TV Guide and Open Thread for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals

7:30 PM ET, Carolina vs. Pittsburgh, Game 2 (PIT Leads 1-0)

National TV (US): VERSUS (HD)
Play by Play: Joe Beninati
Color: Daryl Reaugh
Reporter: Chris Simpson 

National TV (CANADA): TSN (HD)
Play by Play: Gord Miller
Inside the Glass: Pierre McGuire
Reporter: Ryan Rishaug

Late Thoughts on Game 2 of Red Wings/Blackhawks

Sorry for the no posting Wednesday, but we should’ve probably let you all know that Wrap will from here-on in be taking the days with no games during these Conference Finals.

Anyway, some thoughts from Game 2:

• Look, we aren’t stupid.  That’s why we don’t read The Pensblog.  But once in a while, it’s nice to learn something new.  Bob Harwood’s report on how a lotion the equipment managers put on the skateblades may have saved Adam Burish’s neck was educational.  Let’s go out of our way to praise Harwood, who is easily the best of VERSUS’ stable of reporters.  He always asks interesting question, can provide additional analysis from ice level, and always comes at things with a fresh perspective.
• We praise Doc Emrick a lot, but seriously, his call from Tuesday night was Exhibit A as to why he’s the voice of hockey in the United States.  The frenetic call of Mikael Samuelsson’s Overtime Winner was miraculously described with all the chaos going on down there.  The man’s still got it even as he’s getting on in years.
• We dig Eddie Olczyk, but sometimes he can ramble, and it hurts the telecast.  What’s worse is that the VERSUS overlords force Emrick to set him up to ramble, by asking him his thoughts on the game or a certain situation.  This may work with Emrick’s New Jersey Devils partner, Chico Resch, but only because the Devils’ analyst is concise and a little bit insane.  Olczyk needs to learn to speak in soundbites, and small ones at that, when action is going on.

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Blue Jackets Ditch Reporter Over the Word Disappointing

 

FS Ohio Reporter Jim Day

We’re not really familiar with FS Ohio’s Jim Day, the reporter for the Columbus Blue Jackets broadcasts on the network.  We’ve written his name down in the Open Threads and we noted how he referred to a March tilt vs. Dallas as “The biggest game in CBJ history”.  Overall, seemed a nice guy.  But now he’s been asked to be remove from the Blue Jackets broadcasting team, and for reasons that to me seem ludicrous.  The venerable Columbus writer Aaron Portzline of Puck-rakers has the story:

Some of this stuff is hard to believe. Sources have told The Dispatch that the Blue Jackets tended to complain weekly — sometimes more often — about Day, including a memorable “morning after” teleconference this season when Day dared to use the word “disappointing” to describe a 3-1 deficit in St. Louis on March 28.

That’s right. The offensive word was “disappointing.”

Also, Blue Jackets management remains angry, according to sources, that Day did not conform to the club’s request to NOT mention late majority owner John H. McConnell on the night the Blue Jackets clinched a playoff spot, April 8 in Chicago. He also didn’t follow along by ignoring that it took the club eight seasons to make the playoffs.

The other broadcasters got the memo and followed along, leaving lots of Blue Jackets fans wondering why their announcers were so subdued on such a historic night for the franchise and for Columbus sports. Later, when the fans found out why the long-awaited moment was so, um, “unhistoric,” fans were mad. Rightly so.

What a ridiculous load of crap, to want an announcer gone for calling a key loss “disappointing”.  This is flat-out unprofessional for the Blue Jackets to request and, frankly, it’s big blow to the credibility of a franchise if they treat its’ personnel this way.  Portzline has the ultimate bottom-line on how it’s going to affect the perception of this hockey team:

Nobody with any legitimacy whatsoever is going to feel comfortable taking a broadcasting job with the Blue Jackets if the word “disappointing” is deemed inappropriate. Word travels fast in the world of broadcasting, believe me. Faster than the speed of newspaper, certainly. Faster even than the blogosphere. The constant meddling in the booth is quickly making Columbus an organization that folks in the business whisper about, usually with a roll of the eyes. One big-time national broadcaster — not John Buccigross — told me a year ago that he’d love to work for the Blue Jackets, if only he could convince his wife to move to Columbus. When I talked him today and asked the same question, he chuckled: “Not a chance.”

Anyone wanna guess the name of that broadcaster?  Not to be too flippant about it but this kind of thing just can’t fly if this team wants to be taken legitimately.