Crappy Broadcasting Corporation

With the incredible talent pool of hockey players developed in Canada, you’d think we could also produce a few more quality broadcasters. Mark Lee and Kevin Weekes? Terrible! Their coverage of the Calgary at Vancouver CBC game last night was pathetic. Was Mark Lee trying to bore us to death? If so, it worked in spectacular fashion. It was so bad that early in the second period I switched over to channel 326, where CBC was broadcasting the game in Punjabi. I have no idea what these dudes were saying but it was far more exciting listening to them than having to endure Lee’s monotone voice and Weekes’ stale observations, obviously funneled into his ear from a producer. Thanks for letting us know Calgary lost 6-0 to Minnesota last week Kevin. By the way, you mentioned it already, six times in the last ten minutes in fact. Focus on the game at hand please!

Basically, if it isn’t Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson calling the game then it’s crap, total crap. They can get on my nerves too, but for different reasons. Sure, Hughson and Simpson have the ability to call a great game, if they choose to just call the game. It’s just that both have a bad habit of yacking on like it’s intermission while the play is going on. I’ll leave them alone for another day though. For now, I just want to thank CBC, Lee, and Weekes for ruining my Hockey Night in Canada yet again.

10 Ways for Soccer and the World Cup to Improve

Now that a few days have passed, and my ears have stop ringing with the constant sound of vuvuzelas, here are some ideas to help improve a tournament, and a game, that I otherwise thoroughly enjoy.  There is always room for improvement, even in the most popular sport on the planet.

1/ A time clock.  Enough with the added time.  Spend a few dollars and put a clock in every soccer stadium.  Hey, you can even place advertisements on them. Cha-ching!  Stop the clock when the ball goes out-of-bounds or when a player pretends that he has been shot.  When time runs out, the half, or game, is over. How easy is that?

2/ Players should be booked by FIFA for diving, even if it’s done after the game. Clearly the referee will never make this call, however evident or blatant the dive is in real-time.  Review the game and book the players that continue to disgrace an otherwise terrific sport.  Sadly, many teams would run out of players in a hurry.

3/ Don’t introduce a new ball right before the start of the World Cup.  The Jabulani ball was a disgrace.  Test, test, and test again, before staging the biggest sporting event in the world.  There is four years between tournaments, get it right.

4/ FIFA needs to add instant replay and everyone knows it.  I will not go into detail since this is so obvious.   Again, the tournament comes around once every fours years.  They have to get it right!  Was it a goal or not?  Simple.  Oh, yeah, use it on the divers too and give those cowards a yellow, or better yet, a red card.

5/ What is with all of the slow motion close-up replays featuring players, coaches, or goalie’s talking or yelling?  Who came up with this brilliant idea?  This has been a staple on World Cup broadcasts for as long as I can remember.  Absolutely pointless.  It adds nothing to the broadcasts.  Why show mouths moving in slow motion when replays of all the dives would be far more interesting?

6/  The host broadcaster should realize that footage of previous World Cups is available, including sound.  If the World Cup is ever held in another country where fans would rather blow horns than watch the game, please use old footage for ambient crowd noise and have the commentator talk over it, similar to a laugh track on a sit-com or late night talk show.  You don’t think all that laughing is live do you?  The vuvuzelas took away from my television viewing pleasure.  The two games I listened to on the radio magnified the problem.

7/ Put more referees on the field, like in football (yes, I mean North American football), especially on the goal lines.  Obviously the current crew of four (3 on field and 1 off) officials is not working.  Just ask anyone from England or Mexico that felt shafted due to missed calls.  I’m sure Brazil’s Kaka would be in favour as well, after serving a suspension resulting from an obvious dive by an opponent.

8/ No player changes by a team that is leading with one minute left in the game.  I saw this happen three times.  I can see the point if the game is tied, about to go to penalties, and you have a specialist on the bench.  If you’re winning though, what is the point?

9/ Get rid of the third place game.  They both lost and neither team wants to play.  Send them home.

10/ Change the qualifying process from one host and 31 qualifiers to one host, 30 qualifiers and one wildcard.  Hold a random draw including all non-qualifying FIFA countries for the last spot.  Okay, only kidding.  I’m just trying to increase Canada’s odds of ever being involved again.

