VERSUS’ Skills Competition Coverage: Bad Cuts, Blackberries and Too Much Iseman

There is your show folks, consider it stolen.  Wasn’t that just a night of pure fun?  Aside from the deadness of the YoungStars Game, that was the most entertaining and memorable Skills Competition in quite sometime, and easily the best of the three since the lockout.  The question is, how did VERSUS do as far as bringing the show to you?  Let’s break it down:

Announcers:

Mike Emrick was the play-by-play man, so to speak, and he’s always good for these types of events because he enjoys it, and is able to bring some knowledge along with it.  That Dr. Hook reference in the Ovechkin play might cause a few head-scratchers, but for a man who rarely references pop culture, it was fine and weird enough.  

The surprise at the start of the night was that Eddie Olczyk was not in, and instead, Brian Engblom and Brian Engblom’s Hair worked in the color role.  Now, I am not nearly as annoyed by Engblom in the booth as I am in the studio.  His short bursts of commentary are fine here.  Plus, since they were partners at ABC, Emrick has always been able to make Engblom more tolerable.  I’d be fine with just those two calling the game tomorrow, but Olczyk should be back.

Bob Harwood and Chris Simpson were both rinkside, attempting to get some personality out of the players.  The players, in a strange twist, were the ones who seemed engaged and entertaining while the reporters were awkward and cliched.

Special points to Young-Stars Game guest Pat LaFontaine.  The man is a freakin’ saint.  Chuck Norris wishes he was Pat LaFontaine.

GRADE: B+

Production:

Most of the camera shots were pretty good, though I’d have liked to see them go with a more consistent angle for the Breakaway Challenge.  The Young-Stars game was some of the most poorly shot hockey I’ve ever seen.  They would cut away to replays during goals, and the whole thing just felt jolted and poorly paced, much like the game itself.

There were some bad cuts here and there, but it was mostly the standard skills competition telecast we’ve seen for years and years, with the plate-cams during the Accuracy Shooting, and the angles for the Speed-skating.  VERSUS does it pretty much the same way as ESPN did it.

GRADE: C+ 

Innovations:

As I said, VERSUS kept it pretty straight-forward, but they did featured two mic’d up players that night: Zach Parise and Marc Savard were both used in doses, and very entertaining to listen to.  While maintaining that typical polite hockey player thing, they were still fun, charming and I would like to hear them used more, hopefully during tomorrow’s game.

VERSUS also had some commercials featuring Savard, Ovechkin and Zdeno Chara which were hilarious, talking about their Tuesday matchup on VERSUS.  Some promos featuring Mike Modano among others, were stale, and my 10-year old brother could see the shadow of the cue-card in one of them.

But overall, VERSUS did it’s best to show off the personalities of the NHL’s stars, and did it without annoying the viewer.

GRADE: A

Miscellaneous:

Please VERSUS, do not promote Sports Soup any more.  Can anyone possibly be entertained by it and watching it regularly?  It’s a show that is tolerable and sometimes funny in short bursts, but just isn’t worth all the time you’re spending promoting it.

VERSUS debuted it’s IRL teasers, which were fine, and will get the word out about the upcoming IndyCar season on the network.  Just make sure IndyCars don’t get in the way of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Finally, what was up with all the shots of Blackberries?  In the stands, on the concourses, on Gordie Howe’s jacket.  Is Jim Ballsillie buying time on these broadcasts for product placement?

GRADE: D+

Overall:

You know, I think VERSUS didn’t do nearly as bad a job as many people are going to say they did, but it wasn’t really over-the-top good, for what should be an over-the-top event.  I’d like to see Emrick and Engblom/Olczyk joined by a more entertaining luminary than Mark Messier, and for the entire thing.  Have Jeremy Roenick or LaFontaine or another talkative player not involved with the game do some color.  I’m sure it’d make the broadcast just as good.

Also, how about bringing Bill Patrick and Keith Jones to the show, surely they could contribute something?  Meh, maybe we’re pushing it now.

Overall, VERSUS needs to cut out their annoying promos, have better direction when cutting to replays, and less shots of Matt Iseman and Blackberries.  However, they did a pretty solid job of bringing this thing to life.

OVERALL GRADE: B

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