OT: NBC's Chicago Blackhawk Homerism
Sitting here watching the hockey game and the homerism the crew shows Chicago is bit sickening. Hossa just got a penalty for goalie interference and Pierre and Edzo were like what a terrible call. It was a terrible call, but last game when Briere took a high stick to the face that wasn't called, nothing was said at all except, so and so stick caught Briere in the face, and that was pretty much the extent of it.
But its not just that. The whole crew is terrible. I mean they got Chicago's play by play guy in Olczyk trying to be "neutral" and then they bring in Jeremy Roenick, another Blackhawk. Why couldn't they get Darren Pang, Bill Clement, Gary Thorne, or hell why not Jim Hughson. I really don't care who wins. But the more I watch the more I hope Chicago loses.
and hate it.
Still want Chicago to win.
For what it's worth Emrick is an Indiana native so that's probably got a little to do with it.
And Olcyzk does the color for the Hawks.
Thats what I meant by Chicagos play by play guy. I'll change it to make it more clear.
Apparently Roenick is still playing for them... Are you serious JR? Crying in the booth? How terrible....
I'd rather watch CBC, but its not in HD.
without HD in any case, which is a blessing in disguise because I am free to watch CBC and have for all 6 games of the Finals. The Canadians really do know their stuff. And even the commercials are way better (though that may just be because I haven't seen most of them a million times before).
I'm expecting a Cup to be awarded tonight. I really like Toews. I wish he was a Wing...
Jim Hugson is a great play by play guy. I didn't know who he was until EA put him on NHL 98 I believe. I mean it'd be like puting Ken Daniels in there with Emerick. I'd say Mickey Redmond but I think Olczyk is proably hiding it better then Mickey would.
I don't think there was homerism on either the Briere non-call or the Hossa call. It's a lot easier (and more justified) to have outrage in a one goal game about an absolutely horrendous call as opposed to in a blow out that was over at the time that the non-call happened.
I don't think it was a blow out at the time. I believe it was a 2 goal game, and it would've been a 4 minute powerplay. Lets put it this way. If someone would've highsticked one of the Blackhawks players and it didn't get called, NBC's crew would've been all over it.
Trust me man, I agree with your overall point. I hate the Versus/NBC broadcast format as much as anyone else. I've made the same point here before that it results in an incredibly disingenuous broadcast when you try to force people with vested interests to try to be impartial. It just doesn't work.
I would much rather deal with homer announcers than blatantly biased officiating. Enter Red Wings vs Sharks
Stop. Just stop. It wasn't biased officiating. It was bad officiating. It happened all playoffs long in almost every series, including the Finals.
It's embarrasing when even in the SCF the NHL can't come up with decent officiating, but I'll defend a ref against being called biased to my dying day.
a million times, but I will say it again, because I think it's important for sanity's sake. As crappy as the officiating is so much of the time and as much as I thoroughly DESPISE Gary, I'm not going to say the refs were biased. Were they beyond crappy in that series? Yes. Did the Wings get the bad end of the deal? Certainly. Were the refs biased? I'll believe it when I see a signed affadavit by the 4 officials, Gary and Colin Campbell saying they were. The Sharks dove. A lot. They were rewarded for it. The Wings could have played better and won that series. They didn't. The refs weren't biased. They were trying to do their job as best as they knew how. Did they do it well? I would certainly contend not, but that's no reason to accuse them of being biased. Whoever the President is ocassionally (or often, depending on the person) makes bad decisions too, but nobody accuses him of being communist or whatever.
Moral: Refs (far too) often suck: True
Refs biased: False.
Haha. Olczyk is HORRIBLE! It was a pretty bad call, but the way he went about it was a little ridiculous. I can't stand Emrick either. I think NBC needs to hire Gary Thorne pronto. That guy was an awesome play by play hockey commentator.
but at least they also called out the refs on that terrible penalty call on Pronger. Roenick was a hawk for most of his career but he also did play for the flyers for a few years so don't think there is to much bias there. I also agree that they need to bring in Gary Thorne, him and "Clement Clement hands of cement" were awesome.
Don't let JR fool ya. He's a Blackhawk through and through. He also played for SJ, LA, and Phoenix.
and think the Emrick and Eddie O do a solid job. I know it is not the Wings playing and that does suck, but do you really think they are overtly showing homerism? I for one do not.
I don't mind Emrick. He can be pretty good and knowledgeable at times. However, that still doesn't excuse NBC/Comcast for trotting out Olczyk. The guy is a complete utter homer for Chicago. JR was one of my favorite players growing up (i always bought his stick in high school). I couldn't stand him during the Yotes series.
I wish I could pick up the CBC broadcast, but I have directv and subject to FCC carry rules.
I don't mind Emmerick either. But is a big conflict of interest to have a teams own guys doing a national broadcast for the stanley cup finals. I understand that they're excited, but they shouldn't be in the booth. I'd like to see a Emmerick-Pang duo.
I agree. Homerism is the sole reason I love FSN Detroit's Wing's crew with Mickey Redmond. Mickey's call of the flop fest of game two of the SJ series was pure gold.
He lives here at least part of the year.
