, who will move up the dial to WXYT next season, won't supersede the Red Wings in "The Ticket's" pecking order:

My response:
I don't believe the headline of this (Malik's) article.
When non-Lions, American football games take precedence over a Red Wings game then something is wrong, which in this case is the Wings' flagship station, WXYT.

My previous problems with WXYT:
Two Nights
Listening Live

Want proof that Detroit isn't Hockeytown anymore. Right now 19:26 Thursday Dec. 13, 2007, I'm streaming the Wings' flagship radio station, WXYT, using iTunes. The talking heads there are talking about American football. There should be a pre-game show for the Wings too. Now the game has started, about a minute in, and they're still chatting about the Lions. Wings just scored. Still the iTunes stream is American football. Thankfully I can listen to the game on nhl.com. There's this beeping noise that's very annoying. I can't win tonight. Thankfully the Wings are out to an early start. Just messaged the studio. This is what I wrote. "I like streaming your feed using iTunes. How come I'm hearing American football chatter instead of the Red Wings game? This is very disappointing to me. Please e-mail me back at (e-mail address) with the answer. Thank you for your time." I'll let you know if I receive a response. This is depressing. I mean I had my hopes that if I moved to a hockey loving area everything would be perfect. I guess I'll need to move to Canada now. Finally at nearly 8PM they join the game in progress. Damn that just sucks. That's very poor judgment in my opinion. I'd feel the same way if they were talking hockey and joined an American football game in progress. The live event takes top priority and preferably with a pre-game show. Sheesh. Well it's on iTunes now so I'm happy now, but still poor judgment on WXYT's part. Damn the Oilers just scored. Well the game just ended and still no word from WXYT. I seriously doubt I'll receive a response. Typical.

NHL and the media, part 2

Last week I took screenshots of my two favorite sports sites', CBS and Sporting News, main page from Monday through Friday and in the morning - the first thing a sports fans see when they open the site. After my survey of sorts I'm glad I have the NHL page at each bookmarked. Because as the results below show, the NHL is lost in the shuffle.
The NHL was not featured in the primary location with a big photo on the left hand side of the page on either site last week. Only the Sporting News featured the NHL in its secondary location, above the links on the right hand side, and that was just one day. Most upsetting is Friday's showing, seven games the night before and neither site had a link to even one of the games.


Monday, Feb. 9, 2009 at about 5:16 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Datsyuk, Hossa lead Red Wings past Penguins - one link
NBA - Featured, plus one link
MLB - three links
NASCAR - one link
NFL - two links
NCAA BB - two links
Golf - one link
CBS - Wings 3, Pens 0 - one link
NCAA BB - Featured, plus four links
NBA - one link
MLB - two links
NFL - two links
NASCAR - one link
Golf - two links
NCAA W BB - one link
The night before: Three NHL games


Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 at about 6:30 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Devils top Rangers, Banning Fighting - two links
MLB - Featured, plus two links
NCAA BB - Featured, plus one link
NFL - one link
NCAA Football - two linkds
NBA - two links
CBS - Devils 3, Rangers 0 - one link
MLB - Featured, plus two links
NBA - three links
NCABB - two links
NBA - one link
NFL - two links
NCAA Hockey - one link
NCAA Football - one link
The night before: Two NHL games


Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 at about 7:45 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Thornton, Sharks vs. Bruins game, Wings win 5th in a row; Avery to Ranger affiliate and Jagr to Oilers? - Featured, plus one link
NCAA BB - Featured, plust one link
NBA - two links
MLB - three links
Misc. - one link
Motorsports - one link
Dog show - one link
CBS - Sharks win marquee bout - one link
NBA - Featured, plus four links
MLB - four links
NASCAR - one link
NCAA BB - one link
Misc. - one link
Boxing - one link
Olympics - one link
Dog show - one link
The night before: Seven NHL games


Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009 at about 8:15 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Nothing
NFL - Featured
NCAA BB - Featured, plus one link
MLB - four links
NBA - four links
NCAA Football - one link
CBS - Rangers 5, Caps 4
NCAA BB - Featured, plus two links
NFL - three links
Olympics - one link
MLB - three links
NBA - three links
NCAA Football - one link
The night before: Nine NHL games


Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 at about 8 a.m. EST
Sporting News - Nothing
NFL - Featured, plus one link
NBA - Featured, plus one link
MLB - two links
NCAA BB - two links
NASCAR - one link
Golf - one link
CBS - Nothing
MLB - Featured, plus two links
Golf - one link
NASCAR - two links
NCAA BB - four links
NFL - two links
NBA - one link
NCAA Football - one link
The night before: Seven NHL games

NHL and the media, part 1

Nearly two weeks ago on Feb. 5, the Detroit Free Press reported that WXYT 97.1 will broadcast Detroit Pistons games next year.

