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

[ColangeloIsGod]

This is the dumbest thread I have ever seen.

Canada is a freaking hockey nation, earth to thread starter, earth to thread starter!

Do you have any idea how many millions of Canadians are pumped for the Olympics and the Canada's Olympic hockey team? You do realize Canadian Jr hockey exhibitions get more viewers than Raptor games right?

You don't like the way hockey is covered in this country then move, it's that simple. You aren't the only sports fan in this great nation of ours.

[ColangeloIsGod]

The american basketball team is NOT the top story in US sports when they PRACTICE.... MONTHS in advance of the olympic games.... EVERY DAY.

This type of buffoonery makes Canadians look every bit like every stereotypical image that is thrown our way.

Basketball isn't even close to Americans #1 sport.

NFL, MLB and College football are more watched than the NBA. They packed upwards of 100,000 people for the bigger colleges in the US. You think an NBA team could get 100,000 to a game? You think USA Basketball could get 40,000 to a scrimmage? College football spring games are lead stories during Sports Center on ESPN, do some research kid, now I know why Obama got elected.

[torontoaces04]

OP, you live in Canada. Hockey will always be the #1 sport, unless immigration side swipes the rest of Canada like it has the GTA.

It doesnt matter it it's game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, or Pierre Mcguire getting a haircut to call a game, it'll be bigger national sporting news than anything else (especially basketball).

If you can't handle it, head south, but don't expect any Raps coverage down their either.

[Huskies1947]

OP, you live in Canada. Hockey will always be the #1 sport, unless immigration side swipes the rest of Canada like it has the GTA.

It doesnt matter it it's game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, or Pierre Mcguire getting a haircut to call a game, it'll be bigger national sporting news than anything else (especially basketball).

If you can't handle it, head south, but don't expect any Raps coverage down their either.

Why would he head south? Just get a satelite dish...

You sound like one of those "OMG no one can diss hockey .. EVER.."

The NHL has some serious issues... Keep pumping money in a league with no real TV deal in terms of money.

[raptorschick]

This is the dumbest thread I have ever seen.

Canada is a freaking hockey nation, earth to thread starter, earth to thread starter!

Do you have any idea how many millions of Canadians are pumped for the Olympics and the Canada's Olympic hockey team? You do realize Canadian Jr hockey exhibitions get more viewers than Raptor games right?

You don't like the way hockey is covered in this country then move, it's that simple. You aren't the only sports fan in this great nation of ours.

D'ont be so sensitive diversity is the best thing that have ever happen to this great nation

[jim rockford]

canadian sports scene is strange........... i don't know anyone who's shown any interest in team canada's training camp or really the team in general (obviously they'll be psyched by vancouver). but i think that TSN has really brain-washed people into thinking they're supposed to care and "hockey; it's our F game!"...... i really do believe hockey has become a part of canadiana to a much greater degree to people's interest in watching it. and i can't think of another sport that comes close to it that way. i think people in europe love soccer and people in india love cricket (for example, in both cases)

[Hendrix]

[
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.

It's summer. What other sports are supposed to take up all that time on the sportscasts?

I’d like to see a variety. Soccer is a growing sport in this country. Track and field is another sport that lots of people participate in. You do make a good point, however, in that it’s easy for them to fill up their sports casts with highlight packages that are produced for them by the big American networks, but this is Canada and they should be trying to serve this market and our interests, not American interests. How to make them do that is another question, however.

Soccer's hard to show too much of. Since games arn't really teliviesed much, how many highlights can they show? and of the people that want to see soccer highlights, how many have the same favorite team? Track and Field I don't think is really of near enough interest to fill in all that baseball time, and how much analysis can you do on that in comparison to baseball?

Maybe baseball is Canada's interest at this time in the season vs. other sports.

[Brownman06]

You know when you're from Greater Toronto Area when you hate how much coverage hockey gets in Canada. It seems like the only people complain about hockey are from GTA. (I admit, I am one of them) We are so out of touch from rest of Canada. No wonder they hate us.