Pang is usually pretty unbiased though. Plus he isn't employed by the Chicago Blackhawks. He does commentary for the Blues.
Yet you're saying he's a homer.
I wasn't including Emmerick. Forgot to put the whole crew minus Emmerick, but you know what I mean.
Hahaha...what a bitter wings fan. that call on Hossa was a bad call and they said so...what do you want them to do?
did I not say it was a terrible call? It was just the way they reacted to that, and there was nothing when Briere got absolutely smoked by that high stick. Just an look there he got high sticked. The only thing they really said was, wow they stitched him up really fast.
there's been a lot of bad/missed calls both ways...and if anything I'd say Roenick wants the flyers to win - he played when the hawks were run by dollar Bill
I agree that there has been a lot of bad calls, not just in this series, but the whole playoffs. But you can't sit there and tell me this crew isn't rooting for Chi.
Somebody in the box possibly Regis Maguire whispered somthing along the lines of "no, cmon" in a very soft voice. I feel the announcers really wanted to Blackhawks to win.
Watching Leino in the Finals has been bittersweet. it's yet another example of the great scouting the Wings do for the draft, but he has played so well these playoffs, makes me wish the Wings would have made a spot for him. He's like a poor man's Zetterberg out there.
But to address the topic at hand, I am not a fan of NBC's broadcast team. Emrick is alright as he's got tons of experience. But Olczyk and Roenick bore me. Love watching it on CBC.
Leino wasn't a draft pick. Leino signed as a free agent. It was there door prize for losing out on Fabian Brunnstrom. Leino really never put in the work as a wing. He wanted 1-2nd line minutes but wasn't playing like a top 6 forward. He didn't get it going with Philly until the playoffs started either. He played pretty bad for Philly in the regular season.
I just wish the Wings would have received more than a bag of pucks in return if he is going to perform at this level.
For those of you who want a HD stream of CBC - http://www.freedocast.com/theblurp
FUCKING LAME, MICHAEL LEIGHTON, FUCKING LAME.
That was a bad goal to give up Leighton. Congrats to the Blackhawks minus Hossa. I don't care you didn't re-sign with Detroit, just didn't like that you went to a rival within the division. It'll be interesting to see what your roster looks like next year.
The Hawks roster is going to be a bloodbath in order to get under the cap this summer. Niemi is a RFA who supposedly is going to want $4mil+ per year.
Lot of role players are going to go bye-bye. Wings will be right back in it.
I hear that Versteeg and Sharp maybe on the way out. Not sure how true that is though. Plus they're stuck with Huet, unless they buy him out. I don't think they can trade him either. He makes to much, and he's not been good at all.
$5mi+ for Huet, plus Campbell at over $7mil. That is a lot of cap space for very little production.
Forgot about Campbell and his huge contract. He's untradeable also. That signing, along with Huet, and the RFA screw up ultimately cost Tallon his job. Tallon put a lot of this team together and Stan Bowman came in and took over. Now were gonna see what Bowman can do.
And on a side note, for the guy who said that JR wasn't a homer. I hope you watched the broadcast until the end. He's a Blackhawk for sure. And I don't blame him one bit, thats the team that drafted him. I blame NBC.
Yep, they went the Anahiem way and decided to pay for a Cup. They're currently almost $1 mil over the cap and that's only for 14 players. They need to some how sign 8-9 more players. 6 players at the very least to have a full lineup with a backup goalie. My guess is they're going to bury Huet's contract in the minors. They'll probably still have to make a couple more moves including moving a decent sized contract if they want to keep Niemi. Who do they get rid of? Seabrook? Byfuglien? Sharp? Versteeg? Someone's not going to be very happy.
Hate the Flyers. Hate the Hawks.
Still, there's not a moment in all of sports that chokes me up like the Stanley Cup being hoisted. (Last year's sickening gut punch notwithstanding, of course.)
It was a tough series that could have went either way. I was really pumped at how much the Flyers, i.e. Pronger (who I hate), shut down Kane, Toews, and Byfgluienein (whatever). They didn't show up until games 5 and 6 which is what everyone will remember. The disappointing thing for me is the Carter, Richards, and Gagne line. Those guys laid a collective egg.
To the OP, I totally agree. Pierre and Edzo suck ass. Chicago ass. Big time. The whole of NBC and Versus coverage really stinks and is one reason why the NHL is lagging. They should have taken the deal with ESPN. Gary Thorne is the best in the business. Doc isn't bad though
Can just one of my teams catch a damn break?
As a lifelong Detroit fan I feel obligated to hate all Chicago teams (and to a lesser extent all Boston teams). Anyone else feel that way?
the worst part about this is how the fairweather blackhawk fans (read people who live in chicago but have never watched hockey) are going to go crazy about this. soooooooooooooo annoying.
lots of new jerseys and shirts everywhere.
There are some true die hards though, that suffered through all Dollar Bill's cheapness, so for those folks I am happy for them.
I live in the Chi and boy can I tell you there are a lot of people saying "i dont watch hockey but im glad chicago is winning something," So their glad for their city but they probably couldnt name 3 or 4 players off the Hawks squad. After all it isnt exactly hockeytown is it?