FIFA and the World Cup of Soccer need instant replay

It’s time for FIFA to get with the program and add instant replay to the World Cup, including all qualifying rounds.  When it takes four years to determine a champion, you have to get the calls right, all the calls.  I have no faith in this ever happening, since the only other organization that rivals FIFA for being stubborn, arrogant and disillusioned by money and power is, of course, the IOC.  To be fair to the IOC though, they do use instant replay when needed.

This is about integrity and fairness.  FIFA doesn’t have to change.  They wield all the power in the soccer world.  Outside of North America, soccer is the number one sport in virtually every country, none of which is willing or likely to take a stand and say enough is enough.

Perhaps Ireland should be that country.  An instant replay, or a chance to throw a challenge flag, may have been the difference in getting the Irish to the World Cup and leaving the abysmal French at home.  Le Bleu advanced with the help of a Thierry Henry handball during qualifying, denying the Irish a chance to perform on the world stage.  Ireland did protest but the complaint fell on deaf ears.  Rather than face the problem, or admit to it, FIFA just held up their hands and reasoned that there is a human element to the games and mistakes happen.  In other words, they don’t care if the result is fair; they just want their massive share of the revenue generated by the world’s biggest and most popular sport.

The games today were without controversy as Brazil and the Netherlands easily handled Chile and Slovakia.  What a relief!  Yesterday’s games, however, were another black mark on a tournament already filled with terrible officiating.  Offside calls that were not offside, offside plays leading to goals that should have been blown down, players being booked after opponents dove and feigned injury (nothing new with the latter).  These calls and non-calls are ruining the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

The first goal of a game is very important in most sports but in soccer, with so many games ending 0-0 or 1-0, the importance is magnified.  Yes, Argentina was and is a better team than Mexico, but the best team doesn’t always win, just ask the Italians.  Give the better/higher ranked team that first goal, which the officials inexplicably did on an obvious offside play, and the underdog’s chances grow even slimmer.  Simply put, it just changes the game.  Teams play differently with the lead or when trailing.  We’ll never know how the game would have played out if the right call had been made, or the wrong call had been overturned by a replay official.  Mexico was dealt an unfair blow and never recovered.

The non-goal call that denied England an equalizing tally against Germany is one of the worst blown calls I’ve ever seen in sports.  How long would it have taken for a replay official to make the correction, ten seconds?  FIFA doesn’t want the delays incurred by replay but one thing I’d never say about a soccer game is that it was too long.  Compared to baseball, football (North American) and hockey, a soccer game is much shorter, by up to an hour without extra time added.

A delay because of a player fakes an injury is okay though.  How many players end up missing games because of red or accumulated yellow cards after players acted like they were shot after a tackle?  Nothing is ever done to discipline these pathetic excuses for athletes.  Get the calls right.  It works in the NFL.  Give each team one challenge flag per half, or even one per game at least.  England, like Mexico, was beaten handily in the end but the playing field was not equal due to incompetent officiating.

Don’t worry about delays FIFA.  The fans at the stadium are having a blast and those in South Africa probably wouldn’t notice the delay anyway.  They’re too busy blowing their horns or vuvuzelas (whatever they’re called) to follow the game.  I’m sure the fans at home watching on television wouldn’t mind either.  Since there are no commercial breaks, it gives them time to get a beer or visit a washroom.  Nobody would mind or care, as long as the right call is made.

2010 Allan Cup Canadian Hockey Championship

It was great that Don Cherry and Ron MacLean mentioned the 2010 Allan Cup during tonight’s Coach’s Corner.  Senior hockey in Canada needs all the help it can get.  The fact that the final game was broadcast on TSN 2 is fantastic.  The fact that the broadcast was taped-delayed until after NASCAR and the Canadian midget girls hockey final (Esso Cup)  might be a bit of a blow to the players’ egos but hey, you have to start somewhere.  TSN only started broadcasting the final game of Canada’s senior AAA hockey championship in 2008, the hundredth anniversary season of the storied trophy.  The tournament has been a major small-scale success in the towns and cities across Canada that have played host since the early 1990s, with little or no coverage of the event nationally.

