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US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gurtholfin
  • Start date Start date
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

ScoobyDoo said:
yes, and that will be unfortunate because commercials will be interrupting the game and we will miss significant chunks of it then. on MSNBC they ran it almost commercial free.

people should be careful what they ask for.
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I think the advantage of seeing most or all of the game on NBC and maybe sparking a revival in hockey interest, no matter how brief or limited outweighs the commercials.

We need to see kids playing hockey in the streets, ponds and rinks again.
 
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Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
I think the advantage of seeing most or all of the game on NBC and maybe sparking a revival in hockey interest, no matter how brief or limited outweighs the commercials.

We need to see kids playing hockey in the streets, ponds and rinks again.
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And is there any reason why the game couldn't be "brought to you by the people of Enzyte and Flomax with limited commercial interruptions"?
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

NBC should take a page out of ABC's book and go split screen during commercials. That's what ABC does for its IndyCar and NASCAR coverage. Then they still get in all their advertisements with audio, but you still get to see the race (in this case, hockey game) in the top left corner.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

TimU said:
And is there any reason why the game couldn't be "brought to you by the people of Enzyte and Flomax with limited commercial interruptions"?
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That brings in less money. I like Federal League's idea better.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
So what you're saying is, the game was supposed to be on MSNBC and now they've moved it to NBC.

If true, isn't that proof that they're making changes in their coverage since Sunday night?

And wouldn't everyone agree that if the USA is playing Canada or Russia for the Gold in a week or so they'll probably move the game to NBC?

I guess we need the USA to keep winning.
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The gold medal game has always been scheduled for NBC on Sunday at 3pm eastern time. Today's game is also scheduled for 3pm, not prime time. NBC has been showing things like cross country skiing on the network during the day, so this would be seen as an upgrade in their schedule. Remember that the hockey schedule was in flux - Canada gets the prime time game so it wasn't known what time the US game would be.

Instead of getting the game live on MSNBC, you in the mountain, pacific and Alaskan time zones are now going to get it on delay. Personally, I'd rather see it live, but you asked for it...now you've got it.

Then again, I get it live AND in HD, so... :)
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
I think the advantage of seeing most or all of the game on NBC and maybe sparking a revival in hockey interest, no matter how brief or limited outweighs the commercials.

We need to see kids playing hockey in the streets, ponds and rinks again.
Click to expand...

That ship has sailed. It's pretty much a rich kids game now. I don't see much wiggle room out of that. Even in Minnesota it's become that and we have lots of outdoor ice.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
I think the advantage of seeing most or all of the game on NBC and maybe sparking a revival in hockey interest, no matter how brief or limited outweighs the commercials.

We need to see kids playing hockey in the streets, ponds and rinks again.
Click to expand...

That's fantasyland. One(or three) game(s) on NBC isn't gonna accomplish that no matter who is playing. Outside of our campy little existence is a big country with huge geo-areas with NO ICE and no opportunity to play hockey even if there was interest. It's not NBC's job or in their interest to grow the sport of hockey. That's USA Hockey's domain and mission.

No matter how much hockey people or sports reporters want to build this up to being on par with 1980, it's just not even close. If Latvia won the gold, maybe, but we're hardly the have-nots of hockey that we once were and the world political climate has changed to where we are no longer the candle against the darkness of communism.

In addition, all of these players play here now and they're basically Americans with funny names and accents except for two weeks every four years. The intense nationalism that other countries feel is by and large lost on America today which is a by-product of us being the perceived top dog in so much of what goes on in the world, even if it's not true in hockey.

I would argue that tonight's game between tCanada and Russia is bigger than Sunday's game in terms of kid's interest. Most kids that I talk to(and I talk to a lot of them as a youth coach) are talking about Crosby and Ovechkin, NOT Kane or Kesler. And why not? They're better and they're in the NHL, which these kids watch every week.

I don't care what station the games are on as I will find a way to see them and I don't care if my neighbor who may not know the blue line from the end line is watching or not. For me personally, the gold medal will be just as great if 10 million Americans care about it or if 60 million do.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Americans may not care that much about hockey, but they like seeing Americans compete for Olympic medals.

Any coverage hockey gets is a good thing.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Gurtholfin said:
That's fantasyland. One(or three) game(s) on NBC isn't gonna accomplish that no matter who is playing. Outside of our campy little existence is a big country with huge geo-areas with NO ICE and no opportunity to play hockey even if there was interest. It's not NBC's job or in their interest to grow the sport of hockey. That's USA Hockey's domain and mission.

No matter how much hockey people or sports reporters want to build this up to being on par with 1980, it's just not even close. If Latvia won the gold, maybe, but we're hardly the have-nots of hockey that we once were and the world political climate has changed to where we are no longer the candle against the darkness of communism.

