Some guy with a blog, Chicken Little have a lot in common

[Rock]

Some guy with a blog, Chicken Little have a lot in common

(I guess the forum edits his name now. ehhk-klund = some guy with a blog)

Out to lunch on majority of trades

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/186473

Feb 28, 2007 04:30 AM

Chris Zelkovich

Picking a winner in the annual much-ado-about-little marathon conducted by Canada's sports networks is usually a difficult task.

After all, that army of talking heads dissecting every NHL deadline day trade as if the fate of the free world hung in the balance tends to fog the mind a bit.

But this year, it took less than an hour to determine which network was going to carry the day.

While TSN was reporting that Buffalo goaltender Martin Biron had been traded, the cast of dozens at Rogers Sportsnet were showing viewers live shots of some game-show eye candy getting their makeup, the Hanson brothers performing their 30-year-old shtick and the back of blogger Some guy with a blog's head as he provided the first in a series of often obvious and even more often erroneous rumours.

Sportsnet had promised entertainment, for which they should be applauded, because it might have provided an antidote to the overwrought fare on TSN and The Score. But promising entertainment and delivering it are two different matters.

In fact, the most entertaining part of Sportsnet's ``deadline bash" wasn't the balloons, the Hansons or the table hockey games. It was Some guy with a blog, who fell just short of naming every NHL player in trade rumours.

So unsuccessful was Sportsnet's attempt at entertainment, that The Score's stripped-down show provided more. And while TSN's was a tad overdone, at least it got the story right.

Highlights of a combined 22 hours of coverage.

11:10 a.m. Twenty minutes after reporting that Biron was being dealt, TSN gets a live interview with the new Flyer.

11:12 a.m. In one of his many ``alerts," Some guy with a blog reports that Craig Conklin has been traded to Buffalo. He quickly amends that to Ty Conklin.

11:34 a.m. Some guy with a blog reports that Jamal Mayers is on his way to Toronto. He isn't.

11:40 a.m. Pizza is delivered to Sportsnet studio. Risking his diet endorsement deal, Gord Stellick takes two slices.

11:46 a.m. Sportsnet shows the first of many table-hockey game close-ups.

12:01 p.m. The Score begins its show and as host Steve Kouleas utters his first words thousands reach for the volume control.

12:08 p.m. Some guy with a blog reports that St. Louis' Bill Guerin is part of a three-way trade. TSN reports, correctly, that it's a two-team deal.

1:04 p.m. Some guy with a blog reports more rumours, this time citing ``really, really good sources."

1:05 p.m. Dennis Beyak arrives on The Score set wearing a tie and breaking the network's dress code.

1:06 p.m. Bell spokesbeavers Frank and Gordon appear in a commercial, leading many to wonder how TSN missed adding them to its panels.

1:29 p.m. Sportsnet's Rob Faulds interviews the Hansons with their bobblehead dolls. This is just a warm-up for a later interview with the game-show girls.

1:53 p.m. Desperation sets in with only six deals in almost five hours, leading TSN's panel to spend considerable time dissecting the Dominic Moore trade. Later, they explain who Dominic Moore is.

2:08 p.m. Some guy with a blog reports that Edmonton has signed Ryan Smyth to a long-term deal.

2:35 p.m. Some guy with a blog says Dainius Zubrus has been traded to Buffalo, which amazingly turns out to be true.

3 p.m. Some guy with a blog reports that L.A. has dealt Mattias Norstrom to Anaheim, ``but I may be wrong on that." He was.

3:15 p.m. Some guy with a blog says rumour has Leafs trading Matt Stajan. They don't.

3:29 p.m. Some guy with a blog's moment of glory comes as he reports that Ryan Smyth hasn't been signed after all but has been dealt to the Islanders. Unfortunately, he misidentifies him as the Edmonton captain. To his credit, he identifies his source: a New York blogger.

4:09 p.m. Score panel gets the first interview with Smyth's agent, who describes how contract talks broke down.

4:50 p.m. More food is delivered to the Sportsnet set. It isn't clear whether Some guy with a blog had predicted the arrival of more pizza.

Edited February 28, 2007 by Rock

[DevilMinder]

I removed it, it was just for trade day. Thanks for posting the article Rock!

[devilsrule33]

Sportsnet decided to trade credibility in for ratings. I am sure a lot of trade junkies turned into Sportsnet just to see who Єklund (2.3% accurate) (2.3% accurate) is but was it really worth it for the joke that is Єklund (2.3% accurate) (2.3% accurate). Єklund (2.3% accurate) (2.3% accurate) was never shown. If anyone has seen Deal or No Deal, he was exactly like the mystery banker that you never see. He sat upstairs in an office with tinted windows.

[Tretyak 20]

I removed it, it was just for trade day. Thanks for posting the article Rock!

Why remove it? Although it's not totally accurate... it should be "some idiot with a blog".

[NJD Jester]

If anyone has seen Deal or No Deal, he was exactly like the mystery banker that you never see. He sat upstairs in an office with tinted windows.