After Cherry bumbled and stumbled on about the 2009 final between Bentley (Alberta) Generals and South East (Manitoba) Prairie Thunder (while being constantly interrupted by MacLean, as usual), the stale broadcasting duo wished this year’s finalists (Bentley and Fort St. John) best of luck in tomorrow’s final.  Too bad the final had ended in Fort St. John,  BC, about an hour before Coach’s Corner started.  The host Flyers prevented a Bentley repeat with a 4-1 win, becoming the first British Columbian team other than the Powell River Regals (3-time champions) to win the Allan Cup since the tournament format was adopted in 1992.

If you’re going to talk about something, please prepare a little and get the facts straight.  The majority of people watching might not realize how off the mark Cherry and MacLean were, but those in the senior hockey world certainly did.  Hopefully recognition on a national broadcast still makes it a positive, despite the obvious lack of knowledge the pair have about the Allan Cup.  Exposure is needed for this level of hockey, take what you can get senior AAA, and remember, the NBA final series was broadcast on tape delay until the early 1980s.  Look at them now…

Congrats to the Fort St. John Flyers!

http://www.2010allancup.ca/fort-st-john-flyers-are-allan-cup-champions

Jennifer Jones stumbles at Curling World Championship

I loved the quotes from Canadian curling champion Jennifer Jones after winning bronze at the world championships on Sunday and having to field questions as to why the four-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion doesn’t display the same dominance on the world stage as she does nationally.

“The fact that everyone thinks you should win gold is ridiculous,” said Jones.

Ridiculous?  This is curling right? Canada wins its fair share of world championships, more so than any other country. Guess what happens when you win a lot?  That’s right, high expectations. Jones has now won four Scotties titles (2005, 2008, 2009, 2010), parlaying those wins into one world championship victory in 2008. For me, the expectation for Canada to win at all levels of curling is right up there with hockey, and we all know what questions would arise if one of our hockey teams won on the world stage at a 25 percent clip. It wouldn’t be pretty.

“We won bronze and we’re happy with that.”

Great, I’m happy for you too but, I still think you should win gold though.  My apologies if that offends you. Wait a second, where did all this gold and bronze talk come from anyway?  Is this new for curling? Did Glenn Howard win silver at the Brier? Who won bronze at the Scotties? Was it Kathy O’Rouke?  No she won silver, or finished second, also known as losing in the final. I get how the medal thing works at the Olympics, but in this case I prefer third, or not good enough.

I’ve always had a hard time cheering for Jones.  My negative feelings probably stem from the Scotties final in 2005, the year Jones threw, “The Shot,” with her last stone to defeat Jenn Hanna and win her first national title.  I was pulling for Hanna and the Jones celebration never sat quite right with me. I did eventually get over the disappointment so what is this problem I have with Jones? Could it be the losses at the world’s? I don’t think so. It’s one thing to be disappointed and another to not want to pull for the home team because of the representative. Maybe because Jones is a lawyer?  Again, I don’t think so.  I’ll make a joke about the profession, like anyone, but it goes no further than that.

You know, it might be her hair.  It bothers me for some reason…

haarrrrd!!!

2010 Paralympic Sledge Hockey Heartbreaker for Canada

The winning goal for Norway in the bronze medal 2010 Paralympic sledge hockey game versus Canada reminded me of a similar play many years ago in the NHL playoffs. The year was 1982 and the Vancouver Canucks were in the Stanley Cup final for the first time. Game one against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders was tied after regulation. With four seconds to play in the first (and, as it turned out, only) overtime period, Canucks’ defenseman Harold Snepsts had the puck in the corner to the left of goaltender Richard Brodeur.  There was not enough time for Vancouver to get down the ice and attempt a shot. All Snepsts had to do was hold the puck, let time elapse, and it was off to overtime number two.  Inexplicably, Snepsts tried forcing a pass up the middle towards Gerry Minor.  Islanders sniper Mike Bossy picked off that pass and fired a shot over Brodeur’s shoulder with two seconds to play, winning the game for New York.  Since it was game one, it did not have the finality of last night’s bronze medal sledge hockey match but it was a crushing, demoralizing defeat nonetheless. The Canucks never recovered and lost the series in four straight games.

