Media Thread

[Fanatic]

Can?t believe Bob is actually gone. Doubt it was on his own terms considering how abrupt this came about.

I?m done with Toronto sports radio. Stumbled across OverDrive on TV this afternoon during Gerry?s percentages, with Noodles dropping percentages like 71% and 17%. Get lost dweeb.

If my first listen to Overdrive came during Gerry's percentages I would probably never have listened again, so I am glad that was not the case.

O'Neil was away yesterday so it was Hayes and McLennan (Noodles) and they interviewed Nick Nurse and I thought it was great. Bob certainly could do a great interview at times, but he seems to have lost interest lately. Hayes did a nice job with Nurse and I walked away from it with a better understanding of him and some of the things he went through personally during their drive to the championship.

They clown around a lot. Sometimes too much. But at the end of the day, I think Hayes and the host and O'Neil and McLennan as the ex-players do a really good job interviewing players, coaches, GM's and/or drawing out the most in conversations with guys like Ray Ferraro, Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger etc.

 

[Peter D.]

If my first listen to Overdrive came during Gerry's percentages I would probably never have listened again, so I am glad that was not the case.

O'Neil was away yesterday so it was Hayes and McLennan (Noodles) and they interviewed Nick Nurse and I thought it was great. Bob certainly could do a great interview at times, but he seems to have lost interest lately. Hayes did a nice job with Nurse and I walked away from it with a better understanding of him and some of the things he went through personally during their drive to the championship.

They clown around a lot. Sometimes too much. But at the end of the day, I think Hayes and the host and O'Neil and McLennan as the ex-players do a really good job interviewing players, coaches, GM's and/or drawing out the most in conversations with guys like Ray Ferraro, Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger etc.

I enjoy OverDrive when it first started, but I soured on it pretty quickly.  Way too amateurish for me -- I could have the same conversations with my buddies over a beer or with the people on these message boards.  I also find O'Neill and Noodles to be complete d-bags (moreso the latter).

And the constant use of Ferraro, Dreger, Bobby Mac, Kypreos, Marek, Buck Martinez, etc., is what I find tiresome these days.  Same crap each and every day with the guests coming from within.  That's what I loved about Prime Time Sports -- there was variety to it.  Now it'll be a 24/7 fest of dissecting the same thing over and over. 

 

[Bender]

https://twitter.com/yyzsportsmedia/status/1141410452171132928

I didn't mind him and will kinda miss him after all these years but he really is a dinosaur.

 

[Guilt Trip]

I could have the same conversations with my buddies over a beer

That's what's appealing about it. Almost like 3 guys just hanging out shooting the breeze. It's entertaining and funny. And no one interviews and has more fun with ex/current players then these guys.

 

[Bates]

I would listen to Maclean over any of the other Hickey Central guys. I really like Overdrive, just easy listening to a few clowns.

 

[dappleganger]

https://twitter.com/FadooBobcat/status/1141795429333577738

 

[cabber24]

https://twitter.com/FadooBobcat/status/1141795429333577738

When he comes back I doubt it will be on AM radio... and I don't subscribe to streaming radio or infinite data so sad news for me.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/FadooBobcat/status/1141795429333577738

Well I guess that clears up whether he was fired or not. Side note, it's somewhat weird that he's not verified on twitter.

 

[Kin]

Well, like him or not it certainly is the end of an era.

 

[Joe S.]

This might be the 3d time he?s been let go from the 1430/fan

 

[Fanatic]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

Apparently Rogers media division is losing lots of money...

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

I can't think of anybody who uses more words to say less than Renaud Lavoie.

 

[Can8899]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

Apparently Rogers media division is losing lots of money...

Any news about Hosehead the dog?  Anyone???

 

[Kin]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

It's Steve Simmons so obviously some caution is merited but the next name on the list may very well be Don Cherry:

https://twitter.com/Account4hockey/status/1147627618835030016

And buried within is some confirmation that Rogers is losing a ton of money on their NHL deal.

 

[rdowdall]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

It's Steve Simmons so obviously some caution is merited but the next name on the list may very well be Don Cherry:

https://twitter.com/Account4hockey/status/1147627618835030016

And buried within is some confirmation that Rogers is losing a ton of money on their NHL deal.

Well that is probably not good for the cap.  Would it make sense for the NHL to sell off the national rights in pieces to TSN and SN, or does it only make sense to sell them as a complete package?

 

[Guru Tugginmypuddah]

I have seen things written to suggest that SportsNet is dropping a lot of other people. All I have heard for sure is Bob and Doug, already mentioned above.

Does anyone have anyone else to add to the list?

It's Steve Simmons so obviously some caution is merited but the next name on the list may very well be Don Cherry:

https://twitter.com/Account4hockey/status/1147627618835030016

And buried within is some confirmation that Rogers is losing a ton of money on their NHL deal.

Well that is probably not good for the cap.  Would it make sense for the NHL to sell off the national rights in pieces to TSN and SN, or does it only make sense to sell them as a complete package?

The $5.2 billion deal is already accounted for in the cap.  It's a twelve year deal so that won't change until 2026.

 

[ZBBM]

Maybe their ratings/profits might get a jolt if they quit featuring a guy whose main appeal is to a demographic that is literally dying out.

 

[Kin]

Maybe their ratings/profits might get a jolt if they quit featuring a guy whose main appeal is to a demographic that is literally dying out.

Honestly, I feel like that's giving Cherry too much importance. Ratings suck because the game is too local, there aren't really standout teams and the league has more or less maxed out their Canadian audience. None of the people I know who don't watch hockey are going to be won over by a really dynamic intermission show.

 

[ZBBM]

Maybe their ratings/profits might get a jolt if they quit featuring a guy whose main appeal is to a demographic that is literally dying out.

Honestly, I feel like that's giving Cherry too much importance. Ratings suck because the game is too local, there aren't really standout teams and the league has more or less maxed out their Canadian audience. None of the people I know who don't watch hockey are going to be won over by a really dynamic intermission show.

Yeah, you're right.  It's a niche sport and the niche is full.

 

[Kin]

There's another reality though and I think my Father is a good example of it. He's a pretty big sports fan but he's also recently retired and decided to cut back on a few things. Despite that he pays for MLB.tv which is about 130 bucks a year to stream every single Baseball game. Come the Fall he may give DAZN 20 bucks a month to watch every single football game.

Just to watch the Leafs you either need a cable package from Bell or Rogers that includes all of the sports channels or you need to subscribe to both the TSN and Sportsnet streaming services. Either way that works out to something like 60+ bucks a month. Hockey's great and obviously I'm too far gone to give up the Leafs but following this one team now costs roughly three times as much as the entirety of Major League Baseball or the NFL for Canadian fans.

So it's not just a niche, it's a league that seems intent on squeezing that niche to death.