[Huskies1947]

You know when you're from Greater Toronto Area when you hate how much coverage hockey gets in Canada. It seems like the only people complain about hockey are from GTA. (I admit, I am one of them) We are so out of touch from rest of Canada. No wonder they hate us.

This is probably true...

[Raps in 4]

You know when you're from Greater Toronto Area when you hate how much coverage hockey gets in Canada. It seems like the only people complain about hockey are from GTA. (I admit, I am one of them) We are so out of touch from rest of Canada. No wonder they hate us.

The GTA has a lot of immigrants who didn't grow up with hockey (like myself). I like hockey, but I also like other sports, the media doesn't seem to understand that though.

[Tacoma]

it's the friggin Olympics

that are being held in Canada

Lets take a look at the front page lead off stories right now in the heat of summer, Aug 27....

Fan590.com: (1) Fletcher To Remain With Leafs and (2) Kane, Cousin Plead Guilty To Disorderly Conduct.

Slamsports.com: (1) Hawks star pleads guilty to a non-criminal charge of disorderly conduct and (2) Coyotes' Arizona future hinges on lease.

Tsn.com: (1) NHLPA boss Kelly may be challenged as leader and (2) Sens' Kovalev says it would be nice to retire in Montreal.

Nationalpost.ca (sports section): (1) Future of Coyotes hinges on lease talks and (2) Olympic hopefuls lay it all on the line.

cbc.ca: front page (not sports page, but front page): Senate appointees include Habs ex-coach, journalist.

... and so on.

So in all but one case, it's about NHL hockey and the lone one case (2nd story in National Post), it was about Olympic hockey. Thus the Olympics is just an excuse to talk more about hockey.

It's like the old tale that goes something like this...

CBC Newsworld... Welcome to cbc 6pm newshour, leading off today's news, Tomas Kaberle was seen today crossing the street today... 15 minutes later... in other news, the US has just nuked Russia and China wiping out billions of innocent people as World War 3 begins...

[Huskies1947]

^ the fan has Canada's route over mexico..

[Grizzled]

It's summer. What other sports are supposed to take up all that time on the sportscasts?

I’d like to see a variety. Soccer is a growing sport in this country. Track and field is another sport that lots of people participate in. You do make a good point, however, in that it’s easy for them to fill up their sports casts with highlight packages that are produced for them by the big American networks, but this is Canada and they should be trying to serve this market and our interests, not American interests. How to make them do that is another question, however.

Soccer's hard to show too much of. Since games arn't really teliviesed much, how many highlights can they show? and of the people that want to see soccer highlights, how many have the same favorite team? Track and Field I don't think is really of near enough interest to fill in all that baseball time, and how much analysis can you do on that in comparison to baseball?

Maybe baseball is Canada's interest at this time in the season vs. other sports.

We could get into a long discussion about this, but I’ll have to pick it up tomorrow. This is a couple of weeks old but it’s the first one that popped up in my search. Make sure you read the discussion about soccer at the top. I believe the Blue Jays are actually drawing a bit bigger numbers than they have in recent years. I think the start they had this year may have had something to do with that. Have a look at the NFL exhibition game numbers and the non-Blue Jays baseball numbers, and those were both weekend games where the numbers should be bigger than on weekdays. Also consider that the sports networks have been pushing MLB and the NFL very hard for years, and they haven’t promoted soccer very much at all.
http://thestar.blogs.com/sportsmedia/20 ... tings.html

[Death Knight]

^ the fan has Canada's route over mexico..

No Way!!!!!!!!! No BOOOOOOO Jays????????????

[D-Wins-RingsIMO]

you seriously expected anything different? What do you think sells here?

ESPN goes balls out for NFL preseason and this is the 2nd year in a row with the daily Favre drama/bs. And considering the impressive list of sporting entities they own, it's kinda weird that they go so nuts for NFL preseason .... but hey, fatty needs to get a head start on his fantasy football roster .... and football is king for the American male

In England the day after the Champions League final , or at the very least 3 days later after the FA cup final it's 24/7 transfer talk and 24/7 talk of the England World Cup roster, seems kinda weird when they have track and field, racing, cricket, etc ..... but they'd rather talk about Joe Blow from some division 3 league in Africa becoming the next superstar .... but hey talking footy 365 days a year sells right?