Last night, six seconds remained in the third period when Canada’s defenseman picked up the puck in the corner. The Snepsts’ play popped into my head and I found myself saying the same thing I did 28 years ago.  ”Hang onto the puck, freeze it, kill the clock!”  I never did get a clear view of which Canadian made the errant clearing attempt. Sportsnet showed the replay twice and then immediately switched to other programming.  The guilty player’s name was not visible from the angles shown. Probably a good thing as the Snepsts play is forever etched in the minds of all Canucks fans.  I wouldn’t wish that same fate for this guy.  I’m sure he feels bad enough as it is. It wasn’t overtime but it may as well have been.  Only 3.6 seconds remained after Eskil Hagen’s shot from the point deflected off a Canadian defender and over goaltender Paul Rosen.  Norway claimed the bronze with a 2-1 win.

Twenty-four hours earlier in the semi-final, Japan ended Canada’s gold medal hopes with a last-minute goal.  Two days, two heartbreaking results for the home team.

UPDATE: USA wins sledge hockey gold with a 2-0 win over Japan.

NHL Discipline Consistently Inconsistent

I’m fine with Alexander Ovechkin being suspended for his hit/push on Brian Campbell in the first period of Sunday’s game between the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks.  If the NHL classifies that as a punishable play, fine.  Let’s just hope they always make the same call in the future, even if the play results in a lesser injury.  What I have a problem with is the NHL’s inconsistent handling of other dangerous on-ice incidents.

Alexander Ovechkin

Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell has missed 21 games after a hit from behind from Evgeny Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a game at GM Place in January.  Malkin received two minutes for boarding. How does Ovechkin’s hit result in two games and Malkin’s only two minutes?  Yes, Ovechkin is a repeat offender, but is that the only criteria?  The NHL was quick to suspend Ovechkin, perhaps due to an almost instant diagnosis of Campbell’s broken clavicle and ribs.  Mitchell’s injury was not immediately known and, as a result, there was no way to determine the severity or number of games the Canucks would be without their top shut-down defender.  Malkin served his two minutes and that was it.  The Penguins were in no way affected by the incident while the Canucks ended up having to deal away a draft pick at the trade deadline to fill the void caused by Mitchell’s absence.  The NHL should have the ability to revisit penalties and/or suspensions applied, especially regarding head injuries, and add additional discipline weeks or months later if necessary.  The Canucks have played well without Mitchell but, if he does not return and the team struggles defensively at the end of the regular season or come playoff time, the Malkin hit will be a big reason why.

At this time, there is no meaningful punishment to deter players from taking advantage of other players in vulnerable positions.  Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mike Richards of the Philadelphia Flyers received no discipline for high-profile “predatory” hits to the head that most in the hockey world seem to be appalled by.  The NHL’s position is that they do not have rules in place to penalize shoulder hits to the head.  NHL general managers have discussed new rule recommendations with hopes of implementing them by the start of next season at the latest.  If the NHLPA and league competition committee are on board the new rules could be applied sooner or right away.  Until then, a shoulder hit to the head is perfectly legal.

The Richards hit on October 24 was similar to Cooke’s recent hit on Boston forward Marc Savard but worse in my opinion because it was late and Richards left his feet.  As a result, David Booth of the Florida Panthers missed 45 games with a concussion.  Booth was second in team scoring in 2008/09 with 31 goals and 29 assists in 72 games.  So far in 2009/10 Booth has four goals and eight assists in 22 games.  The Panthers are currently six points behind eighth place Boston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  Where would the Panthers be with Booth scoring at last year’s pace?  A playoff berth is worth at least a few million dollars in revenue for a franchise even with a first-round loss.  The Richards hit affected Booth’s health and may have an impact on the Panther’s finances as well.  The Flyers are sixth in the Eastern Conference, nine points ahead of Florida.  The Flyers might be lower in the standings if Richards, one of their top scorers, had missed any time due to suspension.  Savard is out indefinitely while his Bruins battle to make the playoffs.

