Sports Logic

By Wayne Coristine

As Canadian sports fans, we got our first all-sports network 25 years ago when TSN hit the airwaves. Of course, with its historical lean towards the Centre of the Universe, it quickly got – and still has – the moniker "Toronto Sports Network." So we fast forward to October 1998 and finally TSN had competition in the form of Rogers (formerly CTV) Sportsnet and The Score (formerly Headline Sports). Sportsnet came on the scene with four regional networks in Atlantic Canada (read: Montreal Canadiens), Ontario (Toronto and Ottawa), West (Calgary and Edmonton) and Pacific (Vancouver) with the idea of being the opposite of TSN. The Score came out strictly as a 24-hour highlight channel and transformed over time to producing their own programs. So over the 11 years of competition, are we getting much bang for our buck? We're going to look at a few things here: the networks' programming, the personalities, the game choices, scheduling issues and how the networks manage their content for us, the loyal viewers.

Starting with TSN, they have approximately 19,373 on-air personalities all wearing suits and ties to tell us the inside scoop on every sport imaginable from baseball to football to golf to hockey to poker to national spelling bees. Yet, whenever I turn on any of those great athletic competitions, there is always the one key theme…the network is obligated to update you on what each Maple Leaf player and executive ate for breakfast and what crossword he completed while doing so. Of course, they didn't have enough air on just the one network, so they created the imaginatively named "TSN2" because if there's one thing TSN is good for, it's staying as close to ESPN style as possible. Just like a few years ago when "Sports Desk" changed to "Sports Centre" to match ESPN's "Sports Center"…albeit with the subtle change to Canadian spelling.

One thing TSN really has going for it, is a boat load of live programming and game coverage. This is Canada, and obviously the biggest game for us sports fans is hockey. TSN makes sure they get as much NHL hockey on their airwaves as they can, along with their expert panels of former players like Keith Jones and Matthew Barnaby, former coaches like Peter Laviolette and Craig MacTavish or writers like Damien Cox, Steve Simmonds and Michael Farber (triple ugh). And then, there's the stiff hockey reporters who can't let go of certain agendas. I'm looking at your Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger. Bob McKenzie is pretty decent when it comes to talking about how the games are played, but if somebody takes so much as a tap to the noggin, Bob quickly goes on and on about head shots and effectively ruins his segment. I'm all for protecting players, but claiming every gloved hand, elbow and shoulder that touches another player's head is worthy of a suspension is a bit ridiculous.

Dreger, on the other hand, moved to TSN from Sportsnet a few years ago and something strange happened. He went from interesting hockey commentary to pompous jackass who takes his "Hockey Insider" label far too serious. Apparently, he's not a hockey reporter covering the on-ice issues; he's also a legal expert and Mats Sundin's personal gossip ragger. Whenever he covers something like Collective Bargaining negotiations or the Coyotes debacle in Phoenix, we get to listen to smug talking head tell us how it is, rather than hear much from his sources. Of course, nothing's better than trade deadline day when you can watch him and McKenzie typing away on their Blackberrys like high school girls. The information they give is good, but I don't need to watch them work anymore than I need to watch a baker mix ingredient for what will soon be my sandwich bread.

TSN's game choices are actually quite strong. Watching "NHL on TSN" means getting a decent variety of games from around the league and a lot of focus on Canadian teams, even if it's still slightly Leafs biased. They also feature the two best play-by-play announcers in Gord Miller and Chris Cuthbert, along with the very informative, if annoying Pierre Maguire doing the colour. Baseball is almost always the Toronto Blue Jays but TSN realized that the bread and butter in Canadian sports is hockey and hide their disinterest in covering a Boston Red Sox versus Kansas City Royals game only a select few Canadian sports fans will watch. They also show some Raptors games, but I'm like most people, I don't really give a damn about the NBA so I don't have much to say on that league.

Overall, TSN's package is decent, with plenty of games across two channels, regular highlight shows – although their packs could use more early highlights rather than "let's pick this one up 4-4 in the third," some decent original programming like "Off The Record " – even if Michael Landsberg is unbearable as host. If the network would ever let go of the Leafs a bit and gave each Canadian team a fairly even shake, TSN would be able to be lose the Toronto Sports Network label.

When Sportsnet hit the airwaves, I got to admit, I was excited. As an Oilers fan, I would finally get the chance to follow the team's games, players and moves a lot closer. Then network certainly delivers with the amount of games they air of each region's team(s). And they air more Blue Jays games than any other network in Canada too, which is good for baseball fans. Of course, with the good comes the bad…and Sportsnet certainly loves its bad.

For starters, the personalities covering hockey for Sportsnet are horrid. In Edmonton, we get to watch uncomfortably as Gene Principe does his best to turn a professional broadcast into a poorly done high school production with his atrocious puns and lousy interviewing skills. I didn't realize the best way to find out about a game or play from an athlete is to make generic statement then shove a microphone in his face. In Calgary, at least they got the apparently foul-mouthed, weird eye-browed Roger Millions as a step up. Of course, stepping up from nothing isn't that hard.

As for play-by-play and colour commentators, the hockey side of the operation is comically thin. Losing Jim Hughson meant losing their best talent. After that, the pickings are quite slim. Over on the baseball broadcasts, Jamie Campbell does a great job and is clearly the best play-by-play guy the network has. It's not even close, no matter what sport…of course, that doesn't matter when Sportsnet decides to show the Blue Jays on two of their regional channels, and the other AL East teams on your channel…then tell you simply to buy the Ontario or Pacific channels to watch the ONLY Canadian baseball team play. Terrible.

