ESPN2 -- AKA the Deuce... or is that the D'OH?

by John Fontana on Apr 22, 2004 9:29 PM EDT in Media

First Intermission for the Calgary Flames / Detroit Red Wings game is on. John Saunders and Barry Melrose are part of a barrage of buffoonery during the telecast....

"It was supposed to be the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the Boston Bruins" says Saunders... Quite a respectable sportscaster.

Uh, hold it right there John... If the Boston Bruins made it out of the first round, they would have been facing the Philadelphia Flyers. Tampa Bay would have been playing the lowest seed remaining - which is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So the short intermission report on the TB / Montreal game for tomorrow night is talked about and then they go to a graphic advertising the game and they show a picture of Vincent Lecavalier and label him as Martin St. Louis...

:rolleyes

Nice job, ESPN, for your research. Next time, do us all a favor and just pick up the CBC telecast and forgo the idiocy. Disney's management has shown that ESPN no longer cares for the NHL and personally - I no longer care for ESPN. Next station, please....

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right on. ESPN’s regular season coverage has dwindled to almost nothing, mistakes such as the ones you mentioned are just inescusable. Hockey coverage here in the US is horrible. National sports outlets start with NBA, move to meaningless baseball, continue with NFL draft coverage, NASCAR updates, then if there’s time, hockey. All during the most exciting time of the most exciting sport. Ridiculous.

by tommy on Apr 22, 2004 9:29 PM EDT reply actions

I can’t help but blame the NHL for that too. Not just because of ESPN but because of their complete failure in marketing the league and how to present it.

The NHL is most comparable to Football on the physical level and yet the NHL is most comparable to Basketball on other levels.. And trying to market the NHL as the NBA isn’t going to work and that has been proven over the last few years.

Back to ESPN and the NHL — the NHL’s TV contract is going to expire with ESPN and they are going to get a cheaper one set up with… ESPN?! Look, if the leagues marketing sucks and you’re beign treated as second class (or third class) citizens on a network you helped make into a cable mamoth, it’s time to move on to sunnier pastures. Disney is not going to give any TV coverage on ABC with the new deal (reportedly) and stick everything on ESPN2 and occasionally on ESPN. The NBA, Nascar, NFL and MLB all take precedence on that network.

And what does Gary Bettman think of this? “Oh, MONEY! It’s fine! It’s fine… as long as we get MONEY!!!” rolling my eyes

So we’ll continue to get porrous coverage in the US because Gary’s Game doesn’t care about us. The base in Canada is fine and expanding / improving the league to non-traditionalists isn’t that important.

by John F on Apr 22, 2004 9:29 PM EDT reply actions

considering how lousy they treat the mighty dorks…..

glad I live in Canada and can watch the Bolts play.

I’m hoping for a Toronto victory over PHilly, then I can continue to watch the Beloved Lightning on CBC.

by Paul on Apr 22, 2004 9:29 PM EDT reply actions

You dont have to worry about that. CBC covers the Conference finals and the SC finals.

ESPN/ABC tends to treat its viewers like idiots, while CBC tends to hire idiots. None of those mistakes are as bad as CBC having Greg Millen – a notiorious Oiler lover who hates the Flames and strongly dislikes the Canucks do the colour commentary on the Calgary-Vancouver series. If you want intelligent commentary, mute the TV and turn on your local radio broadcast.

by Keith on Apr 22, 2004 9:29 PM EDT reply actions