Funny, by NHL standards it is worse to insult Dion Phaneuf’s girlfriend than to almost knock a player’s head from his body or push/hit a player from behind into the boards causing a lengthy injury.  After insulting Elisha Cuthbert prior to a Dallas Stars game in Calgary last year, Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely, forced into an anger management evaluation, entered a counseling program, and needed to apply to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for reinstatement.  After serving the suspension, Avery was banished to the minors by the Stars and didn’t resurface with the New York Rangers until three months later.  Avery is a major jerk but, by their actions, so are Cooke, Richards, Malkin and Ovechkin.  Perhaps the NHL needs to protect their players in the same fashion they protect the players’ significant others.

Beware of (San Jose) Sharks!

For those planning to enter NHL playoff pools, think carefully before selecting Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau or Dany Heatley of the San Jose Sharks.  An early round exit is always a possibility for the regular season powerhouse with a history of stumbling in NHL post-season play.  Heatley is new to the Sharks so the jury will remain out on him for now, but the dark cloud that hangs over the Sharks’ organization definitely made an appearance at the 2010 Olympic hockey tournament.  Canada’s gold medal victory hid the fact that Thornton, Marleau and Heatley did not produce at their NHL regular season scoring pace when it mattered most, in the elimination rounds.

The San Jose line began the Olympic tournament as Canada’s number one power play unit.  The trio combined for nine points in preliminary round play versus Norway, Switzerland and USA and recorded two points against Germany in a qualification playoff game which, although an elimination contest, was nothing more than a tune-up prior to Canada facing Russia in the quarter-final.  As the intensity of the tournament increased, the production of the SJS unit dropped off while other Team Canada players like Jonathan Toews, Ryan Getzlaf, Brendan Morrow and Corey Perry took the offensive lead.  The SJS line was not used on any power plays in the quarter-final, semi-final or gold medal game.  By that time, lines centered by Getzlaf, Toews and Sidney Crosby had all surpassed the SJS line on the depth chart.  Some could argue that the other lines needed a few games to establish chemistry with each other.  Fine, that I understand, but why, as the other lines started to click and find their form, did the SJS line fade away and become nothing more than a fourth-line energy unit?

Thornton is fourth in NHL scoring.  Heatley and Marleau are both top 15 scorers in the league.  Of all the players on Team Canada’s Olympic roster, only Crosby has higher 2009/10 point totals than the three Shark forwards.  Toews, Getzlaf, Perry, Morrow, Rick Nash, Mike Richards, and Jarome Iginla all trail the three Sharks in NHL scoring, but as the games became more important, their level of play increased, while Heatley, Marleau and Thornton became less of a factor.

Thornton was held pointless in the final three games when Canada faced elimination against Russia and Slovakia, and battled the USA for gold.  Heatley had an assist in the rout of Russia and Marleau scored in the semi-final against Slovakia while his line-mates were on the bench.   The effectiveness of this high-scoring line mirrored what has happened to the Sharks over the past few years.  In this case the Olympic preliminary round took the place of the NHL regular season and the elimination round stood in for the NHL playoffs.  Luckily, Canada is loaded with enough talent to overcome an underperforming line.  It is unlikely the San Jose Sharks can overcome a similar situation.  They have a talented team, but not enough to win without their stars playing to their perceived potential.

Until the Sharks find playoff success, the stigma will remain.  The burden on Thornton and Marleau, two veterans who have been front and center for recent playoff upsets, will continue to grow.  Can they finally make it happen in 2010?  Can Heatley be the saviour?  If their performance at the Olympics is any indication, the Sharks are in for another year of disappointing playoff results.

After being eliminated from the 2009 NHL playoffs by Anaheim, Thornton commented that the Ducks were just a bad match-up for the Sharks.  A bad match-up, are you kidding?  The Sharks were the number one seed, the Ducks were eighth.  If the playoffs started today San Jose would face Detroit in round one.  Is that a good match-up Joe?

Olympic size double-standard

How amusing was the very brief investigation by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) into the Canadian women’s hockey team partying on the ice at Canada Hockey Place?  Drinking beer and smoking cigars, hours after the building was empty, how dare the players celebrate winning a gold medal.  What a joke!  The only possible flagrant issue was the image of 18-year old Marie-Philip Poulin sitting against the boards with beer in hand.  Poulin is pictured below on the left, beside goaltenders Kim St. Pierre and Charline Labonte.

