Penguins vs Red Wings in the media coverage war

[dw185 0]

I've been noticing for the last year or two a slavish, sycophantic coverage of Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in general. I'm not trying to say they don't deserve recognition, because they do. I just think the coverage they get is ridiculous. on VS the other night they were showing the 10 plays of the week, or whatever they called it. Of course they had Datsyuk's hat trick as number 1. The rest of it was a load of garbage. Most of it was lame plays that you see 4th line players in the pre-season make, yet they somehow deemed that because Pittsburgh scored a goal while screening the goalie (*gasp* chewing bubble gum AND walking!) that it was a worthy highlight. The vast majority of the highlights, or anything they talk about when bringing up the Penguins just has simply not impressed me.

Honestly, the penguins have been over-covered for two years, and it kind of pisses me off that the hockey media is essentially fitting this whole series into their little template. They have a pre-written story of how the little team that could toppled the old red wings. The Old, EVIL, Red Wings. It's obvious who most of the sports writers, tv announcers etc will be rooting for. And for that, i wish they would let FSN announce at least a couple of the games so i don't have to be driven nuts about how awesome Crosby's dive was, or how lame holmstrom is for standing in front of the net. Brace yourselves, it's coming.

One thing i noticed about the coverage in the 3rd round of the Red Wings series is that they ALWAYS talked about what Dallas had to do to get even with the wings, even down 3 games. The impression i got was that the announcers for the games on VS just thought the wings should have been eliminated by now and they were just tanking, so "this is what Dallas needs to do". Instead of pointing out what the Wings need to do to close it out. It's just the little things like that that kind of red flag the bias for me. I know wings fans have been complaining of this for years, but i just wanted to ***** about it and this thread seemed like the right place to do it lol.

Anyone else have any examples of what i'm talking about? I'm almost dreading this series. I'll never want to hear Crosby's name again after this series. God forbid the pens win it, I'll be done reading anything about hockey for the next 10 years, since everything will be all about how Crosby crawled into the finals and smote the red wings with his fiery sword! Might as well cancel hockey forever if that happens and just crown Crosby the official winner of hockey. Ever. I'm sure quite a few journalists and announcers will cream their pants just a little every time they think about crosby holding the cup.

*shudders*

[Cern 0]

Very much so. I often listen to sports radio when I'm at work. It's a station in Calgary (so ideally there's some degree of neutrality here) but they often import programs from ESPN and what have you. About a week ago these two guys brought up a words that 'real sportscasters' rarely use - hockey. After flat-out confessing that they never even cast a glance at the hockey season until the playoffs, the next half-hour was little more than a Crosby ****-fest perpetuated by a string of call-ins. FINALLY, the final caller came on and went "Hey geniuses, there are 19 other players on the Penguins squad, and 20 more on another team that made it as far as they did. Zetterberg and Datsyuk aren't exactly amateur players". The reply was basically a half-second recognition of the Wings before moving on to baseball.

Completely different story when it turned to in-station programming later on in the day. The hosts finally, FINALLY expressed, through the media, what has been in my mind since this series was announced - Pittsburgh has the edge of offensive depth but the numbers are clearly showing that Crosby is the key to said depth. Shut him down and every other Penguin on the ice shuts down with him. At the same time, playing against a dud Senators squad and a Philly team with its best defensemen out is exaggerating their numbers on both ends of the ice. Detroit, meanwhile, has a star-studded defense that, get this, GOES BEYOND JUST THE BLUE LINE! EVERYone seems to completely forget that the Wings have some amazing defensive forwards to complement the likes of Lidstrom and Kronwall. The Wings are more than capable of frustrating the Penguins' offense, and that's what's going to cost them. Faceoff performance and puck-possession play wasn't mentioned, but I physically lifted my arms and mimed an empathetic 'THANK YOU! SOMEONE GETS IT!'

[VM1138 1,921]

I get tired of the whining, but yeah, Pittsburgh is favored by the media. Any given day on NHL.com or wherever else, there is SOMETHING, an ad, or an article, about the Penguins. Every day. Only team in the league to make it so consistently.

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

Question:

Why hate the Penguins because of this?