The network also runs some original programming with its "Hockey Central," "Prime Time Sports" and "Sportsnet Connected" (what a terrible name) shows. However, "Hockey Central" is a huge step down from TSN's show…especially when Doug MacLean is not part of the panel. There's something horribly, horribly wrong with this show. For starters, their personalities – Mike Brophy, Nick Kypreos, Darren Millard and sometimes Mark Spector – are more concerned with being opinionated than correct. The ultimate disgrace was when they tried being casual for a trade deadline addition with the guys eating "Boston Pizza" and relaxing as if they were at home. It was, hands down, the worst thing I've ever seen in sports broadcasting.

You might not know "Prime Time Sports" by name, but rather as the radio show on TV, you flip by starring the weird guy wearing sunglasses and his Kenny Rogers look-a-like buddy. That, my friends is Bob McCown and Jim Kelley. McCown is a bit of a dichotomy. He can be on point and real bulldog interviewer, but then he can just as easily be a jerk who knows what to do for ratings rather than accurately reporting something. Jim Kelley, well, he's incredibly, if not only for the fact he somehow got into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a lousy writer than didn't ride the coattails of a great dynasty. It's mediocre show at best.

Then there's "Connected." It's supposed to be regionally focused, but outside of starting with the local teams and a few interviews, the show is hampered by lousy personalities. They try and try and try to have attractive women cover sports and, outside of Evanka Osmak being one of their best desk personalities (that's not saying much); the experiment fails again, and again…and again. Add Jim Lang, Sean McCormack, Jason Portuondo and Mike Toth to the mix and you have a recipe for crappy segues and lame play descriptions.

Sportsnet's biggest strength is showing a lot of hockey games specific to the region and most of its Blue Jays coverage. However, if you have a complaint about the AL East games being shown instead of the Roy Halladay start, the automated feedback system is about as lousy as their original programming.

The third network is the Score…and it's always been treated as the middle child of Canadian all-sports channels. It started as a highlights channel and evolved to covering sports with a series of original programming…and in my opinion; the Score had the best hockey show going before they evolved yet again. It's a network with god ideas killed by a complete lack of direction from the top and it wouldn't be surprising to see The Score lose a big share of viewership this year because of it.

The best thing the Score has is its personalities. The one thing they all have in common is a clear love of sports and the ability to put the games first, opinions second. Their personalities are what made their original programming so strong. The chemistry between them along with the amount of fun they clearly have at work makes it fun to watch. However, there is a problem. The genius running the network decides to change things too often and in places like Edmonton, they get a terrible spot on the digital dial compared to their competition (106 for The Score, 20 for TSN, 23 for Sportsnet West on Shaw Cable). The current aimless leader at The Score was able to destroy all the good they had going for them in one summer and effectively lose this viewer…I assume along with more than a few others.

For the last few years, The Score had arguably the best hockey show on TV (and satellite radio) in "Hardcore Hockey Talk" (formerly "The Spin") hosted by hockey encyclopedia Steve Kouleas with Steve Ludzik, the mediocre Mark Osbourne and the controversial Al Strachan. These guys were all about hockey and broke down tape for things you don't usually see. Their debates on issues were always heated yet humorous and they clearly had more fun with it due to the relax nature of the show. I learned a lot from the show and was furious to see it go.

Of course, it wasn't the only victim of the moronic moves at The Score. "Score Tonight" with Tim Micallef and Sid Seixeiro was cut despite being, hands down, the funniest – yet informative highlight show on TV. Regular features like "Cabbie on the Street" and "Gerry Dee: Sports Reporter" showed the goofy, human side of the athletes rather than the boring, fake professional side they try to portrait everywhere else on camera. Luckily, both segments survived the transition, but who knows where to find them now. I just watch them on the website instead.

The Score cut down a lot of its own programs to show more NBA basketball and at least 8 hours of WWE wrestling a week…oh and an ungodly amount of harness racing, horse racing and poker. The new programming is supposed to be more like a TMZ of sports than comprehensive and informative shows on the games themselves. I can't say for certain, but I'm guessing this isn't going to increase viewership or even hold steady. Since announcing the changes, neither of us at Sports Logic has seen much reason to watch The Score, other than to catch a quick highlight package.

The one thing I think the Canadian Sports networks could do to improve their product is learn from each other. Every network does something very well and every network does something really, really poorly. I have trouble believing the good people at TSN couldn't loosen up a bit and focus on how good life working in sports is. They have some fun, but they could take a few cues from the way "Hardcore Hockey Talk" delivered the goods with humour and passion. TSN has some of it, but needs way more. Sportsnet needs to realize, as TSN did, what exactly their viewers want to see. HINT: It's not the Yankees Rangers playing at the same time as the Blue Jays-Rays with Halladay on the mound. If you want to show other AL East games during the non-hockey summer...show them when either the Yankees/Red Sox/Rays are in the Pacific Time Zone and the Jays in the east, or vice versa. Finally, to the folks at The Score. Learn how to identify yours strengths and build on them. There is no way two high quality shows should get canned while Hockey Central lives on. Find time spots that work and promote your anchor programs. TSN's bread and butter is their hockey panel and they get them on the air as much as possible. Instead of cutting HHT down to show NBA games, the Score should be airing a hockey show as much as possible...and we all know they got the horses in Kouleas and co. to make it run.