[Hendrix]

We could get into a long discussion about this, but I’ll have to pick it up tomorrow. This is a couple of weeks old but it’s the first one that popped up in my search. Make sure you read the discussion about soccer at the top. I believe the Blue Jays are actually drawing a bit bigger numbers than they have in recent years. I think the start they had this year may have had something to do with that. Have a look at the NFL exhibition game numbers and the non-Blue Jays baseball numbers, and those were both weekend games where the numbers should be bigger than on weekdays. Also consider that the sports networks have been pushing MLB and the NFL very hard for years, and they haven’t promoted soccer very much at all.
http://thestar.blogs.com/sportsmedia/20 ... tings.html

This was one of the biggest soccer events on Canadian soil in years, promoted like crazy, and didn't come close to your regular everyday CFL, or Blue Jays game you can watch 100's of throughtout the summer. What am I supposed to take from this?

[D-Wins-RingsIMO]

I love soccer, but those Real Madrid numbers are a 1 time thing, b/c that was the equivalent of the circus coming to town.

TFC draws 20-50,000 viewers a game even on Sportsnet, which is a **** disaster. The MLS in the US draws like a 0.2 rating on ESPN which is horrid. Hell, their 7:45am season opener for Hull/Chelsea got bigger ratings than a Beckham game in primetime in MLS.

Sure, if there was a way to get EPL or Serie A games here in primetime they'd draw very well, but unfortunately we're stuck with morning games.

[Forderon93]

LOL, The insecurity of some people on this forum when it comes to Hockey is a little frightening.

Just enjoy the great off-season that BC has put together. As for the all the people claiming Hockey is going to fall? Where? In the GTA, maybe. Rest of Canada, it never will, that's why a bunch of 18 year old kids playing in the World Juniors trump the ratings for any Raptors game. That's why the Leafs 10 points out of the playoffs in April, trump the ratings of any Raptors game.

Quit bitching about the coverage of other sports, and just focus on the Raps, honestly what do you want TSN to cover?

[The Duke]

Theres alot of wack in this thread... but why shoot the OP when they are starting a question...

I dont even know where to begin to respond to this thread, and I consider myself extremely knowledgable when it comes to both Summer and Winter Olympics sports.... and not only "traditional" Canadian sports.

Canada wants to "own the podium" and "win" the olympics obtaining the most medals. Now I'm not quite sure if they can do this... but they will come top 3... in the end we are talking about a nation who have twice hosted the Olympics and have never won a Gold medal on the nations soil. Let the record show, that its never happened to other countries ever.

How can someone argue that we are not a Speedskating Nation? ... When you include short and long track skating... you'd have to agree that we are one of the strongest nations in the world for that ... (along with China Yang Yang A & B, Korea, USA, Dutch, Italy).... and if they truly do want to "own the podium"... they better hope they medal alot more then they will in Hockey.

When Canadian Olympic Committee do there estimates for potential medal winners they prolly are put down a good 5-7 medals combined in shorttrack.

Another sport we'd look to dominate in is Freestyle skiing.

Anyways, what mattter is the most pubicized event at the games, is always hockey. Why? No matter your feelings it draws the most attention, the most viewer, the most money. Media will always market it that way... and even if its "slipping" its still miles ahead of everything else.

The Summer Olympics might be like 10X the impact of the Winter Olympics on a global stage (which is more in line with the thoughts of the OP) in terms world impact and influence.... but the difference between the 2 Olympics for Canada is much more leveled.

But its sad to see that some of our "once" highly regarded sports like Swimming (which contain a TON of possible medals) have slipped, where we were shut out i think in 2000 and 2004, and got 1 or 2 in 2008.

Personally I rather see Amature Athletes competing in the Hockey events the way it use to be. And there is some talk that this could be the last year, but with Salt Lake City and Vancouver getting the olympics, there was way to much money left on the table not to have them in.

[Pchu]

There is a lot of news right now. Let's face it, the Jays are irrelevant right now, no one cares about them now. That's actually pretty sad since they were great early in the season.

So why not the Olympic practice?