Starting next fall, Detroit will have something rare in America — one radio home for all four of its major professional sports teams.
The Pistons signed a five-year deal Thursday to join the Tigers, Red Wings and Lions on CBS-owned WXYT-FM (97.1) next season. It’s likely the first time all four teams have joined the same station.

This can't be good news for me. I already have enough trouble with Detroit Red Wings games conflicting with American football games.
It'd be nice if NHL.com was a viable alternative to listening to 97.1 on iTunes like it had been for years. But the League's website has greatly deteriorated this year as pointed out in this nearly month old article at mlive.com, Critiquing the NHL's digital revolution.

The NHL's website is so overloaded with Flash programming and nesting of stories that's lost its tactile "feel," courtesy of the elimination of the "right click."
1. You can't right-click on images to save them, "Frozen Moments" included;
2. The "headline" image usually links readers to two or three (and sometimes four) stories, and you can't right-click to open all three stories in browser "tabs" (nor are the stories usually linked to each other via cross-referencing links in each story);
3. When you play a video embedded in its front page stories, you cannot "share" the video (no menu to "share" or "embed" the video exists on the front page), and if you attempt to do so, the website refers you to NHL.TV's main page, which usually requires you to search for two or three minutes to find the video;
4. And the league's features and headlines are not archived in a, "view past columns/features" format. You have to scroll through oodles of headlines on a day-by-day basis, knowing that feature X appears on day Y if you want to find the previous column written by a particular author or a previous "notebook" or feature from the previous week.

My post there:
I've read many complaints about the new ESPN site. It doesn't bother me. Some have even complained about load speed, again doesn't bother me.
The new NHL site bothers me. It's load speed is ridiculously slow compared to ESPN's. Believe me I wish it was the other way around.
NHL's GameCenter is a joke in my opinion. Again slow. Very, very slow. I've tried at work and on my home computer using various browsers and various ways in which to connect to the Internet.
The fan connect site is horribly designed from an end user point view. It's so bad I've stopped visiting and blogging there, and as a passionate fan I wanted to connect with other NHL fans. Sadly I don't anymore because it's just too cumbersome from a navigation point of view and a blogging point of view.
Many a time I've tried to just wanted to listen to games, and I can't. For whatever reason the audio doesn't work. When the NHL showed games live, the feed is choppy. It's just not worth watching. There's no way I'd pay for Center Ice Online. No way!
I've submitted my complaints and bugs a few times. Nothing is done and no personal response, just automated ones. Though I did receive a response about the fan connect site.
Before this season I visited the NHL site daily, multiple times daily. Now I only typically visit on Red Wings game days so I can view the game summary. Now I get most of my hockey news from other sources. Last season I religiously watched the highlights online. Now I don't. It's depressing to me as an NHL fan how far that site has dropped in my opinion. It was one of the best, now it's one of the worst.

I noticed the problems listening to games earlier this year, Two Nights, and last year, Listening Live.
I've been listening to Red Wing games online since 1999. While I love the NHL broadcasts these games for free, like no other league that I'm aware, if fans can't listen to them for whatever reason, what's the point?

Also there have been times where I can't even log into NHL Connect.

I'm so done with that site. The log in info should be in the upper left hand corner, but it's not! This isn't a one-time occurrence; that happened several times to me.

As a side note, I had the unfortunate experience of viewing ESPN's SportsCenter today for 45 minutes. Not one NHL highlight. NOT ONE!
Seven games and not one highlight. People who think ESPN is objective are delusional. People who think that things would change if the League went back to the four-letter network are delusional. It won't happen because the Disney networks don't want the NHL. They had a chance to get the League back immediately following the lockout, but didn't. Nothing I've seen has changed.

NHL seeks new U.S. TV contract

According to the same Ken Campbell article as posted in my previous blog entry, the NHL is seeking a new TV contract in the states.

MONTREAL – The free lunch for NBC is over. That’s the message the NHL will give to the network when it begins negotiating a new national television contract to replace the one that expires after this season.
Since the lockout, the league has had a deal with NBC that essentially gave the network its NHL property for free. In a deal similar to the one that the Arena Football League had, NBC doesn’t pay the NHL any money, but guarantees that it will cover production costs. Any money made by the broadcasts first goes to covering those costs and if any profits are left over after that, 80 percent go to the league and 20 percent go to NBC.
But that arrangement for NBC is about to end, according to those who are familiar with the league’s television contract. With paying customers in the form of TSN and CBC in Canada and Versus in the United States, the league feels it has the leverage to begin charging a national broadcaster for its product.

