Wait....they started hockey season?In my efforts to make it the full two weeks to the Super Bowl without watching a minute of the pre-game coverage I've gone a couple of avenues. Yesterday I found watching Senior Bowl practice to be a pretty good way to avoid the coverage while combining my love of the NFL Draft and College Football...but Senior Bowl practice can only get me so far. I need more things to fill the void. So imagine my amazement when I find out on this series of tubes we call the internets that the NHL All Star game is tonight! First of all since when do they put this game on a Wednesday night? I read it's because Betteman and his infinite wisdom decided that this was the best way to "showcase" the game and get it more exposure....
Well I don't have a degree in marketing but your first problem with this whole "exposure" issue is the fact that you are broadcast on some network called "Versus." This network was previously famous (read: not) for its coverage of the Tour De France. Um, how do you expect to get exposure playing on a network that's only other sports coverage was limited to freaking cycling? Seriously? Who thought this was a good idea? I'm not really that amazed that this league shut down for a year with idiots like this running the show. I realize that ESPN was lowballing you NHL and the crazy wackjobs from Comcast came to your door with a few more dollar bills. So you go with the company that may not be as good, but hey...they're paying us more! SCORE! Here's the problem with that. While the short term gain is something, the long term loss will probably be more. The NHL has a bunch of young stars and the game is more wide open thanks to new rules. This is the time the NHL should be using to grow a bigger national following in the hopes of landing a bigger TV deal when the current one expires. Instead....they are floundering on a shitty network and wasting the early years of some future megastars. No one is watching the NHL...and a lot of it has to do with the people in charge making a grab for the easy money instead of making the more sound investment with a real network and taking a hit in the interim but hopefully building up to a strong future.
The second mistake is this dumb as hell All Star scheduling. Does anyone in the NHL watch TV? Why in God's name do you put your All Star game up against American Idol? It's on EVERY DAMN JANUARY! Did this just sneak up on your dumb asses? And don't tell me it's a different audience. These are the people the NHL wants to make into their new fans. Young people with lots of spending power. Go look at American Idol's demos. They BLOW AWAY the competition in the male 18-34 demo. Gee...I'm sure the NHL may want some of those viewers....but instead Betteman decides to put his All Star game up against that instead of putting it on a weekend with no football and up against such juggernauts as The Apprentice and Desperate Housewives. I'm not a betting man, but I'm guessing the ratings would be a bit better on Sunday.
Is it a requirement to work for the NHL offices to have your head stuck directly up your ass? Seriously...what the fuck. It just amazes me that people who are paid rather well and probably went to pretty good schools can fuck up something this badly. This is basic shit here. Let me spell this out for you so you can understand....DON'T PROGRAM ONE OF YOUR SHOWCASE EVENTS AGAINST AMERICAN IDOL AND ON A PIECE OF SHIT NETWORK THAT BARELY ANYONE KNOWS EVEN EXISTS! If I were the NHL I would be saving every penny of that TV money Comcast gave them...at this rate they may be paying the TV stations to air them next time....
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