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ESPN announces commentator schedule for WCoH

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talkinaway

talkinaway

Registered User
Mar 19, 2014
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On the couch
If you want to know who will be calling the real WCoH games, take a look here...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/espn-a...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Nice little gem buried at the end of the article from Steve Levy that I find hilarious...

“How can you be a big-time sport in the states and not be on ESPN? I think that’s the part that’s tough for a lot of people to understand,†Levy said. “I can tell you the players themselves get frustrated. They’re on the road, in hotels, and they can’t watch their own games, they can’t watch action from around the league. Some of the people that have the (NBC Sports Network) channel, they don’t know what number it is. It just seems very different than ESPN where you know exactly where you’re going at all times.â€
Click to expand...

Any US NHL fan knows whether NBCSN is on their cable system, and knows the number. It's available on DISH, Comcast, and FiOS, and has a mobile app. Unlike ESPN, you don't have to hunt through various iterations (ESPN, El Deuce, ESPNU, ESPNews, and the fake network ESPN 3) to find your game.

ESPN hasn't carried hockey since 2004. Let's say your fandom really begins at 9 years old, and you start avidly watching hockey at that age, and remembering games/announcers/etc.

That means there are hockey fans who can legally drink who don't have any significant recollection of hockey on ESPN.

Not to mention, within 2 minutes of opening hockey on ESPN for the first time in years, their lead studio commentator labelled Norris Trophy winner and Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara as a Slovenian.

Yes, I get that ESPN is bigger, and it would be nice to grow hockey. Maybe ESPN can help that. But not if they're going to piss on it at the same time.
Click to read more...
 
talkinaway said:
If you want to know who will be calling the real WCoH games, take a look here...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/espn-a...tml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Nice little gem buried at the end of the article from Steve Levy that I find hilarious...



Any US NHL fan knows whether NBCSN is on their cable system, and knows the number. It's available on DISH, Comcast, and FiOS, and has a mobile app. Unlike ESPN, you don't have to hunt through various iterations (ESPN, El Deuce, ESPNU, ESPNews, and the fake network ESPN 3) to find your game.

ESPN hasn't carried hockey since 2004. Let's say your fandom really begins at 9 years old, and you start avidly watching hockey at that age, and remembering games/announcers/etc.

That means there are hockey fans who can legally drink who don't have any significant recollection of hockey on ESPN.

Not to mention, within 2 minutes of opening hockey on ESPN for the first time in years, their lead studio commentator labelled Norris Trophy winner and Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara as a Slovenian.

Yes, I get that ESPN is bigger, and it would be nice to grow hockey. Maybe ESPN can help that. But not if they're going to piss on it at the same time.
Click to expand...


This criticism was relevant like ten years ago, when the games were on OLN, but not now. NBC sports network has been in just about every hotel room I've been in the last few years. Not every single one, but the majority. Besides you can stream whatever game you want on NBC live or whatever it's called.

Just from the bits of the exhibition games I've seen on ESPN, they are pretty horrible. All American sports networks veer too far in the loudmouth contentless Dick Vitale or Chris Berman, Pierre MacGuire mode. But ESPN does it worse than anybody. Better to be a prime sport on NBC than equivalent to ping pong on ESPN.
 
I think Hextall is good and adnan virk is canadian and I have heard him on the air and think he is a pretty enjoyable listen. Maybe just give it a chance?
 
Levy is right, but he's assuming that being covered by ESPN means that ESPN will prominently show the games or make them available.

Being carried by ESPN =/= being shown on ESPN. Rather, the concern is that hockey will be relegated to ESPN3 / WatchESPN.

If ESPN and the NHL come to a deal where games HAVE to be aired live on ESPN 1 a minimum of 3 nights a week and ESPN 2 for a minimum of 2, then yeah I could see it being an attractive option.
 
I enjoy having a network like NBCSN pretty much devoted to covering hockey, especially down the stretch and into the playoffs where they bump everything else for NHL games. ESPN would not be able and/or willing to do the same so I could care less how important they believe themselves to be.

The lack of hockey to broadcast on ESPN gives them more time to cover Tom Brady's new haircut.
 
ESPN is so good for hockey. Right after USA's embarrassing loss they don't have a post game show, they don't show highlights. They do all Americans a favor and go straight to college football highlights. :sarcasm:
 
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