90% of hockey fans hadn’t heard of tootoo,radulov or greg zanon?then they are likely casual corporate fans.radulov was hyped when he was drafted.tootoo has had countless stories about being a first nation nhler countless times.clement and thorne if anyone recalls correctly were avs schills not detroit homers.espn and abc were hardly hardcore anything nhl much less detroit-treated like 3rd class citizens.no media outlet ever has given the nhl fawning attention outside of canada.i can apprieciate the point made about trying to show viewers the players of the preds,but please this detroit team is nothing like the last cup winner here.why not focus on ANY players that casual fans may not know about?johan franzen had more goals than radulov,or a dman like kronwall who has seemingly broke out this year vs zanon.not every fan in other markets knows every red wing,just as many may not know several preds youngsters.i find the fact that emrick can’t pronounce marek zidlickys troubling.hey doc it isn’t zidlisky

I do agree with you.  I am surprised that some people felt that today’s broadcast was slanted toward Nashville.  I happen to think it was slanted toward Detroit, if at all. 

Yeah, McGuire does appear to not be a Wings fan, but he was being quite harsh toward the Predators.  He said that they gave up after that 3rd goal.  He criticized them heavily after the 4th goal.  Emrick was waxing poetically about McCarty after his goal.

I really never enjoyed ABC/ESPN’s coverage of the games, however I am starting to like NBC and even Versus.  If only NBC could devote time for pre- and post-game coverage during the regular season or Versus created their version of NHL 2Night, I wouldn’t miss ESPN in the slightest (outside of the lack of casual fans that can locate Vs on their cable or satellite network).

i fail to see what mcguires words give as constructive criticism for either team?he points out mostly negative.he isn’t viewed favorably by many canadian or american fans i talk to.as for mccarty,it is a great story from where he was-out of hockey,messed up personal life to scoring a playoff goal.its probably the biggest personal story of any player from the medias view in this series

I don’t feel that the broadcasts are slanted against the Wings. I simply feel that Milbury and McGuire are awful at what they do, regardless of what teams they are covering.

Both men frequently allude to (and often outright talk about) their experience as coaches/players/managers/scouts as if it makes their opinions correct. Problem is, both were terrible coaches, one was a terrible GM, the other was an okay scout, and both were crappy players. So drop the arrogant attitude.

you wingie fans are funny instead of crying about not getting attention from NBC you should be calling out all the companies letting those seats in the lower bowl go unused (it looked like a preseason game there at the joe)are wingie fans getting tired of winning? so tired they have to complain about NBC not dropping to their knees for the redwings.

Why spend an entire post writing about how Wings fans are wrong about NBC’s “anti-Wing” bias when it is painfully obvious to anyone with the good sense and moral fortitude to pay attention that the entire universe is vast conspiracy designed to deny the Greatest Franchise in The History of Sport its rightful spin with Lord Stanley’s Chalice on an annual basis? 

I mean, no disrespect, but it’s sorta ridiculous to bring, um, logic into the equation when you’re talking about a clearly fan-centric thread on a Red Wings blog, during the playoffs, on the weekend, when we all get a few hours to have a couple of pops and vent our collective angst in the Hasek Club Car…

Bashing Ed Olczyk is sort of a tradition for Wings fans like me who remember the days when the Hawks were bad-asses and the Wings were the young upstarts, and Pierre McGuire, er, D. Canoe- well, he’s just an easy target.  Doc, well I sorta feel bad for Doc, and wish they could find somebody better to pair him up with than Ed-Zo, but, c’est la vie.

I would definitely take issue with a few of your comments above, but that’s not the point.  I think NBC, from a pure marketing standpoint, would prefer four playoff rounds of Rangers-Caps-Flyers-Bruins every year, with the Wings, Hawks, Stars, and Blues thrown in for good measure, but I don’t think you can say a team’s perennial playoff success has some sort of causal relationship with any secret (or not-so-secret) bias harbored by the network, or the league, for that matter.  The fact is that the Wings’ run of successful seasons has coincided with a steady nosedive in the league’s national profile, so it seems unlikely either the league or NBC have dog in the playoffs fight.  Individual announcers may be another story but, again, I don’t think there’s any connection there, necessarily.

As a Wings fan, I like watching my team, and I like watching them win.  I like watching Ken and Mick and even “Mumbles,” as you so affectionately refer to Larry Murphy, and would prefer watching them call every single Wings game of the year, regular season and playoffs.  Unfortunately, NBC carries the playoff games, a disappointing fact of TV life that some of us cope with by ripping to shreds oft-annoying network “experts” who, thus far, have done as dismal a job selling the game in the States as Don Koharski does calling a hooking penalty.

My point is, respectfully, lighten up. 

TV, like life, is part of the game and, as such, Edzo, Doc, and Canoe are fair game, too.  If a bunch of Wings fans want to get together and talk smack on a blog on a Saturday afternoon, who cares?  It’s not like we’re fixing airplanes or writing tax policy or something…

Meh. 

I should also mention that talking shit about Pierre McGuire on A2Y is a hell of a lot more enjoyable way to spend a Saturday (or night) than studying the law of partnerships, which I strongly recommend never doing.

PS- What Nathan said.

yawn....cupster get an new act.best record 4 of last 6 years,jealous much?

Mudshark, I just felt it had gotten a little out of hand with the Douche Canoe contest.

Mudshark, I just felt it had gotten a little out of hand with the Douche Canoe contest.

C’mon, that would’ve been great television!!!

I watched the game and didn’t see any anti-Detroit bias.  You have the best team in the league and I see a Wings - Canadiens final so just let the play on the ice speak for itself.

BTW… bye bye Ducks!

brown unis fit tonight they looked like crap

Stay on the subject weisfan and the jealous response is getting old (every wingie) breaks that one out and nice job deflecting. The best record means exactly what weisfan? does it mean an automatic stanley cup? it mean exactly squat weisfan so enjoy the curse and the empty seats (which was the original) question you avoided but by all means continue to cry about eddie and milbury not putting on the knee pads.

Talk about getting your panties in a bunch! Did the author just quit smoking? Or is it just another typical jealous anti Red Wings fan who can’t stand the fact that they are still dominating in the “new” NHL?

Here’s the beauty of the world...I’ve remained pretty moderate in my criticism of NBC, and I’ll certainly more than agree that the gents dole out criticism of and compliments to both teams, but there are people who believe that there is a sense that some media types want nothing more than to see the Red Wings falter, whether it’s in the regular season and playoffs, and that the, “Too old, too slow, too European, too lucky” comments have actually resonated for many years now. 

I don’t think that there’s some sort of vast media conspiracy going on, but I do think that there’s a bit of a tendency from some national correspondents want to see whoever’s doing well get sent down a peg or five to see somebody else do well instead, some of it has to do with the Wings’ sustained success, a bit to do with the crap media types have to deal with to access players thanks to the Wings’ PR department, and a bit of it does have to do with the old Don Cherry mentality that “Euros” can’t do enough to prove that they’re good performers when it counts.

It’s not like I believe that everyone who dares utter a less-than-complimentary word toward the Wings does it, and I’m more than willing to admit that my dander gets up a little more than usual because I’m subjective, but I do believe that there are those who attempt to be “fair and balanced” by allowing their supposed objectivity (the concept that the media is totally objective regarding anything is arguable) to overcompensate, and I do believe that there are some correspondents and broadcasters who genuinely engage in Wings-bashing. 

That’s my opinion, and if you disagree with it, I understand, but I feel that it’s important to note that not every Wings fan believes that there might just be a teensy bit of anti-Wings bias here and there who is espousing a knee-jerk opinion or assuming such just “because they’re Red Wings fans.”

Jeez, Steve!

19 bloggers are having a little fun over at A2Y, ranting against TV announcers, and you go ballistic.

Heck, if we weren’t having fun coming up with a nickname for Pierre McGuire, we would be doing the same for Don Koharski or Gary Bettman.

Isn’t that what fans do?

Check this out for a compendium of our fine work:

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/A2Y/glossary/

Lighten up, guy!

George, your absolutely right that there is that tendency.  But who, other than Milbury, really has that anti-Euro schtick in their repetoire on NBC.

Good post, Steve.

Dr. Mirtle’s perscription = /thread.

Im not sure how anyone gives Milbury a second thought; afterall he was the GM that put the Isles into the hell that they are trying to crawl out of now.

I’m not sure what planet some of you are on, but Pierre McGuire definitely does not like the Red Wings.  I have been waiting all season to hear one positive note in reference to the Red Wings.  I don’t really care.  I jusn can’t believe anyone wouldn’t notice.  I guess NBC doesn’t mind, and he can obviously have his own opinions.  He sometimes sounds a little silly, however.  You would think he could say just maybe one or two positive things.  This is the least of the worries the fans and NHL should have.  The refereeing is very inconsistent.  The get me back in the game calls are so obvious.  I try to get new combers into the game, but often have a very difficult time explaining fifty percent of the penalties.  The NHL needs to clean this up.