NBC being stupid again

[RangersCanesFan]

http://www.nbcsports.com/download/2007/0320/1252034.pdf

Why?

Why does Sidney Crosby rank higher on the priority list than a game with PLAYOFF RAMIFICATIONS that might be ONE OF THE BIGGEST RIVALRIES IN ALL OF SPORTS? What more could NBC want? They have rights to a HUGE game that means a ton, not only to the two teams playing, but to the whole friggin' conference, but no, they'll show Crosby, AGAIN, to the whole country. And they wonder why the ratings are so bad?

If NBC never intended on showing anything other than Crosby this Sunday, the Ranger-Islander game should be played later in the day. It's asininely stupid to have those two teams play at 12:30 PM when they played the day before, IF THERE IS NO REASON FOR IT!

Memo to NBC -- Hockey fans don't give a rip about an individual. They like TEAMS, PLAYOFF RACES, INTENSITY, RIVALRIES, and GAMES that mean something. They don't care about a whiny brat who the league has crowned the greatest ever not named Gretzky. The NHL is not the NBA. NHL fans are smarter than most NBA fans who seemed to be mesmerized by players who were allowed to do anything on a court, even if it was against the rules.

[nccanes]

I've stopped watching NBC games when they do something like this. I have no idea how they calculate ratings these days (is there still such a thing as a neilsen box?), so I may not have a real impact, but I won't watch it - just on principle. When they bumped the Canes/Thrashers, I didn't watch the Pens. I just put Chuck on the radio and cleaned out my kitchen cabinets.

[Captain Slack]

This idiotic crap is why I miss my Center Ice so much.

[Guyute]

I'm not watching NBC either, completely ridiculous.

And yeah, Nielson still exists. One of our best friends are setup with them. I also support a project for a Nielson study in Spanish households.

[PennsylvaniaCanesFan]

For anyone who is watching...the Pens are dominating the B's now. Pretty entertaining game nonetheless.

[SoCalcaniac]

I have to question NBC's logic- the B's laid down today after the first 2 goals yet they still kept the game on local TV (here) til the 3rd period. Then decided to break away to the Rangers /Islanders. We have CI and the NBC/NYC-Channel 4 feed on DirecTV, so we had the ability to watch the whole Rangers/Isles game; and we ended up TIvoing both games since we were running around today- and imagine our surprise when we saw they cut away for the 3rd period.

I question NBC because they bumped us off in favor of The Golden Boy as Don Cherry calls him - yet next week, they will have the lowly Blue Jackets playing Detroit. And you all know darn well they won't bump it off, because it's DET. I'm particularly irritated with the fact that they only have certain teams that they'll constantly show. I personally am over the whole Rangers on NBC thing- they've been on as many times as Crosby/Penguins have, and I'm particularly sick of hearing Joe Micheletti's voice and him constantly yammering on about what Jagr is feeling or thinking. Does he friggin live with him? It's just annoying. We've talked about how NBC has decided which teams it will feature- It's a given that the Penguins will be on NBC for the next bazillion years. I think Pierre Maguire said Jordan Staal's name 10 times in one shift. I love Jordan Staal just like any other fan, but good friggin grief. We got it. He's special. I don't need to tell you how many times he said Crosby's name.

So the thing about this is, in hockey parlance, it is what it is. I typically decide if I'll watch an NBC game based on my ability to tolerate whoever is calling the game. (yes seriously) and if I've had too many doses of a particular team's broadcaster- who inevitably will wax on about his current fixation- i.e. Jaromir Jagr or Brendan Shannahan. Or in the case of Detroit, Lidstrom or Hasek.

This is just another one of those things on the list of things that get hockey fans in the U.S. all worked up. For as much as there is an attempt to market the game, it seems like it's really only select markets- and really I should say, select 'teams'. Frankly, it's exhausting, so to me, it's just best for me to have CI so I can watch whatever I want and not be brainwashed by the politics of the NHL. A friend back home in socal who is a Anaheim STHer whined on about how 'nobody' knows how great the Ducks are because they never get any "play" and went so far to throw out the ol' "East Coast media bias" thing and I laughed, because he's right. And it won't change anytime soon- even if the Ducks were to win the Cup.
Wow.That was exhausting..... :lol:

[SouthernHockeyChick]

See, I think the east coast media bias is BS, too. Sure, east coast teams get more time on NBC.....at 12:30. Do west coast teams want to play their games at 9:30 am?

As far as who the media is always talking about, I feel like east coast hardly gets two words on XM and all we hear is west coast, west coast, west coast.

We'll never be happy, will we. :D

[puck_it]

The blue jackets/blues game was slated to be an nbc game at 12:30, then was dropped and moved to 6. apparantly this happened last night and bluejackets fans showed up for a 12:30 EDT game to find its a 6 pm game

[SoCalcaniac]

^ No way did that happen last night. That would mean, they would have had all these NBC people - (i.e on air talent, camera men/women, sound people, etc.etc.) in CLB and then NBC would have to pay them. I'm sure there are union rules on those types of things- plus, the Jackets are on Center Ice right now, and I'm sure FSN Ohio would need some notice to broadcast eh?

and if the Bluejackets didn't get the word out on a time change, sooner than today, that's horrendous. I'm sure NBC did cancel that exhilarating matchup, but it must've happened earlier- when NBC knew that matchup would be worth their while.

