-are for real.
I mean, no joke here, and I know it's early, but I saw the game on Versus tonight, and they were superior to the Montreal Canadiens in every way possible.
But before I get too sloppy about the Sabres, (and I'll let my buddy Jack and the guys from Bflo blog do the gloating for now) can we take a moment and address this "Versus" shit?
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they are there, it was nice to hear former Bruin Andy Brickley doing a Yeoman's job from the broadcast booth, and I was thrilled to get a look at the hottest team in hockey right now.
But I swear to God, who in the name of Christ thought that renaming your network "Versus" was a good idea?
I know, I've railed against this before , but what I forgot in that last post was the fact that if you are looking for a game on "Versus," if you do the natural thing and google some variation of "vs. hockey schedule" look at what you get.
That's right, every single internet mention of every game mentioned on the internet that is listed with the word "vs."
Which is everything.
All hockey games.
Ever.
Including field hockey, for Christ's sake.
This season, last season, everything.
I mean, I love this game more than any other, so much so that I'm even reluctantly willing to enjoy the success of a Buffalo sports team , and I know that others feel the same way I do.
So why is it, that at every turn, this league makes marketing decisions that literally make it difficult for people who already want to watch to do so? I mean, if it's difficult for people who already want to watch, what are your chances for new viewers?
Here's a radical idea NHL- a nightly wrapup show.
Every night when there are more then 2 games, rent a studio, get a few talking heads and syndicate it on Fox Sports.
I'm getting email after email from people out there who want to put this blog on people's iPods, and I'm drunk for half the posts I put up. So here's a radical idea, put some hockey on television. And make it easy to find on Google.
I mean Jesus, Christ, "Versus?"
They might as well have named it the "And" network.
Damn- I'm amazed that this shit still riles me up.
Did you know that on Halloween, Conan is doing an all skeleton show?
How sweet is that?
Sweeter than anything the NHL has done to promote itself in 30 years, I can tell you that much.
4 comments:
And?
OK, from the time it was announced, everyone knew this was a bad idea. Fine, we get it, everyone gets it. But something had to be done. OLN was the Bobby Clarke of broadcast. They had a name that no longer fit, took a chance on the NHL, moved up in the world (a little), then did what everyone wanted them to do. They changed names.
They picked a crap name, but they did something. And then everybody pooped on them for doing it. So tell me something. What would you have done? What would your choice be? What would you call a network with hunting, fishing, hockey, lacrosse, rodeo, and the tour de france. You are in "entertainment," what would you do?
OLN is not fitting anymore, fine. How about OSN? Other Sports Network. Or ASN Alternative Sports Network. We know it's crap, but what should it be?
How about just making OLN and empty acronym or something?
yikes angry tyrade!
What do you own stock or something? So its your stock VS. the toilet i guess.
how about the "pent up rage and angry guy network" (PURAAGN)
I kinda like that one-
I'd like the NHL to admit that only Canada, New England, parts of the mid-Atlantic, and a few flat states that run along the Canadian border give a rat's ass about hockey. Contract the league down to VAN, CAL, EDM, MON, OTT (barely), TOR, MINN, COL, CHI, STL, DET, CBS, BUF, BOS, one NY team, PHI, PIT (in other words, the original 12 plus the Sabres, the Avs, the BJs and whatever city in Canada wants a team). Teams would run 4 lines deep, buildings would be full and you can bet your ass that a real network would be begging to show NHL games.
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