Monday, December 29, 2003
WISH FOR 2004
Bill Simmons comes out with his wish for 2004, and it involves the owners in sports. He gets onto a small rant where he notes that before Christmas, Tom Hicks was trying to bail himself out of the horrible Alex Rodriguez contract, and USA Today released its annual list of player salaries.
Sonic fans, prepare to faint, vomit, throw something across the room, whatever...
Seattle pays Vitaly Potapenko, Calvin Booth and Jerome James more than San Antonio pays Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker combined.
Also a great note by Simmons is his assertion that "[the NHL is] a blue-collar sport without a decent TV deal that has priced out its fans." The NHL's TV deal in the States isn't even second-rate; it's probably fourth- or fifth-rate. I know FOX fumbled their NHL deal horribly, trying to show regional hockey coverage (it was Ducks/Kings/Sharks every Sunday on KCPQ-13, and all three of those teams sucked at the time), and trying to force a GLOWING FRIGGING PUCK down the throats of our country. ABC/ESPN show less hockey than FOX did. The coverage now is terrible. I can't believe that the NHL2Night show (on ESPN2) even exists anymore because I think they only do maybe two nights a week when they used to do five or six. It got so bad that Ray Ferraro, who used to be in the NHL2Night studio fairly often, took a color job with Rogers Sportsnet in Canada for their Edmonton Oiler broadcasts. Whoever is in the NHL's marketing department that is in charge of US marketing should be canned immediately. I know they had their golden chance in 1994 when the New York Rangers (biggest market in the country...) won the Cup (over the Canucks, no less) and then the lockout killed any possible momentum that could have been taken from that, but I think there's no reason that hockey should be behind NASCAR in most Stateside sports fan's trains of thought.
Sonic fans, prepare to faint, vomit, throw something across the room, whatever...
Seattle pays Vitaly Potapenko, Calvin Booth and Jerome James more than San Antonio pays Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker combined.
Also a great note by Simmons is his assertion that "[the NHL is] a blue-collar sport without a decent TV deal that has priced out its fans." The NHL's TV deal in the States isn't even second-rate; it's probably fourth- or fifth-rate. I know FOX fumbled their NHL deal horribly, trying to show regional hockey coverage (it was Ducks/Kings/Sharks every Sunday on KCPQ-13, and all three of those teams sucked at the time), and trying to force a GLOWING FRIGGING PUCK down the throats of our country. ABC/ESPN show less hockey than FOX did. The coverage now is terrible. I can't believe that the NHL2Night show (on ESPN2) even exists anymore because I think they only do maybe two nights a week when they used to do five or six. It got so bad that Ray Ferraro, who used to be in the NHL2Night studio fairly often, took a color job with Rogers Sportsnet in Canada for their Edmonton Oiler broadcasts. Whoever is in the NHL's marketing department that is in charge of US marketing should be canned immediately. I know they had their golden chance in 1994 when the New York Rangers (biggest market in the country...) won the Cup (over the Canucks, no less) and then the lockout killed any possible momentum that could have been taken from that, but I think there's no reason that hockey should be behind NASCAR in most Stateside sports fan's trains of thought.
/ Click for main page
