Someone is cranky early in the day...
- You'd have an easier time finding a bull fighter in Yellowknife than finding someone who believes Isiah Thomas should remain coach of the New York Knicks. The Knicks aren't completely useless -- 1,000 high school coaches are using them as a bad example -- but they nearly got doubled by the Boston Celtics last night.
Fifty-nine points from a NBA team... yeah, this says it all.
It hasn't turned up on YouTube, but with about three minutes left, a guy ran down to court level behind one of the baskets, ripped a Knicks jersey off and threw it away. Could have been planted by the Celtics, who knows? - Remember when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said some of the best advice he's had came from Gary Bettman? Did that include putting the big Cowboys-Packers NFL light-heavyweight showdown on a network something like 70% of Americans don't get?
As anyone in Canada with basic cable can tell you, it was a fine game. Oh, and Brett Favre amazed us all by managing to fit in two interceptions before he was knocked out of the game early in the second quarter.
Oh, and the Patriots' Week 17 game vs. the New York Giants? Also on the NFL Network. - Rutgers gets an International Bowl berth, then loses to Louisville, who lost to Syracuse earlier this season.
- Shorter version of what's coming out of the NHL meetings: Same crappy hockey, but more of it. Here's the challenge: Find the fans who were asking for the schedule to be increased to 84 games.
(Via Japers' Rink.)
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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3 comments:
I find the NFL's battle with "big cable", principally Time Warner, fascinating.
The NFL has assumed that fans without access to the NFL Network would bombard their cable companies with complaints, in turn forcing said companies to carry NFL Network on the NFL's terms ( price, tier ). So far it hasn't worked. We'll see what the response was - if any - from fans unable to view last nite's game. The NFL was hopeful that there would be a lot of pissed fans. The NFL is hopeful - same strategy - that the Pats will be 15-0 when they play the Giants.
The NFL Network is a rare instance of the NFL failing at something. Although I enjoy the product I also enjoy watching them struggle with this. When the NFL Network was launched the league goal was to be in 60 million homes, they're currently at 35 million. In contrast the MLB Network will launch in 50 million homes in 09. It gets complicated, whether or not to offer big cable equity in the networks, where the "out of market" packages fit in....The latest is that the FCC will step in to resolve the dispute. The BTN is having the same dispute with big cable.
This battle is probably more entertaining than last nite's game ( although I went to bed at the half ).
As Gregg Easterbrook has observed, the NFL may have just unwittingly destroyed the myth that demand for the NFL is unsatiable amongst the American public. That gives the networks at least a bit of a hammer in the next round of rights negotiations.
The production values on the NFLN broadcast are also pretty lame compared to what the networks give. Gumbel and Collinsworth are a "B" crew at best for calling the games, and it just has the look and feel of an in-house presentation.
I was waiting, though, for an appropriately acidic comment about last night's Senator meltdown. Has there ever been an NHL team with more talent, but less killer instinct, than this bunch? Yikes.
Imagine this team, though, with Roberto Luongo between the pipes. Consider also that when Luongo was being shopped in June 2006, Wade Redden and a couple of throw ins would have been enough to get the deal done. Muckler was in the hunt on that deal, but ended up walking away, while the Canucks ended up making the deal that kept them from hitting rock bottom. (Now imagine how bad the Canucks would be without Luongo.)
Redden's salary, plus the savings from not signing Gerber, would have been more than enough to cover Luongo's salary. Water under the bridge, I know, but something to consider as you watch Gerber get lit up for six by the "high flying" Preds, and you again consider how Hasek-esque Emery is proving to be on the injury front.
Hey, the Senators are the greatest team since the 1986-87 Canadiens.... the media was just off by a decade.
This shall pass for the Sens. Maybe 12-1 flattered them a bit.
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