Do you think the team goes out and solicites this crap?

All they do is play...they dont control the media...no one does

[DEVILSWATERBOY 10]

I am only one in many in sayin screw the media screw the announcers and go out there and win the whole damm thing GO WINGS

[Yzrmn19 0]

I agree. Nothing like watching a Wings game these playoffs on CBC and have them talk about nothing but the Penguins and Sidney Crosby during both intermissions. This might be a bit of a blessing though to the Wings players. I think Babcock even said in one of his pressers that all the focus and attention will be on Crosby/Malkin leaving the Wings to just concentrate on the game and play.

This reminds me of the Memoral Cup a few years ago here in London. The big hyped up game was between Corey Perry and the Knights and Crosby and the Oceanic. The Knights won and for the first time in the tournament held Crosby off the score sheet. Despite this all they did was talk about Crosby after the game, though of course not about all the diving and whining he did. From that moment on I was sick of hearing about him and I still am.

[CrossoverThrash 0]

I hate the credit they're giving to malkin for his cherry pick after getting laid out. Biron also made a terrible play in net, he deserves nearly zero credit for that bit of luck and skill by whoever got him the puck.

[nkuehnl 0]

VS: "Wow, Lidstrom made an unspectacular poke check! That's why he's a Norris winner, will always be a Norris winner, and why the trophy should be renamed the Lidstrom trophy! Let's watch that replay 8 more times from 3 different angles and comment about how great the pokecheck was for the next 3 minutes."

LGW: "Damn straight, Lidstrom is the best player ever!"

VS: "Wow, Crosby just shot the puck into the goalie's chest! That's why he's a Hart winner, will always be a Hart winner, and why the trophy should be renamed the Crosby trophy! Let's watch that replay 8 more times from 3 different angles and comment about how great the shot was for the next 3 minutes."

LGW: "HOW DARE THEY CROSBY SUCKS AND IS LAZY A DIVER!"

VS: "You know, it just goes to show you how great these players are. Lidstrom's pokecheck in the 1st period directly lead to this 3rd period goal because of the change in momentum by that single play. Likewise, because Crosby shot the puck 2 minutes into the game, it's the sole reason why Pittsburgh is winning 7-0 right now. Those players are amazing!"

Newsflash: NHL media coverage loves to fellate players for things that are ultimately pointless in order to hype the game.

The Red Wings have won 3 Cups already and have consistently been in the Top 3 for 15 years now. It's an old story that very few non-Detroit fans care about. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is being captained by a guy who gets legitimate comparisons to Gretzky at age 20. Crosby will be the face of the NHL for the next 20 years, whether we like it or not. They're a young team, they're a fun team, and they've been through some major struggles in the past 10 years whereas Detroit has not. The franchise was almost moved, the team was absolutely dismantled, and the arena is one of the worst arenas in professional sports. The team deserves credit for their turnaround and the fans deserve that airtime for their devotion.

The media would like to see Pittsburgh win, and they should, because Pittsburgh is the bigger, better story.

Edited May 22, 2008 by nkuehnl

[RedArmy 4]

I think any hockey getting media exposure is good, but for true hockey fans hearing about Crosby during every game of every night during every conversation that is hockey related is annoying as hell. Thank you media!

I think we all just have to accept the fact that everyone is legally obligated to talk about Crosby or put him in the sentence whenever you are having a hockey related conversation on TV or radio....

For example" Zetterburg has 2 short handed goals this playoff season, Crosby didn't have to score short handed though because he was so great on the power play"

or "Malkin led the Pens in scoring this season, Crosby is clearly an MVP though because his presence in the stands got the entire team going" or

"san jose had a great run this season, but weren't able to get past Stars in the playoffs, although if Crosby was on their team they would have easly beaten dallas"

YOu really can add Crosby to any sentence... Its just like when Mario came back, every conversation that was hockey related no mattered what team you watched had to have Mario in it.... U G H....

I guess we should just take it if the coverage brings more fans over to the sport of hockey...

[pits200 0]

V - Pittsburgh has the edge of offensive depth but the numbers are clearly showing that Crosby is the key to said depth. Shut him down and every other Penguin on the ice shuts down with him.

