posted 2007/05/11 at 20:16
For Joe: The Red Wings won't win this round for a number of reasons, the biggest of which is that Anaheim's had a much easier go of it in the playoffs thus far and just had more than a week off. Once they shake off the small bit of layoff-related rust they've got, they'll just wear the Red Wings down and tire them out. The Ducks will probably steal one of the first two games here, and there's no way I see them losing at home under any circumstances. Also, the Ducks will be motivated to eliminate Babcock after he left them following the lockout. Oh, and Anaheim just generally irks me because of that "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" bullcrap (I know, it's another sport but it's the same city), and teams that annoy me like that usually end up biting me in the butt when it counts the most.
Anyway, I have the Ducks/Red Wings game on now, and Versus actually sent a reporter to interview Babcock on the bench in the middle of a period. Like I said before, I can understand doing these kinds of gimmicks during the regular season, but given the intensity of playoff hockey -- particularly now that we're into the conference finals -- is just stupid. There is a time to try to get hockey fans (and the non-fans who might be tuning in) a chance to get closer to the action, and that time is not during the playoffs. Right now the players and coaches all need to keep their focus on the ice and the game, not on microphone packs attached to their backs or a reporter from a third-rate wannabe ESPN walking behind them to interview their coach in the middle of a period.
I will at least give Versus credit for bringing in Dave Strader to do play-by-play for one of the Red Wings games in the last series, though. Strader was originally the play-by-play voice of the Red Wings, before the untimely death of Tom Mees forced ESPN to hire Strader away to cover the games Mees would have covered. He became the voice of the Florida Panthers after Versus got the NHL broadcast rights, and this irks me to no end, mainly because the primary play-by-play announcer for Versus has this nasally tone that is hard for me to listen to for long periods of time.
Thanks Sean. Please don't forget to give us another post next week explaining why the Red Wings will not win the Stanley Cup.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon