OT: Frozen Frenzy and other sports
Just trying to offer some reprieve from Signs talk. For a random fall Tuesday night, it's a compelling night for sports fans with access to cable and a remote:
- The NLCS Game 7 is in Philly
- The NBA regular season tips off with two games out West
- CUSA-tion (doesn't have the same ring as MACtion)
- ESPN is featuring all 32 NHL teams with "Frozen Frenzy"
I want to talk a bit about the last one. Dave and Alex mentioned it on the Hockeycast and seemed cautiously optimistic, which shaped my view. I like the idea, and as a Red Wings fan who has lost interest in the NHL as my team has rebuilt, it is a nice re-introduction to the league.
However, the NHL can't seem to get out of its own way. It doesn't make much sense to schedule this against the above mentioned big events (perhaps ESPN was looking for counterprogramming). Surely they could find a night with an emptier schedule.
Also, almost none of the matchups are in anyway interesting or compelling for a neutral fan. Mostly they seem to be interconference games, and there don't appear to be any with any storyline. Boston vs Chicago is Original Six at least, but the rest seem almost intentionally random. The Wings are playing Seattle, which is cool for the novelty since they are still a new team to me. But a game vs Colorado, Chicago or a division rival would make more sense.
Lastly, the ESPN2 production is currently making this all about Buccigross, Weeks and Subban the hosts and not putting the games front and center. It's like they have to convince us "this is fun!" Hockey doesn't lend itself to a red-zone style munt-screen but I think they could try.
What are you watching and what do you think?
October 24th, 2023 at 10:13 PM ^
GoBlueGoWings!
October 24th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
NLCS. Rooting for Arizona.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:45 PM ^
Same here. The 84-78 underdogs vs all those 90-72 teams.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
Diamondbacks vs Rangers just like what everyone thought at the beginning of the season.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
I don't think the schedules are coordinated, and are planned too far ahead of time. MAYBE they might know NBA opening night when they're building this day's schedules, but probably not since it requires coordinating 16 home team's arenas (which, I think are often used for non-hockey things even during the season)
Baseball Game 7s are probably impossible to predict existence or date, and they probably wanted to have the Frozen Frenzy early in the season when teams were not eliminated yet.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:46 PM ^
Wings will be a fun team this year, and look like a real playoff possibility. Larkin/Cat can’t keep up this pace, but they sure look good out there together
October 24th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
They're scoring on 1/6 shots right now. Pretty absurd and not going to continue.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
Yup, that’ll come back to earth and they won’t stay at near 50% on PP. But, this is a much better version of the Wings than we have seen in an awful long time.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
Their instant chemistry is amazing. I'm back on the bandwagon this year so not caught up, but did the two of them play together in juniors or anything?
October 24th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
I'm keeping an eye on the Wings game for sure. 3 more power play goals tonight...can they make it 6 wins in a row?
October 24th, 2023 at 11:01 PM ^
So close. OT now.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
The Wings get a point at least
October 24th, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^
We always seem to lose 3-on-3.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:30 PM ^
Good thing they don’t have 3-on-3 in the Stanley Cup Finals 😁😉
October 24th, 2023 at 11:16 PM ^
I'm a big Blackhawks fan and I'm not at all impressed with Connor Bedard so far. Watching Patrick Kane as rookie was much more exciting than Bedard. I hope I'm wrong and I know it's early but I think this kid is way over hyped!
October 24th, 2023 at 11:26 PM ^
Congratulations, Diamondbacks!
Arizona-Texas might actually be a World Series I'll watch from start to finish (:I was so sick of Braves, Dodgers, Phillies, Astros).
October 24th, 2023 at 11:35 PM ^
Wings got absolutely jobbed by the officials tonight. It looked like it was their first NHL game. From the thrown stick no call to the boarding penalties to that last call on Larkin. Absolute shit. If the NHL can’t find 16 competent crews it shouldn’t plan 16 games in one night.
October 25th, 2023 at 2:28 AM ^
Absolutely criminal. The no-call on the thrown stick was egregious, and then of course a goal right after.
Nice comeback from 3-1, though, the team showed a lot of heart.
October 25th, 2023 at 8:44 AM ^
I was channel flipping last night and saw the Frozen Frenzy and watched for a while to see what it was all about. I like the idea, but I think they flipped between games too quickly. A couple of minutes is all we got, and it seemed like the Red Zone channel - I was amazed at how often they'd cut to a game and then a goal was scored. After about 30 minutes I started wondering how long the game delay was before they switched to any particular game. Like they got the goal live, then setup the switch to that game on Frenzy to show the goal.
If that's the case, fine - I'm all for an NHL version of Red Zone. But advertise it that way - you lie to me, you lose me.
October 25th, 2023 at 9:18 AM ^
Kinda felt the same in re: to it being about Bucci and crew. There was a point when the Blues/Jets were in the last 2.5 minutes in a one goal game with the net empty and they were showing Wild/Oilers early in the third, then checked in with something in studio. That felt like a prime chance to show the people what they tuned in for.