That's good news. The bad news is the economy.

A new deal likely wouldn’t be a financial bonanza for the league, but it would provide some revenues and, more importantly, place some tangible value on the television product. Even though all facets of the business are bound to be hurt by the economic downturn, the NHL sees its television presence as an area of potential growth, particularly with the upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
It’s doubtful that CBS or NBC would be interested in the product, but there are indications that Fox might want the NHL back. Obviously the league would need more than one network bidding for its product in order to have any leverage and as long as Fox doesn’t want to reintroduce its glowing puck, the league would welcome its interest in the game.

The leverage might come from the recent ratings increase as reported by the Sports Business Journal.

National and local TV ratings also improved compared with the midway mark in 2007-08. U.S. broadcaster Versus saw total viewers increase to an average of 310,732 through 31 games, compared to 265,314 over the same period in 2007-08. NBC benefited from the tune-in of more than 4.4 million for the 2009 Winter Classic, making it the most-viewed NHL regular-season game in 34 years and drawing a 2.5 rating and 5 share.
Ratings also increased in Canada where the CBC averaged 868,000 viewers a game through 34 telecasts. That number is up from 850,000 viewers a game in 2007-08 but down from 1 million viewers in 2006-07.TSN averaged 483,000 viewers, a 7.2 percent increase, and RDS averaged 648,000 viewers, a 31 percent increase.

If Fox gets the new contract, no glowing puck please. That was annoying.
I also hope the League stays away from the Disney-owned networks. They still haven't shown me, not that I watch them much, that they would treat the NHL with respect and dignity. More importantly, I seriously doubt they would give the League the coverage it needs.

Praise for the shootout

Back when the shootout was first proposed, I was skeptical. Then I read Brendan Shanahan favored the idea. So then I became more accepting of it. Seeing it a couple of few times, seeing the fans enjoyment of it, I'm all for it now. To me it's no more ridiculous than four-on-four hockey. In fact I'd be wiling to go straight to shootout after regulation for regular season games.
The postseason should remain as is.
A few weeks ago I read the below quote at The Hockey News.

(Jean) Beliveau spoke about the quality of play in the NHL since the lockout and he likes what he sees.
“When the NHL came back, the only thing I had concerns about was the shootout,” Beliveau said. “I didn’t think that was a good idea. But when I saw the enthusiasm from the fans for it, I changed my mind. I think it’s a great part of the game, but I’m glad they don’t do it in the playoffs.”

That's awesome. When a hockey great of Beliveau's stature comes out in support of it, then it's time for everybody to jump on the bandwagon.
Drink the Kool-Aid; it's good!

Poor play, poor team

The Red Wings flew high Saturday and weren't mired in Oil with a resounding 8-3 win.

DETROIT (AP) — The Red Wings scored three times in the first six minutes and Brian Rafalski, Marian Hossa and Pavel Datsyuk each had a goal and an assist to lift Detroit to an 8-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

So is the poor play of the Wings over or did they just play a poor team? No disrespect to the Oilers but the Wings seem to match up well with Edmonton this year. Wings won 4-0 and 4-3 in two November games.
Is this finally the start of the Wings playing like a team ready to repeat or just an aberration?
Although the Wings won Monday and Wednesday they didn't look particularly strong doing so, and they certainly didn't look like a team wanting to repeat as Cup champions.

Lidstrom's late goal gives Wings 5-4 win
"It's not the way we want to win but we're still able to win games," (Nicklas) Lidstrom said. "We're still working at details in our game that could be better."

Yep.
Anyway, Sunday's game at Pittsburgh, as the second half of a back-to-back, might be a better indicator for the Wings, not that the Penguins are playing particularly well, but they should be more rested than the Wings. It will be an interesting game.

Hackel hammers it home

New York Times' Stu Hackel nails it, again.

Toronto Papers vs. Bettman, the Feud Continues
The Toronto print news media was all over Gary Bettman Wednesday morning for the commissioner’s continuing optimistic outlook on N.H.L. economics and franchise well being.

He explains with plenty of examples that the Toronto media are very anti- Gary Bettman. Judging by the examples, they are. In fact many fans are, some players are, bloggers are, etc.
I'm tired of all the hatred toward Bettman; really, really tired of it.
The NHL commissioner has done plenty to make me mad - the knee-jerk reaction in installing the safety nets, banning Al Sobotka from twirling octopuses, the new jerseys, the knee-jerk reaction in suspending Sean Avery, etc. But I've said my piece; it's out there. It's time for fans and media to move on, get over it.
The state of League probably isn't as good as Bettman says, but it's also probably not as bad as the media claim.
As Hackel points out though there are reasons for Bettman to be so positive.