Poulin, who turns 19 on March 28, scored both goals in Canada’s 2-0 win over Team USA.  If ever  there was a case for clemency, this is it. And, being a hockey player, I seriously doubt this was Poulin’s  first beer. Fortunately the investigation was dropped, although IOC  president Jacques, the grim reaper, Rogge still managed to put a damper on the celebration by verbally  placing women’s hockey on the Olympic endangered sports list due to competitive imbalance.  Poor form Jacques.  Couldn’t you wait a few days before delivering that unnecessary blow?

For me, the laughable part of the IOC even looking into the situation was due to an image I’ve had in my head since last weekend.  Six days before the women’s gold medal victory, Canadian skeleton gold medalist Jon Montgomery celebrated his big win with a victory lap of sorts through the streets of Whistler.  Check out the video below.  It appears to be a VANOC volunteer that hands Montgomery a pitcher of beer which he proceeds to chug from while continuing on his merry way.  Incredibly, he even has a police escort.  The IOC never mentioned this incident even though drinking in public is likely an equal offense to Team Canada’s and Poulin’s indiscretions.  If the IOC’s issue was of the ‘role model’ variety, again, there is a definite parallel between the two.  How can one be funny, cool and endearing while the other is labeled taboo?  Clips of Montgomery’s stroll were shown on CTV, TSN & Sportsnet all week and referred to as a classic moment.  A conquering hero celebrating a huge victory, just the way he should.

Two golden moments celebrated.  No harm done.  What’s wrong with that?

NOTE:  After clicking the link below, you’ll get a message stating that embedding has been disabled by request.  At that point, click WATCH ON YOUTUBE…

2010 Olympic Winter Games – The next day…

I sat down several times yesterday to write about the last day of the 2010 Olympics and the gold medal final in hockey between Canada and the USA.  What is there to say though?  Everyone watched, rode the same roller coaster of emotions, and should be left on their own to store and cherish the memory of an amazing game in their own way.  I will say one thing, if Sidney Crosby had scored on that breakaway with three minutes to go, it would have saved us the severe stress of enduring an additional intermission and seven plus minutes of four-on-four overtime.

The second week of the Olympics was amazing for Canada.  The medals just kept pouring in, especially gold.  It made for a great week for fans attending events live and watching on television.  There were still some disappointing results but the good far out weighed the bad.  Canada’s total of 14 gold medals could have reached 17 or 18 with a fraction of a second difference here or an inch or two there, but similar suggestions could be made by some silver medalists who lost out on the gold to Canada by the slimmest of margins.

The image I was getting tired of seeing was Stephen Harper’s face at all the venues.  Doesn’t he have a country to run?  Maybe this was the real reason he prorogued parliament.  He needed a break to attend all the glamour events and hang with all the new heroes, on our dime of course.  Harper was not the only politician to reap the benefits of being in power so shouldn’t single him out (but I just did).  Politicians in power get perks, that’s life.  It’s just that seeing them at so many of the events that everyone else only had a lottery chance of attending was a bit much to take.  For me there are very few negatives associated with what we witnessed over the past 17 days, but that was one of them.  Of course this is not a political blog so let’s move on…

Here are my three stars for week 2 (week 1 stars can be found on my post dated February 20).

Star number 3  – Canada’s women’s hockey team

Their win in the gold medal final against the United States was by far the most difficult and satisfying win for them at these games, but their semi-final win against Finland three days prior should also be mentioned, because that was the day Canadian athletes seemed to catch fire. That win was the starting point for success after a tough weekend.  Everything that happened for Canada from that point on was, well, golden.

Star number 2  – Marit Bjoergen

After winning gold and bronze medals during the first week of the Olympics, the Norwegian cross-country skier won three more medals for her country in the second week, including two more gold and a silver.  Really, she should be the first star but, you know…

Star number 1  – Canada’s men’s hockey team

This is probably taking the easy way out but, after watching the reactions from all over the country, is there any other choice?  It mattered most, plain and simple, and they (we) won.