2008 Woodie Awards
Intentional Foul: NHL needs way to broadcast better
Pete Lorenz
Sports | 4/10/08
For the first installment of my new column "Intentional Foul," which will begin appearing every other Thursday in this section, I have decided to express my frustration with NBC's refusal to air NHL playoff games except on the weekends. I would really love to see the biggest hockey games of the year when there is nothing else on television. However, the residence halls don't get the Versus network.
Versus has taken over all hockey games during the regular season and playoffs with the exception of Saturday and Sunday games. I understand that NBC can't cover all games happening in one night, but if there are three to five games happening simultaneously, why am I not watching any of them?
I'm lucky in that there are two main hockey markets in Baltimore: Washington Capitals fans and Philadelphia Flyers fans. I'm a Caps fan through and through, and I'm elated that they are playing the Flyers in round one, because that means that the two teams won't have to compete for airtime. I would have been disappointed if I couldn't see my Capitals.
But there are plenty of New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers supporters on this campus, and I would expect that they want to see their teams play in the post season. This rivalry, which saw a role reversal in the regular season when the Rangers took all eight games against New Jersey, will renew itself for at least four more games in April. The Devils earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and the Rangers got the fifth seed.
Rangers and Devils fans at Towson normally would be at each others' throats for the next two weeks while the teams slugged it out, but they can't even watch it. They will have to go to Bateman's or some other locale just to have a small chance of catching the games during the week.
And its not just fans from the north that are missing out. I love hockey in general. I want to watch the Western Conference playoffs, because that's good hockey. There are great teams out there that will only have their games shown on Versus, which has yet to catch on with many cable companies.
Versus has taken over all hockey games during the regular season and playoffs with the exception of Saturday and Sunday games. I understand that NBC can't cover all games happening in one night, but if there are three to five games happening simultaneously, why am I not watching any of them?
I'm lucky in that there are two main hockey markets in Baltimore: Washington Capitals fans and Philadelphia Flyers fans. I'm a Caps fan through and through, and I'm elated that they are playing the Flyers in round one, because that means that the two teams won't have to compete for airtime. I would have been disappointed if I couldn't see my Capitals.
But there are plenty of New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers supporters on this campus, and I would expect that they want to see their teams play in the post season. This rivalry, which saw a role reversal in the regular season when the Rangers took all eight games against New Jersey, will renew itself for at least four more games in April. The Devils earned the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and the Rangers got the fifth seed.
Rangers and Devils fans at Towson normally would be at each others' throats for the next two weeks while the teams slugged it out, but they can't even watch it. They will have to go to Bateman's or some other locale just to have a small chance of catching the games during the week.
And its not just fans from the north that are missing out. I love hockey in general. I want to watch the Western Conference playoffs, because that's good hockey. There are great teams out there that will only have their games shown on Versus, which has yet to catch on with many cable companies.
Be the first to comment on this story