But what seems to be lost in all this is that Bettman’s primary mission in these “all is well” proclamations is less to deny reality to reporters than to paint a picture of a successful business that will attract future investors — the men and women who might be interested in buying struggling teams like Phoenix, perhaps someone sitting right there in the Century Club. He’s thecommish, but he’s also part salesman, repping for his bosses, the 30 owners of the N.H.L. teams who in good times want their franchise values to increase, and in bad ones want to keep their investments from tanking. Salesmen don’t sell their product by dissing it.

Hockey media and fans are weird, or maybe it's just my warped, too-much-hockey perception. But I don't read about all the negativity toward commissioners in other leagues as I do in the NHL. I don't read from other sports fans as much negativity as I do from NHL fans. Others have noticed it too. Below is what Shawn Cane wrote to Ray Slover at The Sporting News.

I LOVED your article about keeping fighting in the NHL. Thank you VERY much for writing this much needed article. I am tired of people, especially the NHL media, forcritizing its own game. No other sports media condemns its own game as much as the NHL media does to hockey. It is VERY uplifting to write your argument. I praise you. Keep up the good work. I am off to email your article to friends and to spread the word to my pro-fight companions at www.hockey-fights.com
Thank you,
Shawn Cane

Here's some praise for a commissioner.
Celebrate a quarter-century of Stern? Not with so much work to do
We'll never know if God created anyone better for this job than (David) Stern, but for now we'll have to assume not. And I don't think it's a stretch to say that without Stern, the NBA would be on the same level with equestrian or water polo. Or worse ... the NHL.

What does Ken Burger the writer of the article above know? Who knows, but he's praising the NBA commissioner, and makes a dig at the NHL too. In my opinion he's able to ridicule the NHL because so many NHL fans and media do.

In my opinion it's a great time to be an NHL fan, and hockey is still the best game I can name.

Hockey happenings Feb. 1, 2009

Tidbits from what I've been reading and watching. It's a bit random, some old and some new.

The Sporting News' Ray Slover came out in defense of fighting in the NHL.

If hockey really wants to clean up the game, it should crack down on stick fouls.

So pay no attention to the recent poll that said a majority of Canadians interviewed said fighting should be abolished. Listen, instead, to the people whose lives are spent in hockey. A poll is only as good as the people who participate in it.

That's fine. Again I can take fighting or leave it. My only concern is if it is banned, stick work and other nastiness will increase.

Detroit Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg signs a 12-year deal.

The Detroit Red Wings signed Henrik Zetterberg to the longest contract in team history, a 12-year, $73 million deal that will keep the star forward in Hockeytown until 2021.

Zetterberg, 28, will be paid $7.4 million next season, $7.75 million from 2010-11 through 2012-13, $7.5 million from 2013-14 through 2016-17, $3.35 million in 2017-18, and a $1 million in the each of the contract's final two years.

Cool, but I'm a bit concerned about the length of the contract.

Kevin Allen of USAToday thinks if Marion Hossa and Johan Franzen take a hometown discount, Ken Holland, the Red Wings General Manager, will be able to re-sign them both. I hope they do, and he does.

Suspensive

Some journalists, like Bob Wojnowski at the Detroit News, posted that the Niklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk suspension could be critical later in the season.

It's not a gigantic controversy but it's the principle, really. I understand the NHL's reasoning, and so do the players. The truth is, because they're injured -- Lidstrom has taken several cortisone shots this season -- more rest shouldn't hurt. But what if the Wings lose tonight and eventually finish two points shy of home-ice advantage?

Good point. Yet just like a bad call in a game, overcome it, but please stop whining.

I also understand the hypocrisy surrounding this ruling and letting Steve Mason skate free. Yet the agreement was about the All-Star Game not the Young Stars Game. Oh well, suck it up and drive on. Get the rule changed to include the Young Stars Game too.

Alexander Ovechkin torched the Wings Saturday for two goals, the game-winner and the insurance.

Still high on that win and not filing lethargic at all it seems, he scored another three Sunday.

All aboard the Ovechkin bandwagon ... he's an amazing player! He plays with physicality and grace. It bears repeating: Saturday's game with the Wings, defending Cup champions, and Ovechkin, a dynamic player, should've been broadcast nationally.

Also worth noting, Ville Leino's goal on Saturday. It seems many are ga-ga for it. Yet I bet it didn't even make ESPN's highlight reel for the day.

Wow!