Thursday, February 3, 2011

WEEKES HAS NO CLUE, BRADY IS WRONG, CLARK SAYS TAKE OFF HELMETS AND SHOULDER PADS

--Kevin Weekes is an extremely poor analyst when it comes to the CBC Hockey Night In Canada late night hockey broadcasts.  Simply, he's worse as a commentator than he was a puckstopper.  His lack of knowledge and preparation was evident during an NHL Network segment where he and Jeremy Roenick interviewed Dustin Byfuglien during NHL All-Star Weekend.  Weekes referred to Byfuglien as a defenseman turned forward this season (the opposite is the case) and then he and Roenick both proceeded to ask Byfuglien a couple of real tasteless questions that you might find a really uneducated white person asking a black man.  Very stereotypical. Roenick asked Byfuglien if he could rap.  Weekes said something along the lines of Byfuglien bringing a little flavour to the weekend.  For his part, Byfuglien handled these two knobs really well.  As far as Weekes is concerned, I'm lost as to what CBC or the NHL Network sees in him.  His broadcast talent is really zero.  I wonder if this is an employment equity situation.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Jeremy-Roenick-and-most-awkward-Byfuglien?urn=nhl-314161

--Fan 590's Greg Brady spent most of Monday's show saying he was 'mortified' for Phil Kessel being the last selection in the All-Star Draft.  I couldn't disagree more.  Kessel is an All-Star.  So, he's last out of 40.  Big deal.  Brady also constantly referred to the terrible feeling we all have as kids when we get a sense of rejection from our peers.  Brady is right.  Most of us have dealt with that.  But, the key here is that Kessel is no kid and he's amongst a group of elite players.  This shouldn't even really be a story, but the media overblew this big time.  It was made out to be such a huge deal, when really it isn't at all.

--I do not like the Toronto Maple Leafs even a little bit, but Bob McCown had Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour on his program yesterday and if I had any say, I would let Clark take over the entire NHL.  He'd clean up all the cheap shot head hunting stuff in short order and I found myself agreeing with every single thing he said.  Download the podcast from iTunes to hear it for yourself, but Clark's main thought is that the only way to decrease some of these dangerous plays is to reduce equipment.  Since that isn't going to happen, he feels it would take a change in coaching technique at the grassroots level in order to make the game safer.  Clark says in days of less equipment, the game was based on angling and keeping your stick on the ice more than it is today.  He would like to see a return to that philosophy.  Gilmour, for his part, feels coaching players to be creative and proactive on offense would also take some of the blind side hits out of the game.  "I'd much rather win a game 6-3 than 1-0," he says.  It's a real good listen if you have some time.

No comments:

Post a Comment