In addition, all of these players play here now and they're basically Americans with funny names and accents except for two weeks every four years. The intense nationalism that other countries feel is by and large lost on America today which is a by-product of us being the perceived top dog in so much of what goes on in the world, even if it's not true in hockey.

I would argue that tonight's game between tCanada and Russia is bigger than Sunday's game in terms of kid's interest. Most kids that I talk to(and I talk to a lot of them as a youth coach) are talking about Crosby and Ovechkin, NOT Kane or Kesler. And why not? They're better and they're in the NHL, which these kids watch every week.

I don't care what station the games are on as I will find a way to see them and I don't care if my neighbor who may not know the blue line from the end line is watching or not. For me personally, the gold medal will be just as great if 10 million Americans care about it or if 60 million do.
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Which is it?

On one hand you say three games won't make a difference and then you acknowledge that three games made a difference for a generation of ice hockey players and fans in 1980.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

ScoobyDoo said:
That ship has sailed. It's pretty much a rich kids game now. I don't see much wiggle room out of that. Even in Minnesota it's become that and we have lots of outdoor ice.
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That's true, but its because the development model has skewed to year round hockey, summer camps, USHL or USNDP and the college or OHL.

Hockey don't have to follow that model forever. Bring hockey back to grassroots level, convert kids from basketball in the winter up north and develop rollerblading in the streets and the parks in the Sunbelt would be a preferred & cheaper developmental model.
 
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Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
That's true, but its because the development model has skewed to year round hockey, summer camps, USHL or USNDP and the college or OHL.

Hockey don't have to follow that model forever. Bring hockey back to grassroots level, convert kids from basketball in the winter up north and develop rollerblading in the streets and the parks in the Sunbelt would be a preferred & cheaper developmental model.
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Sadly it's converted to that model in all sports. My daughter is in Softball and if you pitch it's a year round commitment. The local travel soccer team expects a year round commitment forcing players and parents to pay for offseason camps and clinics to be on the team.

It's not just hockey. However, hockey is one of the more expensive sports to be involved in.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

ScoobyDoo said:
Sadly it's converted to that model in all sports. My daughter is in Softball and if you pitch it's a year round commitment. The local travel soccer team expects a year round commitment forcing players and parents to pay for offseason camps and clinics to be on the team.

It's not just hockey. However, hockey is one of the more expensive sports to be involved in.
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True and I think what's driving all of this "specialization" is the lure of college scholarships. So once again Title IX is causing some more unexpected consequences.
 
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Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
True and I think what's driving all of this "specialization" is the lure of college scholarships.
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Absolutely. And what drives that is the double digit tuition increases every year. I shudder thinking about how I'm going to get two kids through college. And nowadays a college degree is just a starting point, an equivalent to what a high school diploma was in the '70's.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Hah!

The Silverlight player has a 'boss' button that if you click it puts up a false Windows desktop with an empty Excel spreadsheet on it.

That's really convincing on my Mac.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

BUPhD said:
Hah!

The Silverlight player has a 'boss' button that if you click it puts up a false Windows desktop with an empty Excel spreadsheet on it.

That's really convincing on my Mac.
Click to expand...

Be careful...the boss button goes away during commercials :p
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
Which is it?

On one hand you say three games won't make a difference and then you acknowledge that three games made a difference for a generation of ice hockey players and fans in 1980.
Click to expand...

I also pointed out that it's a different era now and no 3 games can have that same impact today.

I don't understand why we need to worry about growing the game. The game is doing just fine and like Scoob said, it's expensive and there are only so many who are going to be in an area where hockey is offered and willing to pay for it.

As far as fans go, if you sell them on the game Sunday night as what hockey is all about, you're gonna lose them when they watch a regular season game between Carolina and Atlanta and realize that the same intensity just isn't there.

It just doesn't matter to me if non-hockey people appreciate our sport or not.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Gurtholfin said:
I also pointed out that it's a different era now and no 3 games can have that same impact today.

I don't understand why we need to worry about growing the game. The game is doing just fine and like Scoob said, it's expensive and there are only so many who are going to be in an area where hockey is offered and willing to pay for it.

As far as fans go, if you sell them on the game Sunday night as what hockey is all about, you're gonna lose them when they watch a regular season game between Carolina and Atlanta and realize that the same intensity just isn't there.

It just doesn't matter to me if non-hockey people appreciate our sport or not.
Click to expand...
Because this is America and you can sell anything if it is packaged properly.
 
Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

dggoddard said:
Because this is America and you can sell anything if it is packaged properly.
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Fair enough! :D

we need to spear Hiller and get him out of there. :mad:
 
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