Sports media and marketers love to dub everything "The Road to" or "The Quest for". Tonight is the first game of Stanley Cup Finals, and among other things, that signifies the uncharted, dusty path down to Ron MacLean's departure from Hockey Night in Canada.
The 2014 Cup final is also a coast to coast, NYC vs LA final, which not only gives the series a touch more glamour, it means the same marketers that conjure up crap like "The Freeway of Love to The Chase for The Boulevard of Glory" can keep their Cialis on ice because two huge markets is a built in hard-on for 'em. Lot's of "households" will be watching, and that's good for business.
As I type this, CBC commentator Elliotte Friedman admitted to colleague P. J. Stock that he was jazzing up his preview to appeal to viewers on both coasts "for the advertisers".
But screw that. This is the greatest team sport in North America. It doesn't need marquee stars like the ones that virtually run the Nattering Billionaire Alliance and , not coincidentally, wind up in the Finals year after year.
There are many reasons to watch that have nothing to do with Broadway, Hollywood, advertisers, or slogans.
-The winners don't just get to pose with the trophy. They get their name etched on it. Forever.
-It's the only one of the Big 4 with true sudden death overtime. (Walk off HR? Not if you're the road team).
-Ron MacLean between periods, who has never gotten enough credit for his ability to keep the beloved Don Cherry from going completely off the decorum and continuity rails.
-Warren Buffett has nothing on me.I'll bet you a triillion dollars that Wayne Gretzky's former team wins the series.
The 2014 Cup final is also a coast to coast, NYC vs LA final, which not only gives the series a touch more glamour, it means the same marketers that conjure up crap like "The Freeway of Love to The Chase for The Boulevard of Glory" can keep their Cialis on ice because two huge markets is a built in hard-on for 'em. Lot's of "households" will be watching, and that's good for business.
As I type this, CBC commentator Elliotte Friedman admitted to colleague P. J. Stock that he was jazzing up his preview to appeal to viewers on both coasts "for the advertisers".
But screw that. This is the greatest team sport in North America. It doesn't need marquee stars like the ones that virtually run the Nattering Billionaire Alliance and , not coincidentally, wind up in the Finals year after year.
There are many reasons to watch that have nothing to do with Broadway, Hollywood, advertisers, or slogans.
-The winners don't just get to pose with the trophy. They get their name etched on it. Forever.
-It's the only one of the Big 4 with true sudden death overtime. (Walk off HR? Not if you're the road team).
-Ron MacLean between periods, who has never gotten enough credit for his ability to keep the beloved Don Cherry from going completely off the decorum and continuity rails.
-Warren Buffett has nothing on me.I'll bet you a triillion dollars that Wayne Gretzky's former team wins the series.
I'll take that bet! Hell, let's make it $2T tough guy! Normally if I don't have a dog in the fight I don't care who hoists the Cup, as long as it's a good series, but for some reason I can't stand the modern day Kings. It's probably due to a few things.. Their unrivaled cheesy-ness, starting with the WWF reject PA announcer dork. The fact that they had those killer deep blue and gold jerseys, among the best ever, and changed them to the stupid black and silver pieces of shit of today.. I guess they think black is intimidating or some shit. Ooh, scary. And the recent tasteless anthem with Slash. I don't usually care about such things, but christ, that was really bad. On a few levels. Don't know what was worse, the douchy pre anthem ad for his new record, the fact that he wore a hat thru the whole thing or his shitty ass rendition itself. On Memorial weekend no less.
ReplyDeleteAs to Ron Maclean, that's really bad news. First I've heard of it, are you absolutely sure? I can't imagine anybody else playing straight man to Grapes.
Rogers Communications bought the rights to HNIC. MacLean will still be on the air with CBC, and Grapes is gonna be with Rogers.
ReplyDelete