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Thursday, February 18, 2010
I don't know about you, but I lost track of my NBC's while attempting to locate Sidney Crosby and the Canadian hockey team in their Olympic opener Tuesday. I think I wound up on MSNBC — or was it CNBC? — watching a bunch of women sweep a gymnasium floor.
Oh, wait, that was curling.
Meanwhile, the U.S. hockey opener, against Switzerland, was shown on USA Network earlier in the day, and Sunday's U.S.-Canada game will be televised on MSNBC.
There is no truth to reports that Food Network has secured rights to the gold medal game, but a question arises:
The NHL abandoned its regular season for this?
VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 17: Fans of Jaromir Jagr of the Czech Republic cheer him on against Slovakia during the ice hockey men's preliminary game on day 6 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Canada Hockey Place on February 17, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)I'm actually fine with hockey being relegated to cable offshoots of the real NBC. I like hockey — especially Olympic hockey — and I'm going to find the games. But anyone who believes the Olympics are some sort of grand advertisement for the NHL is out of his mind.
Aside from the fact that the gold medal game will be the only hockey game shown on regular NBC, there is this: Olympic hockey is a false advertisement for the NHL's regular season. That is because Olympic hockey is an infinitely better product, even if it will take a few days to get up to speed.
What you'll have in Vancouver is a collection of all-star teams, fueled by nationalism, playing a passionate, physical, highly skilled brand of hockey without the attendant NHL mediocrity and silliness. Team USA's "fourth line" includes Bobby Ryan, Ryan Callahan and David Backes, who've combined for 56 goals this season. Your average NHL fourth line might not combine for that many in their careers.
You'll see some sloppy play in the Games, too, because the teams were thrown together about five minutes after their NHL season was interrupted. But it'll be nothing like the sloppiness and monotony than accompany the endless, 82-game regular season.
What's more, in the Olympics you won't see some talentless hack line up for a faceoff and invite another talentless hack to fight at the drop of the puck. Olympic hockey is proof that fighting is not necessary when the sport is played at its highest level.
But let's be honest about one other thing: Even hockey in its purest form does not have mass television appeal in this country.
Hockey isn't what moves the meter at the Winter Olympics, that's for sure. It can't come close to figure skating, for example, and as NBC spokesman Chris McCloskey told me Wednesday, the Winter Games are one of three major sporting events that attract more female television viewers than males. The other two are the Summer Olympics and the Kentucky Derby.
As such, NBC would be insane to broadcast a two-and-a-half-hour hockey game in prime time, no matter who's playing. The network instead jumps from event to event and tries to capture the seminal moments of each, interwoven with an endless stream of human-interest stories.
That's great. I hope the masses sit transfixed, in tears, as they watch the figure skating and the speedskating and maybe even people sweeping gymnasium floors.
I'll be watching hockey, and I'm betting that by the end of the week, I'll know my NBC's.
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