TUNING IN … FOR SPORTSBETTINGDIME.COM

BY: ARDITH STEPHANSON
FOR http://www.sportsbettingdime.com/

Much of the hullaballoo in the sports media world the last 10 days has revolved around the changes to Hockey Night in Canada.

Such changes were inevitable, but it is still an interesting move to add George Stroumboulopoulos as the host. I can’t say I have watched an entire episode of his show, but I guess he is popular, and he has done sports before.

Personally, I like Ron MacLean’s storytelling but as the saying goes: “Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.” Some fresh blood on HNIC is not a bad thing, and should not be a surprise. Hasn’t this been expected since Rogers and the NHL signed their new 12-year, $5.2 billion broadcast rights deal?

HNIC will still be hosted on CBC for at least the next four years but Rogers, as rights holder, is the decision-maker on the operation. “Strombo” (are they really changing his name to that?) will join the HNIC team as host on the Saturday night broadcast, and will be part of the broadcast on other channels and platforms, starting this fall.

Ron MacLean and Don Cherry will remain as the Coach’s Corner combination. That’s the change I’m expecting soon, despite Cherry’s typically modest retort that “I knew that Rogers would never mess with the greatest segment on television. We’re going into our 29th season of Coach’s Corner, and we’re stronger than ever!” While he remains a great advocate of the game, his time is passing and the entertainment value of his rants is waning.

Also interesting is the addition of Jeff Marek, who began his career with Strombo.

“I know people are concerned about George and (Hockey Night),” Marek said. “Don’t be. He doesn’t have to be a hockey analyst, he needs to be an excellent broadcaster and he is that. He’s a chameleon who can do entertainment, politics and sports, with the same kind of dignity and intelligence. I think he’ll be great at it.”

Good point. Steve Simmons wrote an interesting piece on the journey of “Strombo” and Marek in the Toronto Sun. Read
it here

—

If you don’t watch This Hour Has 22 Minutes, you need to, even if you ONLY watch sports. The spoofs of sports media are as entertaining as those of political figures. Mark Critch has been brilliant as Don Cherry (and just about anybody else he spoofs) and this past week did a great Strombo skit along with Shaun Majumder as Jian Ghomeshi. See
it here

—

Somewhat lost in the shuffle of the Rogers announcement is Daren Millard’s addition to the team. Old-timers like me will remember Daren as a young broadcaster in Brandon when that city was in its curling hosting heyday in the ‘90s, hosting a Scott Tournament of Hearts (1993), a world championship (1995) and an Olympic Trials (1997).

Millard, middle

Millard was born in Brandon but studied at Western Academy Broadcasting College in Saskatoon. He began his career in radio in Melfort, Portage la Prairie, Yorkton and Brandon, and in television for CKX-TV in Brandon, Global Winnipeg and at CITV-TV. Millard has been a member of Sportsnet’s broadcast team since the network’s inception in 1998. His brother Dean works radio and television in Edmonton.

—

What will the format change at the Brier mean for men’s curling? The Brier final became one of the biggest TV audiences of the year as far as a sports show goes, with a healthy 891,000 viewers on a Sunday evening. Even more surprising is the fact the bronze medal game attracted 503,000 viewers.  The Brier preview show, which aired just ahead of the final, attracted 394,000.

Meanwhile, in-person attendance was extremely low. Terry Jones wrote an interesting article called  Curling
fans flocked to Vegas over Brier.

Kamloops is a small venue but there were far fewer fans in attendance than the last time that city hosted the event. Even the larger curling crazy venues have suffered in recent years. The Brier in Edmonton last year recorded a healthy total of 190,113 fans, but compare that to Edmonton Briers in 2005 (Brier record of 281,985) and 1999 (242,887).

The fan base is aging, people either don’t have money to spend or don’t want to spend it on an expensive week, when you consider cost of travel, hotels, meals and over-priced beer (think Grey Cup weekend times 10 days). And judging by the TV ratings, people would much rather watch on television.

Perhaps the CCA is thinking the Team Canada concept will change that. Having a consistent team to market throughout the year has helped the Scotties, but it has always been a smaller event, and the Brier has never needed that. Perhaps with the Brier in Calgary next year, it will help to have the Koe team back as Team Canada, and playing in front of a home crowd in Calgary (although Carter Rycroft is the lone Albertan and has already said he won’t be playing next year). It should help having two Alberta-based teams should as well.

– – –

I got some people fired up last week! It’s great to have engaged readers and I appreciated getting all the feedback. Just a couple of points of clarification:

1. I was not slamming or criticizing the broadcasters of the events I cited. They work extremely hard to pull those events together. I was speaking my opinion, that I consider these events to actually be non-events. Some agree, others feel otherwise.

2. My husband does not comment on my blog, so those who supported me must have been some other relatives, right?

3. I have never actually watched Days of Our Lives, and I do not enjoy soap operas. My father-in-law used to love The Young and Restless, but when I visited we watched wrestling together, his other favourite show. I love sports.

(Follow me on Twitter @Ardith_S)

www.sportsbettingdime.com