I was listening to the Randazzler recently and he was saying in essence that he doesn't think ESPN cares about hockey because they promote women's basketball more than the Hawks. The Randazzler said they don't have any journalistic credibility and they should be just looked at like a sports entertainment channel.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I don't think they hate hockey, they just cater to their audience. For a long time they have primarily talked about football, basketball, baseball, college football & basketball while sprinkling in a bit of hockey with golf, tennis, etc. They don't carry the NHL, and they do carry the NBA, MLB, and NFL so that plays a part in it as well.

If ESPN lost their huge college basketball coverage to CBS, Fox or both, it would barely make Sportscenter.

Especially that for both college and pro women's b-ball.

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CSFMB: Home of the small minded

Is ESPN really caller Anne?

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No, ESPN isn't a dead white woman.

Ate you CRAZY?!

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There are a lot of people at ESPN who love hockey (Steve Levy and Linda Cohn are the obvious two), but it's been their editorial stance to marginalize the NHL ever since they lost the rights. Even in the waning years of their partnership with the league, the tide was turning with Mark Shapiro in charge, who of course wanted to have more original programming (read: bullshit), but also straight-up didn't like hockey.

The employees back in the day were all said to be pretty serious Bruins or Whalers fans, also.

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Maybe the dumbest move the NHL ever made (and I know thats saying a lot) was not staying on ESPN. Its free publicity.

Hockey is ratings death. Look at how many people watch NBC Sports Network.

Considering there are two other sports stations dedicated almost completely to hockey they are wise to ignore it.

I'm guessing more people around the country care about Ohio State/Indiana in college basketball than any NHL game by a wide margin.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Does anyone think that the Blackhawks' streak is more significant than the Heat streak? IMO, basketball is much easier to have a long streak because you can have your best players on the floor for the majority of the game. Whereas hockey somewhat depends on your goalie and a lot more players on your team shifting on and off the ice at various times than the number of players involved in a basketball game.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Rick, even though NBC Sports Network has the NHL for the long haul, nobody's watching that channel. Besides, if the creepy-looking Barry Melrose isn't on one of ESPN's many platforms, the NHL doesn't exist in their opinion.

One of them is a record, the other one is almost half way to the record


There's your answer

Back off on the Barry Melrose hate SHARK.

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I don't hate the guy! In fact, he shaved off the facial hair on ESPNEWS last night. Hard to believe, Barry Melrose could've been the Blackhawks' head coach long before Coach Q guided the Indianheads to the Stanley Cup in 2010. If he, Steve Levy, Linda Cohn & John Buccigross aren't on ESPN, the NHL doesn't exist to them.

ESPN didn't want the NHL. Go back and read Those Guys Have All The Fun: Shapiro wanted to focus on basketball and original content, and only made the NHL a perfunctory, insulting offer for the sake of saying they did. ESPN was basically created as an outlet for Hartford Whalers games, but they finally got too big for hockey, and so they had to go.



It's just not a national sport and never will be. They tried to make it a national sport by expanding the footprint, but all that did was overload the league with talentless gumps and fans who didn't care, and it brought the quality of the league to previously unplumbed lows. What we have now, where hockey gets terrific local ratings in the northeast and midwest, is about as good as it's going to get from here on out, and that's fine enough, I guess.

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Do you know what the E stands for in ESPN?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Eastern. Or East Coast.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Guys, ESPN is supposed to stand for Entertainment & Sports Programming Network.

Thanks shark.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I thought everyone knew that.

I thought it stood for Peter Gammons is a cock sucker?

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

The did. It was kind of why I asked the question in the first place.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

its that point in Wednesday when it is time to fire off shots on stroke victims. Bret Hart is the most over-loved wrestler of all time!

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Who doesn't hate hockey?

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The shootout is a gimmick. A few years ago all the shootout wins and losses would be ties since there was no shootout. So even though they they technically lost 3 shootouts in terms of regulation losses it's still the same as a tie since they were scoreless at the end of overtime.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I don't object to the shootout so much as the frequency of them. A five-round shootout after a ten-minute overtime would be palatable. The 2010 Coyotes and 2012 Wild had at least 20 shootouts out of 82. Too damn many.

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Well, maybe instead of 5 on 5 in the overtime they could just bring out a bigger goal or play with two pucks. That might increase the odds of the game not ending in a shootout.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I love this idea.

How about for every minute of overtime that happens, a new puck is added on the ice. No more ties ever.

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I never thought about this. Why do they have shootouts in the regular season but NOT in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?