You know it's bad when you start thinking maybe Strombolopoulos wasn't so bad after all.
So many great comments in this thread.
There have been worse on-air personalities at HNIC since Strombolopoulos was canned (stammering amateurs with nothing interesting to say, polished personality-less talking heads, media guys with conflicting connections to the league front office and player agents, marble mouthed talkers fed "old school" talking points they can't convincingly deliver but I still don't want him back by any means.
Strombo was the start of the slippery slope that led HNiC to where it finds itself now. Still chasing a conceptual audience they see as the "youth" segment, and not understanding that the so called youth can not, nor will not sit still for 3 hours once a week, when they can easily watch game in 6 when they feel like it, if they feel like.
It's laughable that Strombo was ever a "youth" connected personality. He's just a crown corporation's concept of what a "youth" connect personality is: a 40 something in a close fitting suit with the proper hint of diversity who can parrot the correct opinions and use their latest tortured language at their lunches and parties.
The kids didn’t even like Strombo when he was put on HNIC.
And so they shouldn't. His hip/cool is as real as a wooden nickel. He's Steve Buscemi with a skateboard.
Oh, and the heavy incorporation of the batting/gambling segments into the show (this applies to sporting broadcasts all over) is a rapid slippery slope that will take away from the authenticity of the sport itself.
I'm glad I'm not alone in spotting this. We need to keep calling this out and mocking them for this. They are selling life-altering vices to a wide swath of the population. It is without a doubt bad for 99%+ of the population. Even those who just lose a little disposable income are doing something harmful to themselves. There are many better ways to use that money: self-improvement, better quality of food, improving your living conditions, financing a rewarding hobby, savings for their off-spring's future, etc. And this isn't talking about that certain percent who literally destroy their life and those around them obsessed over the next big win gambling with money they can't afford to lose.
And yes it's a slippery slope. They'll eventually loosen advertising standards on other vices and it'll be "Our 1st intermission is brought to you by SASS aka Stank Ass Stems and Seeds Dispensary corporation."
Hilarious that it wasn’t that long ago that all the leagues sued these companies and swore that they would never allow gambling on their sport. Now former athletes and even current athletes are pimping the product.
We now see what it always was. It was never about integrity of the product. The NHL just wanted to be able to wet its beak a little before embracing sports wagering.