SHC- LOL, you're right, nobody is ever happy. If I hear anybody on XM yammer on about the "tough Northwest division" I'll just jump. :D

[puck_it]

tis what i heard, second hand though, that people were showing up

[RangersCanesFan]

I'm sure it was possible that people didn't know. There were people in Atlanta on March 4th that thought the game was still at 12:30. Games do draw very "casual fans" who don't watch and listen to every game and don't hear all announcements about game time changes.

SHC,

I guess we all have our likes and dislikes. I was tired of ESPN's worshipping at the feet of the Colorado Avalanche for years. The way Clement went on and on about them, you would have thought he was in relationships with three quarters of the team. I was also sick of the manufactured Detroit-Colorado rivalry. I don't think all 4 regular season games needed to be on national TV.

The 12:30 Sunday start time is just plain ridiculous, regardless of whoever is playing. And you're exactly right, as long as NBC's time slot on the east coast for hockey is 12:30, we'll never see the Ducks on national TV. Even yesterday, at the end of the game, NBC couldn't get away fast enough to slobber over Tiger Woods.

As for the color guys, there's no need to have two. I happen to like Micheletti on Ranger broadcasts, and Maguire on TSN broadcasts, however, on NBC, they are both beyond annoying. They don't really add anything necessary, other than more background noise.

A game should get selected for "national" like this:
1. Look at schedule.
2. Determine what should be the most important game.
3. Look for teams having good years.
4. Look for teams with the most following (Red Wings, Rangers, etc.)

[Guyute]

I was really shocked at the slot move to 12:30. The last few years, late in the season, when NBC starts carrying Sunday games, it's always been 3pm. Sometimes 2pm, which is still respectable. But 12:30?? A real brain trust over there.

[RangersCanesFan]

Guyute,

Looks like they've started the games at 12:30 to accommodate golf.

On 4/8--no golf, as that's Masters weekend, but the games are still at 1, with one of them being in Dallas, which is really noon local time.

[SoCalcaniac]

If we're being honest- NBC doesn't have a real commitment to NHL games. They're showing an attempt, but it's not a full intent to broadcast. The NHL still isn't glamorous or enough or whatever.

We used to see them broadcast Saturday 1pm games- that has all but disappeared and it's really just Sundays at 12:30. And they can't be bothered to broadcast a pregame, but they'll stream it on the internet for 30 minutes before the games. That's just not a commitment.

It's funny we've come full circle on this whole American TV broadcast thing. We used to scream and holler over all the Thorne/Clement DET/COL love-fests on ESPN/ESPN2, and here we are talking about basically the same things.

I don't miss ESPN one bit, and say what you will about Versus, I think they're getting better with the technical parts of the broadcasts, and they're committed to hockey; and that is not something you can say about ESPN - ever.

[Guyute]

I've honestly watched ESPN ONCE since they dropped hockey. That was last week, I watched ESPNHD for the State NIT game.
I can't stand them anymore. Used to have them on several times a day. Now it's once in 2 years.

[Solracer]

I don't miss ESPN one bit, and say what you will about Versus, I think they're getting better with the technical parts of the broadcasts, and they're committed to hockey; and that is not something you can say about ESPN - ever.

I aggree I just wish they had hockey on more often and on a regular schedule. With ESPN you could almost always find a game on on Tuesdays and Thursdays weather it was on ESPN or ESPN2. With VS is seems that they are not as often as they were on ESPN.

[e2ipiand1]

For as bad as the hockey coverage was, the NASCAR coverage on ESPN NEWS and SportsCenter is even worse.

[caniac369]

This idiotic crap is why I miss my Center Ice so much.

NBC is stupid. Thus the reason I tried so hard during the finals to sync up the internet radio feed to the TV broadcast...

[SoCalcaniac]

I aggree I just wish they had hockey on more often and on a regular schedule. With ESPN you could almost always find a game on on Tuesdays and Thursdays weather it was on ESPN or ESPN2. With VS is seems that they are not as often as they were on ESPN.

Versus has a game (or 2) on every Mon & Tuesday during the reg season. Most Versus games start at 7pm; but occassionally they do a 7:30- and in the case of the Wild game that Forslund called last Tuesday, it was an 8pm game (since it was 7pm local time). Those are their days- they've not wavered on that in the 2 years they've been the NHL broadcast partner. And they don't cut off the game to go to Sportscenter or any of that crap.

Last point about NBC and the proof that hockey is not a true "priority" - GAME 7. My gosh Doc Emerick could barely get through the line up of guys holding the Cup up, and they were wrapping up the daggone 'festivities' on the ice and cutting to the freakin' 11pm news. I will never forget emails and voicemails I got from people back home in socal who had been 'following' our little journey through the playoffs and now had a vested interest cause they knew we were there- I probably had 10 or 11 friends say "NBC couldn't get off the air fast enough- I wanted to see all the players with the Cup". Mind you, the bulk of those folks were/are really casual fans- the very people you would want to lure in just a bit- granted they were following the Canes cause they know us to be diehards- but the whole idea that the broadcast had to switch over at 11pm for the NEWS, was silly to me. Monday night- nothing else is going on- it wouldn't have hurt to leave the fun and celebration on just long enough to get through our lineup.

Ok, enough from me..... :)

[caniac369]

This all comes down to the same thing we were discussing about CBS's sucky converage of the NCAA tourney- they don't care about the fans, it's all about money...

[corylav]

And more NBC ... NHL agrees to another year with 'em.

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=298224

[Guyute]

Ugh. Too much to comment on in that very short article. Must... not... bother.

[caniac369]

Again, it's all about the benjamins...

[Solracer]

I just look at this as at least they are on TV a national network. I actually DVR all the NBC games just in case it helps the ratings. :)