I will not talk about tonight's loss to the Devils. No Point. Pricey played well, everyone else,except for a select few... not so much.
I do want to write about so called "homer broadcasts". You know what I mean. Leafs TV, Sportsnet Vancouver,Calgary, Edmonton. CSN,NBC, WGNT, WGN. All of these broadcasters support their teams and so do their announcers. None of their players do any wrong. Camera's concentrate on their teams. It's fine, if you're a fan, and, I'm not against it, in any way.
I've had the priviledge of enjoying the free NHL Center Ice preview over the last 3 weeks, and let me tell you, I have enjoyed it. Saw many Canucks,Hawks,Oilers,Capitals,Flames and Predators games, and learned all about the players. Close up shots of them, the coaches, it's like the opposing team did not exist.
A lot of people would say, "what homers these guys are". But, to tell you the truth, as a trilingual "allophone" living in Quebec, I wish we had such a homer broadcast."But you have RDS!" are comments I keep hearing and that bothers me. Yes, we have RDS. Yes, I get to see all the Habs games on TV and Yes, I'm lucky for that, but RDS is FAR from being a "homer broadcast". RDS is the furthest thing from being a HABS homer, then it is from being a francophone homer.
For example, tonight we saw a pre game interview with our star player Maxime Lapierre and a pre AND post game interview with Martin Brodeur. Quite honestly, if you're supposed to be the Habs "homers", why do you not support the Habs? When we play the Penguins, HABS fans get RDS interviews with Pascal Dupuis and MA Fleury. WHY do we care? Why not interview the stars like, let me see..ummm, Sidney Crosby? Geno Malkin? We play the Flyers, there's Daniel Briere,Ian Laperierre,Claude Giroux and Martin Byron (in the past).Where's Carter? Richards? Should I go on? You get the picture right? Why can't it ever be about the HABS? ALL the guys on the roster, win or lose. Why can't we hear more about the guys that are playing well on the team, rather than trying to move the francophone players up in lines? Why wasn't there a comment about the officiating tonight? From what I know, broadcasters can't get fined. Is it because you are too busy hearing your own voices and talking to each other,that you're not actually watching the game? Did I mention the new wave Lightning? Lecavalier, St Louis, Gagne, Boucher....we're done. I will not watch a Habs vs Lightning game again. RDS is intolerable.
Genius comment ,and I mean that sarcastically, by Benoit Brunet tonight was to move Andrei Kostitsyn from Plekanec and Cammalleri and insert Benoit Pouliot. My question is WHY??? So Andrei could falter and Pleky can make Pou look good? News flash, even Pleky can't make Pouliot look good right now. So that you could go on and criticize Kostitsyn, because you've had no reason to do so this season so far? No one but Price showed up tonight, well, Pleky, AK46 and Lars Eller showed signs of working real hard, but my point is why move AK46?
I would like, for once,to watch a Habs game on TV, and the broadcasters are pro Canadiens. Where they make positive comments about ALL the players rather than a select three. Where they actually say "what is Auger doing? How did he not see that penalty?" or "that is not a penalty, why not call Brodeur for diving".
As an allophone die hard Habs fan, I would like it, if for once, the broadcast I'm watching supports the Montreal Canadiens. Not just the Francophones, not the francophones on the opposing teams, but MY CANADIENS. JUST FOR ONCE.
There is no relief. We have Toronto's Sports Network (TSN), well, no explanation necessary. CBC, well, with Milbury and Don Cherry...anti Habs, AGAIN no explanation needed. There is no justice for a pure Habs fan in Quebec.
My complaint is,if you haven't figured it out,is that as an anglo Habs fan born and raised in Quebec, I have yet to watch a game where the broadcasters will support the team as a whole, and get my fill of a HOMER Habs broadcast.
I think the homer broadcasts actually work for the teams though. You see a little watermark that's FS(Carolina/Kings/Pittsburgh/etc). That's why it's different. Kind of like how the Bulldogs have it set up where Derek Wills is also their Communications director.
ReplyDeleteThey do work, but we don't get it from RDS. I don't care about Dupuis, Lecavalier or gagne etc. I care about the Habs. Support the Habs, all of them. Know what I mean? We are lacking that here. They think "homers" are quebecers, I see Homers as Habs players
ReplyDeleteGreat post.. your/our media always eats the #habs from the inside out. #gohabsgo
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, I am proud of all the francophone players in the NHL. I am a proud Quebecer, but when it comes to the Habs....all I care about are the guys playing for us. That's it. Thanks for reading and posting a comment. I love feedback, in case my posts come out wrong.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't really thought of it this way before, but having also watched several games from other markets during the free Center Ice preview, it's very true. In other markets, where language is NEVER an issue, the interviews focus on the players of the home team, or occasionally an interview with a superstar from the opposing team. I would argue that Martin Brodeur is a superstar in his own right, but I didn't need TWO interviews with him last night. One was more than enough. I would have preferred to hear from our players, how they are going to turn things around after that less-than-stellar game. I think RDS missed the point of "Nous sommes Canadiens".
ReplyDeleteThank you. You have vented what I have seen for years now. 100% dead on. There is a market for an english only montreal Habs sports show here. Someone just has to gather enough money to pay off the O.L.F. Mabye if we changed the team name to the Nordiques they would be behind the team??
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, especially because RDS broke the "superstar" rule last night by interviewing a Devils rookie who was francophone. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure it was cool for him to play his first NHL game in the province where he grew up and be interviewed on a channel he grew up watching, but we have to ask ourselves whether he would have been paid attention to if he wasn't pure laine. Why not interview Zach Parise or Ilya Kovalchuk or talk to the next rookie that comes to town, regardless of what his mother tongue is?
ReplyDeletePS: I don't mind RDS talking about Guy Boucher, but that's because I think he's a great coach, not because he's french. The insane love they give to Vincent Lecavalier, though? That needs to be dialed down a little.
Thank you so much for reading and commenting guys. It means a lot to me. I haven't been blogging for long but the feedback I'm getting is amazing. So happy you all agree with my musings in this post :)
ReplyDeleteYou tell 'em girlfriend!!! Im so fed up of all this B.S. too! I think you should be on RDS :-)
ReplyDeleteHAHA I'll gladly do the Echoes de vestiaire :)))
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This is why I don't like to watch hockey on tv, live is the best because you don't have to listen to the crap that comes out of their mouth. CTV should have a specialty channel for the Habs in english because you know what Habs fans are everywhere...
ReplyDeleteI don't like the way RDS sucks any french player's azz. SRC used to be the same with the way it pimped the Nordiques.
ReplyDelete