Cnd Olympic men's hockey team practice: really #1 story?

Post #1 » by **YogiStewart** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:12 pm

I consider myself to be a sports fan.
even though these are the dog days of summer, I am surprised, nauseated and bored to tears with the BREAKING NEWS of the men's hockey team getting together to scrimmage and practice. Its August. the Olympics are less that 1/2 a year away. a meaningless practice: is this really what the Canadian sports pulse is beating about?

everything about this week's practice amazes me. for example, the FAN590 has paid for Howard Berger to be flown down to Calgary and to cover the latest developments. all local and national papers have this practice as their sports section cover story. and this is the morning after a Toronto rookie pitcher throws almost 6 innings of no-hit ball.

even the Raptors' latest moves have drummed up some summer interest...but that's been surpassed by a crappy pre-training camp skate.

so after looking at the latest studies published that show the increase in popularity of non-traditional Cnd sports like soccer and basketball and the decline in hockey participation and popularity in Toronto's youth, I wonder out loud as to whether or not this hockey non-story is a story due to myopathy from media execs? or is this practice really a big to-do and i've missed the boat? you would think that the latest data coming in would result in networks or papers jumping all over the Raptors' bandwagon to capture and build on their youth audience. or is this possibly a case of white men in suits ignoring the "new Canadian" sports and sticking to what they think their audience wants to hear about and read?

anyways, thought it would be cool to get your perception on this

Huskies1947 · Post #2 » by **Huskies1947** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:15 pm

Canada's sports scene is pretty pathetic.. I think everyone knows that...

That's why CFL Ratings are so high, and some cities are drooling over the potential of getting a MLS team.

Toronto has a different scene, but all the old heads in the media (some not even from here) would like to remind us that hockey is #1.

Old boys club..

Ever see a Canadian entertainment award show? They almost always have stompin Tom Conners (is that how you spell his name?) or Great Big Sea... It's laughable.

alpha · Post #3 » by **alpha** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:17 pm

You think you have it bad? I moved out to BC about 10 years ago and the sports reporting is horrible
Its Canucks & Cancuks& Lions and Whitecaps and more Canucks even in the summer.l.
Raptors rarely get a mention.. even game results aren't given.. Hardly ever hear of NBA news unless it involves local boy Nash.
And now its the same olympic hockey BS..
I work across the border and get to listen to ESPN radio.. At least they cover all sports.

Neal04 · Post #4 » by **Neal04** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:17 pm

They even sent Steve Kouleas down to Calgary. He has this little segment, Kool's pick(or whatever its called) he picked his captain and starting goalie. I honestly think its a waste of time, its an orientation camp for a bunch of players, minor scrimmages, easy practices nothing significant. I also think the media is trying to stir up the interest for the upcoming Olympics even though it is a while from now.

Typical Canadian media, any hockey news is major news.

Post #5 » by **5DOM** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:20 pm

This isn't exactly a news.

Hendrix · Post #6 » by **Hendrix** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:24 pm

The NHL strike was the worst imo. I remember turning on Sportscenter, and it would be "Today is day 184 of NHL strike", and they'de some how talk about that for a while before other sports. Even though there was nothing to talk about as nothing had changed from the prior day/week/month.

Post #7 » by **YogiStewart** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:24 pm

another question:

regular Olympic athletes - the taxpayer subsidizes them unless they get Own The Podium sponsorship.

who is paying for 40+ NHL players to scrimmage in Calgary, get daily meals, physiotherapy, hotel rooms, etc?

Komodo · Post #8 » by **Komodo** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:25 pm

Simple answer: no, it isn't.

Komodo · Post #9 » by **Komodo** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:26 pm

Hendrix wrote:The NHL strike was the worst imo. I remember turning on Sportscenter, and it would be "Today is day 184 of NHL strike", and they'de some how talk about that for a while before other sports. Even though there was nothing to talk about as nothing had changed from the prior day/week/month.

So true. That was a painful time.

andyo · Post #10 » by **andyo** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:26 pm

I don't have a problem with it...this entire country is united by hockey...and it's about national pride and how we do on a international stage. This country doesn't have any other prominent team sport (basketball, soccer, baseball, etc.) where we can do the same thing about......

Plus the fact the olympics are in Vancouver and there's a lot of hype for our hockey team...the type of hype generated by such a practice won't be the same for decades to come (at least until this country gets another winter olympics). This is bigger then any team sport imo, it transcends those financial obligations tied in with the NHL, NBA, etc....it's about national pride. I don't know how you can see the situation with such a skewed scope personally...

alexintoronto · Post #11 » by **alexintoronto** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:34 pm

hsb · Post #12 » by **hsb** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:35 pm

This is a news story.

They are not ignoring any other sport by reporting this.

pharring · Post #13 » by **pharring** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:39 pm

White-men-in-suits know that white-men-not-in-suits still buy newspapers and the kids don't.

So you cater to the interests of the white-men-not-in-suits and run the hockey story front page.

If the kids want their soccer and basketball, they know where to look it up.

pharring · Post #14 » by **pharring** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:43 pm

YogiStewart wrote:so after looking at the latest studies published that show the increase in popularity of non-traditional Cnd sports like soccer and basketball and the decline in hockey participation and popularity in Toronto's youth, I wonder out loud as to whether or not this hockey non-story is a story due to myopathy from media execs? or is this practice really a big to-do and i've missed the boat? you would think that the latest data coming in would result in networks or papers jumping all over the Raptors' bandwagon to capture and build on their youth audience. or is this possibly a case of white men in suits ignoring the "new Canadian" sports and sticking to what they think their audience wants to hear about and read?

anyways, thought it would be cool to get your perception on this

I think we will call this YogiStewart's "Lisa Simpson" post:

I write this not to whine or cajole, but to prod.
We can do better as a society!

ansoncarter · Post #15 » by **ansoncarter** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:44 pm

it's the friggin Olympics

that are being held in Canada

Post #16 » by **supersub15** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:49 pm

It's really pathetic. Sportsnet has THREE reporters + a full equipment crew in Calgary. Simon Gagné Has a minor tweak to his hammy, and it's the leading story on all sports casts. I've lived in a soccer-crazed country before, and it never got to this point.

Check who the Sports Editors are at Sportsnet, TSN, FAN590, etc. and you'll know why this is still happening.

I don't watch sports news on TV anymore. I know where to get my soccer, basketball, tennis, racing, etc. fixes on the net.

sh00n · Post #17 » by **sh00n** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:53 pm

ansoncarter wrote:it's the friggin Olympics

that are being held in Canada

Seriously. How can anyone be pissed about that? At least Canada has something to be proud of when it comes to the Olympics; and that's our team taking the gold in hockey.

Can you say the same for Team Canada in basketball? Stop nitpicking because it's hockey.

Superboy316KING · Post #18 » by **Superboy316KING** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:57 pm

man i can't wait til the NHL folds.

Grizzled · Post #19 » by **Grizzled** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:01 pm

YogiStewart wrote:I consider myself to be a sports fan.
even though these are the dog days of summer, I am surprised, nauseated and bored to tears with the BREAKING NEWS of the men's hockey team getting together to scrimmage and practice. Its August. the Olympics are less that 1/2 a year away. a meaningless practice: is this really what the Canadian sports pulse is beating about?

everything about this week's practice amazes me. for example, the FAN590 has paid for Howard Berger to be flown down to Calgary and to cover the latest developments. all local and national papers have this practice as their sports section cover story. and this is the morning after a Toronto rookie pitcher throws almost 6 innings of no-hit ball.

even the Raptors' latest moves have drummed up some summer interest...but that's been surpassed by a crappy pre-training camp skate.

so after looking at the latest studies published that show the increase in popularity of non-traditional Cnd sports like soccer and basketball and the decline in hockey participation and popularity in Toronto's youth, I wonder out loud as to whether or not this hockey non-story is a story due to myopathy from media execs? or is this practice really a big to-do and i've missed the boat? you would think that the latest data coming in would result in networks or papers jumping all over the Raptors' bandwagon to capture and build on their youth audience. or is this possibly a case of white men in suits ignoring the "new Canadian" sports and sticking to what they think their audience wants to hear about and read?

anyways, thought it would be cool to get your perception on this

I agree that the national sports media in this country are an old boys network, but I don’t think this is the best example. We’re coming up to an Olympic year and they’re going to be held in Canada this time, and that’s going to lead to a lot of extra buzz about hockey in particular.

MLB is another story, however. Almost everyone in Canada is at least a casual fan of hockey. Almost nobody is a fan of MLB. Television ratings are low. Attendance is low, and yet turn on a sports cast and see how many MLB highlights they play. I get most of my sports news on line now as a result, and I’m proud to say that I can probably name only 2 current Blue Jays.

Another good example would be NFL football. There is no significant strong fan base for NFL football in Canada, but you wouldn’t know that to listen to the media. You have to wonder if the NFL is kicking some money back to them somehow to try to develop a market. But in spite of years of grovelling over the NFL by Godfrey and co. they could barely sell half the tickets to the first ever regular season NFL game held in Canada. The literally couldn’t give them all away. Scalpers were trying to dump them for 10% of face value. Hundreds of tickets for sale on eBay were not getting a single bid. It was a complete disaster, but the media barely reported that and then the quickly got back to trying to hard sell the NFL to Canadians. The problem is, no one believes them anymore.

Death Knight · Post #20 » by **Death Knight** » Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:02 pm

ansoncarter wrote:it's the friggin Olympics

that are being held in Canada

You really think that's the reason? Don't be silly. Even if the Olympics were held in the Phillipines, the amount of coverage on this practice would not be any different.

The higher ups are just shoving hockey down our throats by any means necessary.