Ha, you do realize that Crosby was out a 1/3 of the year with a high ankle sprain. So I guess you think the Pens offense went into a shell for that third of the season cause Crosby wasn't playing.

Also, just so everyone knows, Crosby didn't ask to be the face of the NHL. When he came into the league 3 years ago, hockey was dying around the country as you all know. They needed someone to revive it and Crosby didn't put his name into a lottery drawing and luckily get picked.

He had nothing to do with this, its the typical media trying to look for the next lemieux or gretzky.

Its much easier to hype a 18 year old kid than a 30 year old superstar because he has a clean slate.

So give the kid a break, he doesn't sit up every night trying to think how he can be on tv more, think about how competetive you were when you were 20, all you cared about was playing the game.

[redwinger4747 6]

I get tired of the whining, but yeah, Pittsburgh is favored by the media. Any given day on NHL.com or wherever else, there is SOMETHING, an ad, or an article, about the Penguins. Every day. Only team in the league to make it so consistently.

Pens fans can say we are complaining all they want but its really funny how much we are not making this up. Headline on ESPN's NHL page right now: "Can Crosby revive the NHL like Bird and Magic did to the NBA?"

[Pensfan 0]

Plain and simple, the Penguins get a lot of their coverage because of Crosby. And he earned the attention.

[Dabura 12,207]

Yes, they do. The Pens are a media dream, both for their on-ice product and for their "story" (franchise in ruins, Golden Boy Sid to the rescue, hurray for Canada, etc.)

The Wings are old news. I hate to say it, but you all know it's true.

[alowicious 0]

That last goal was cool.

But Dats and Hank make those types of goals all the time as well.. so should the media share equal time with them too?

lol.. Media Schmedia.. Let's play some Hockey!!!

Go Wings!!

[Pensfan 0]

The Wings are old news. I hate to say it, but you all know it's true.

I wouldn't go that far. The greatest thing that could ever happen to the Wings would be to move them into the eastern conference.

[Dabura 12,207]

I wouldn't go that far.

Oh, I would. It's a big reason why so many people have been riding the Sharks bandwagon in recent seasons. Teams like that -- and the Pens -- are sexy, "hip," fresh, exciting. The Wings...the Wings just win. Ho-hum.

[Rick 42]

I wouldn't go that far. The greatest thing that could ever happen to the Wings would be to move them into the eastern conference.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[Icteria virens 11]

One thing i noticed about the coverage in the 3rd round of the Red Wings series is that they ALWAYS talked about what Dallas had to do to get even with the wings, even down 3 games. The impression i got was that the announcers for the games on VS just thought the wings should have been eliminated by now and they were just tanking, so "this is what Dallas needs to do".

your whole post is 100% accurate but the above really rings true. It sums up little eddie o perfectly,

I noticed this too, all the time. It was always about what Dallas had to do, never about Detroit.

and the thing that really bothers me is if you don't like the announcers or studio crew on VS you don't get a substantial change when the game is on NBC save for Pierre "the monster" Maguire or one extra person like that. It's essentially the same crew for EVERY broadcast. Could anyone imagine if the NFL or MLB had one basic set of announcers and studio crew for every game, irregardless of network? So if you don't like the broadcasts in America and don't live in Detroit or Buffalo to get the CBC you're screwed.

Of course the media bias was always going to be against Detroit, you had a choice between the Pens and Sid the Savior or the Philladelphia Comcasts , the Flyers are owned by Comcast which owns VS. Ever wonder why so many Flyers games were on during the season?

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

I wouldn't go that far. The greatest thing that could ever happen to the Wings would be to move them into the eastern conference.

this is quite true...in the hockey world...the world is tilted to the east in regards to coverage...probably always will be

[swedishseven 9]

Plain and simple, the Penguins get a lot of their coverage because of Crosby. And he earned the attention.

nothing here that datsyuk hasnt done just this season!!!....i would like to see a top ten compilation of datsyuk for this year and it would more than measure up...

