Wings fans should tune out to protest Versus, officiating

[wingfan40 1]

Saw this over on RWC and thought it was worth carrying over.

British writer: Wings fans should tune out to protest Versus, officiating

By SIMON VENESS • FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER • June 3, 2009

Here’s a suggestion for all Red Wings fans ahead of Thursday’s Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals: Don’t watch. At all.

Turn off the TV, do some housework, take the dog for a walk or chat with the neighbors. But leave the viewing to those in Pennsylvania and the suits of the NHL.

I’m serious. As much as it seems like fan lunacy (as in, real fans support their team, come what may), it makes perfect sense.

First, it will send a message to the blinkered buffoons at league HQ that you can’t put a marquee event on a cable station most people have never heard of and maintain any kind of credibility.

The playoffs on Versus is like putting the Super Bowl on Comedy Central. It’s a joke of the unfunniest kind, pure and simple.

If the (already paltry) viewing figures for Game 3 are followed up with a near-zero rating for Game 4, the NHL just might realize its standing with the fans is dropping like a stone.

Second, it will raise a measurable protest at the way these playoffs have been (mis)handled almost from start to finish. Putting out officials who miss call after call (go back to review the Anaheim and Chicago series if you have any doubts) and then scheduling the first three games of the finals in four days is the kind of slap-in-the-face arrogance that only the immensely successful or terminally dumb can pull off.

Third and most important, it will prevent Wings fans from the kind of angst and anguish they had to suffer Tuesday night, witnessing yet another display of officiating incompetence that absolutely cost them the game (see also Game 3 against the Ducks and Game 3 against the Blackhawks).

It certainly raises the question of how desperate the NHL must be to ensure their precious series survives to Saturday night and a second chance to breathe the much-needed air of exposure into the finals on NBC (even if the network insists on covering the event as if the only two players involved are called Malkin and Crosby).

It’s hard to suggest there was anything deliberate about a schedule that clearly penalizes the defending champs; about a league disciplinary process that waives its own procedure when it might have to suspend a star player (who just happens to be called Malkin or Crosby); and about officials who refuse to recognize when one team has an extra man on the ice for half a minute (perhaps they were waiting for a seven- or even eight-man front?).

But fans certainly can be excused for detecting the nasty odor of suspicion about the way events are unfolding, most especially about how the only four people in the Mellon Arena who didn’t notice the Penguins’ six-man assault were the ones with the whistles.

So the only way to make your feelings known at 8 p.m. Thursday is to leave the TV set blank, switched off, somnolent. You know it makes sense.

Simon Veness is a U.S.-based British sports writer who contributes to the Sun and News of the World newspapers in London. He provided European view of Super Bowl XL to Free Press readers. Now he weighs in on the Stanley Cup finals.

[RedStormRising 7]

No thanks.

[rwfan007 18]

Its the frickin stanley cup finals and the wings are playing. I dont care if they are on the lifetime network, I will watch as much as I possibly can. We can't influence anything with the NHL or the Refs, so why the heck punish ourselves by not watching a Cup Finals game?

[wingfan40 1]

Its the frickin stanley cup finals and the wings are playing. I dont care if they are on the lifetime network, I will watch as much as I possibly can. We can't influence anything with the NHL or the Refs, so why the heck punish ourselves by not watching a Cup Finals game?

I am not going to tune out either. I merely thought it was a good read. Thought everyone else may enjoy it.

[rick zombo 3,739]

Watch CBC.

If you can.

[Cern 0]

thankfully VS is a non-issue for me...

[mjlegend 155]

thankfully VS is a non-issue for me...

DRIIIIIIIVE!!!! to Seattle and watch it.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

No offense to the original poster (but full offense to the article's writer):

That article is retarded.

[miller76 463]

Yeah I couldn't possibly imagine not watching the game.

Could you imagine the Finals being on the Lifetime Network? "Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals will not be shown, due to the Golden Girls Marathon"

[10 Minute Misconduct 104]

more whining is all i see really

[Cern 0]

DRIIIIIIIVE!!!! to Seattle and watch it.

instead of just watching it on CBC...?

[Snazzy 0]

Another solution would be shut off the tube (or cable box) and head down to the local sports bar, because, regardless, they will ALL be playing it on their projection screen.

win/win

Too bad the writer didn't think of this... this way you can still watch the game and still not give VS credit that you watched the game (and giving business to the local bar helps stimulate the economy

[mjlegend 155]

instead of just watching it on CBC...?

Aww, c'mon. You don't want to send a message to Versus that badly?

I'd do it if I was an American that could watch CBCHD.

[tiff_luvs_homer 5]

sorry, but we're watching the game... no matter what.

[Mike 0]

Ummm...f*** NO!

[Theophany 110]

Aww, c'mon. You don't want to send a message to Versus that badly?

I'd do it if I was an American that could watch CBCHD.

Hah! Living in Seattle, I get CBC AND Vs.

But not CBCHD, so I'm watching on Vs.

[Chase 0]

DRIIIIIIIVE!!!! to Seattle and watch it.

Ahahaha

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Too bad the writer didn't think of this... this way you can still watch the game and still not give VS credit that you watched the game (and giving business to the local bar helps stimulate the economy

We're in a recession, the best thing you can do is spend your money in ways that are most effective in helping your local economy-- buy from locally owned businesses and buy North American (believe it or not the Canadian economy is intertwined with the American economy- buying Canadian means you're funneling the money back in to America too).

[Theophany 110]

Another solution would be shut off the tube (or cable box) and head down to the local sports bar, because, regardless, they will ALL be playing it on their projection screen.

win/win

Too bad the writer didn't think of this... this way you can still watch the game and still not give VS credit that you watched the game (and giving business to the local bar helps stimulate the economy

Actually a lot of places in Seattle (and probably the west coast) won't have it on.

Pretty sad, but true. I get weird looks walking around in any of my Wings stuff. Hockey doesn't exist out here, which is really pathetic.

[Aeothe Kaear 0]

Hah! Living in Seattle, I get CBC AND Vs.

But not CBCHD, so I'm watching on Vs.

This.

(Comcast sucks!)

[Theophany 110]

This.

(Comcast sucks!)

Pretty much, yeah.

[Ms_Hockey 0]

CBC, ftw.

[Nightfall 871]

more whining is all i see really

I agree. Versus is just fine for the broadcast. The officiating has been just fine. Stop whining.

[NomadFromKazoo 42]

He doesn't know how television works in the US. My house is actually tracked by Nielsen so if I didn't watch it it would actually affect the overall ratings a little, each tracked viewer represents 20K people. For people who aren't, it doesn't affect the reported ratings. Now their provider (DirectTV, Time Warner, ...) do track who watches the game, so I suppose if enough people with a particular provider didn't watch enough games on Versus that Versus dropped them then I suppose it would affect the ratings eventually, but that seems unlikely and won't be accomplished by not watching the SCF specifically.

Also, the way to get them off Versus and onto a better network is to actually watch it and get the ratings up, not down. I don't see how they are going to fall any further then Versus. The logic though that to get the NHL on a BETTER network is to NOT watch them on Versus makes no sense at all. But most of all, seriously, not watching the Wings in the SCF? I watch them on streaming Internet in the first two rounds when they weren't on NBC, Versus or NHL Network. Obviously I'm going to watch them on Versus in the freaking Stanley Cup Finals or any other channel they actually are on.

[OsGOD 3]

here's an Idea...one i did last game... turn off the sound and listen to 97.1 it works like a charm

Doc is a piece of s*** and so is Mcguire so i listen to the wings own broadcasting

Edited June 4, 2009 by OsGOD