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Look I definitely understand Crosby et al is talked about a lot, but there is a reason for that. For better or worse, HE IS THE FACE of the NHL and brings about a great shot of making the NHL have some form of popularity semblance in the United States again, even if it is small popularity.

I think it is a safe bet that many in here would like hockey to be more popular in the United States and have people like the sport as much as we do, or at the very least try to understand the sport. What is one of the better ways to do that? You pimp your most popular and well-known players. Crosby is one of those people.

You can't have it both ways to where you want the sport to be more popular but not hear anything about Crosby. He's going to be pimped by the league to try to make the sport more popular. Pimp the hell out of him for all I care if it makes the sport more popular, I don't pay any more attention to media or sports outlet more than necessary anyways so it wouldn't bother me.

Also consider this. People that might have much hockey knowledge or have only tuned into the playoffs say in the conference finals. What is the first thing they might associate with the playoffs and hockey? Sidney Crosby or Pittsburgh. Whether we are tired of hearing about him or not, it's a good ice breaker to possibly get people to talk about other aspects or players in the sport. Hell I did exactly this last weekend when I went out to dinner, I was talking about both the NBA and NHL playoffs in general to the bartender and I told him I preferred NHL and the first thing he mentioned related to it was if Crosby and Pittsburgh were still in it. We had a good brief conversation on the other teams still in the playoffs, I told him about other players as well as Crosby, etc.

Don't use Sidney Crosby as a bad thing for the NHL, use him to start discussing the game with other people, AND THEN tell them there are other aspects/players in the game, etc.

Marketing and pimping Crosby like the NHL is doing is definitely a good thing for the sport.

And the Penguins deserve every bit of positive publicity. Because of Crosby, because Malkin has done so well in addition, and because this team was on the verge of not being in Pittsburgh a few years ago, but had a combination of luck as well as a product on the ice that eventually got better, and fast. I know we want the Wings to win obviously, but Pittsburgh is a feel-good story to more people in this country in general, and it'd probably be a better feel-good story if they won it all to more people in general outside of the Red Wings world. And that as well, would help make the game a little more popular to non-hardcore fans.

Should the NHL market differently or put their eggs in more than one player's basket? Perhaps so. Do I want the Red Wings to win it all? Without question. Just understand though how important Crosby and Pittsburgh are right now to the NHL's marketing efforts.

[Shaman 713]

VS: "Wow, Lidstrom made an unspectacular poke check! That's why he's a Norris winner, will always be a Norris winner, and why the trophy should be renamed the Lidstrom trophy! Let's watch that replay 8 more times from 3 different angles and comment about how great the pokecheck was for the next 3 minutes."

LGW: "Damn straight, Lidstrom is the best player ever!"

VS: "Wow, Crosby just shot the puck into the goalie's chest! That's why he's a Hart winner, will always be a Hart winner, and why the trophy should be renamed the Crosby trophy! Let's watch that replay 8 more times from 3 different angles and comment about how great the shot was for the next 3 minutes."

LGW: "HOW DARE THEY CROSBY SUCKS AND IS LAZY A DIVER!"

VS: "You know, it just goes to show you how great these players are. Lidstrom's pokecheck in the 1st period directly lead to this 3rd period goal because of the change in momentum by that single play. Likewise, because Crosby shot the puck 2 minutes into the game, it's the sole reason why Pittsburgh is winning 7-0 right now. Those players are amazing!"

Newsflash: NHL media coverage loves to fellate players for things that are ultimately pointless in order to hype the game.

The Red Wings have won 3 Cups already and have consistently been in the Top 3 for 15 years now. It's an old story that very few non-Detroit fans care about. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is being captained by a guy who gets legitimate comparisons to Gretzky at age 20. Crosby will be the face of the NHL for the next 20 years, whether we like it or not. They're a young team, they're a fun team, and they've been through some major struggles in the past 10 years whereas Detroit has not. The franchise was almost moved, the team was absolutely dismantled, and the arena is one of the worst arenas in professional sports. The team deserves credit for their turnaround and the fans deserve that airtime for their devotion.

The media would like to see Pittsburgh win, and they should, because Pittsburgh is the bigger, better story.

#1 Crosby will never be Gretzky no matter what anyone thinks, 2 different players in 2 different time. Besides Gretzky had 55 goals and 109 assists his 3rd year, and the next year he had 92 goals, if Crosby ever hits 60 goals ill eat my words, but ill say this he will never be a 60 goal scorer, he may hit 120+ points but it will be 90 As 30 Gs.

#2 The Red Wings had what was called the Dead Wings period, they couldnt make the playoffs to save their life so, dont say we dont know struggles, maybe not recently, but, we have.

#3 Your team wasnt built it was made by top 15 picks, your top 3 scorers were all 1-12 in the draft, ours on the other hand, well Franzen was 97th, and he was the highest pick of the 3, the wings used good drafting, they werent just handed the players like Pittsburgh was. As for being Dismantled, well we lost Shany, Yzerman, Hull, Lucky Luc, Scheinder, etc etc etc, any other team to lose players like that wouldnt be able to compete, but, The Wings have a system and scouts and can put together a good team no matter what the circumstances.

#4 They do deserve credit for their turn around, buttttttt, which team was dead last in their conference and then the very next year competed to play for the Stanley Cup the very next year without the likes of Hossa Crosby or Malkin? It wasnt the Pens.

#5 Crosby whines, so do other players, hell if i had a nickel for everyone who said Chelios whines id be a millioniare, donest make it untrue though. Get over it!

Edited May 23, 2008 by Shaman464

[Dabura 12,207]

your whole post is 100% accurate but the above really rings true. It sums up little eddie o perfectly,

I noticed this too, all the time. It was always about what Dallas had to do, never about Detroit.

and the thing that really bothers me is if you don't like the announcers or studio crew on VS you don't get a substantial change when the game is on NBC save for Pierre "the monster" Maguire or one extra person like that. It's essentially the same crew for EVERY broadcast. Could anyone imagine if the NFL or MLB had one basic set of announcers and studio crew for every game, irregardless of network? So if you don't like the broadcasts in America and don't live in Detroit or Buffalo to get the CBC you're screwed.

Of course the media bias was always going to be against Detroit, you had a choice between the Pens and Sid the Savior or the Philladelphia Comcasts , the Flyers are owned by Comcast which owns VS. Ever wonder why so many Flyers games were on during the season?

iawtp

[Mickeyisms Rule! 0]

It is time that we, as Red Wings fans, face up to a simple reality.

We are the established power, for you nerds, we are the Empire in Star Wars.

The Pens are the newcomers- they had a whole bunch of really crappy years and got some really high draft picks.

This is all about the "story," from the announcers point of view. The young, plucky, Penguins are trying to unseat the perennial power, the Red Wings.

I have seen the comparisons to the Oilers, and they are presenting us as being like the Islanders in this case.

I don't mind. The Islanders won the first meeting between them and the Oilers.

[dw185 0]

i'm not saying pittsburgh doesn't deserve the recognition, but they are massively overhyped. I'm sure they love it. I wouldn't expect them to act any different. Eseentially my intial gripe was all about the difference in media treatment of these two teams. The truth is that people are going to get worn down on the penguins and crosby, if they haven't already been. I'm sick of this team already. if they win the cup i will really be sick of hearing about them.

On crosby being the "face of the nhl". I'm sorry, but thats just a shoddy pick in my opinion. There are plenty of other choices to pick from besides crosby, young guys included. crosby is a good player, but he isn't a savior. By using one person to draw in people they take the focus off of the actual game and focus it on a cult of personality. they've essentially turned him into the obama of hockey. alot of people will probably disagree with me there, but obama's huge following is due to a kind of messiah-like portrayal, and the same thing is being done with crosby. (sorry for getting a little political there, but the shoe fits).

I'd rather see someone like Ovechkin be the "face" over crosby. Ovechkin is humble enough to not let all this coverage get to him. Crosby has a big head and it seems like he just loves the attention.

Bottom line is that i'm sick of all the coverage he gets and i know for a fact that many others are sick of it as well. Hell, my brother and all his friends started calling him the "Mayor of Hockey" because he acts like he runs the entire sport.