Sportsnet Balance in Coverage

[dieHARDflameZ]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I don't have a problem with the article, as long as there's equal crap about all the Oilers overrated trash I don't care.

I never read Sportsnet articles though so I have no real opinion on if they're biased or not.

There's no negative media regarding the Oilers, not this season anyways, despite the fact they remain in the basement of the NHL standings.

It's actually quite comical how people continue to gush over that garbage product.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You guys have to realize that in Canada they are more Oilers fans then Flames fans. Goes back to the Oilers dynasties.

So gotta write to your audience

If you're going to pay several hundred million dollars a year for the rights to the national and most of the regional broadcasts, you need to recover that money from ALL of your audience. That means you can't afford to stupidly piss off fans of one team, just because they're not as big a group as fans of another.

If this were an election – first past the post, winner take all – then we would never get any coverage of any team but the Maple Leafs. And the rights holders would be losing their shirts, because the majority of hockey fans in Canada are not Leaf fans and will go out of their way for sports reporting that isn't about the damfool Leafs.

If the guys at Sportsnet think it's OK to run nothing but puff pieces on the Oilers and nothing but hit pieces on the Flames, they shouldn't have bothered paying money for the Flames' regional rights.

[FanIn80]

Wait a minute... People go to Sportsnet's website?

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Pretty sure you know he wasn't saying the number of articles have to be equal. It's about balanced coverage overall

Tough not to slip into old habits isn't it?

No one uses the phrase "BS" as much as ol' moon.

[BigFlameDog]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

No one uses the phrase "BS" as much as ol' moon.

Aahhhh makes sense lol.

[Red Ice Player]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

No one uses the phrase "BS" as much as ol' moon.

Thought he sounded familiar. The Trump avatar was enough for me to put him on ignore.

[Point Blank]

Originally Posted by CgyFlamesftw

So losing only effects the flames coverage? What about edmonton, being #### for years yet gets coverage first. Winnipeg for being mediocre gets coverage first, flames do well last year yet I'm sure the oilers were headlining before the unsustainable flames. Not trying to sound like I'm complaining I could careless. Fact is the flames are the least popular canadian team, we're like the Arizona of the north.

Sigh...

I couldn't care less. But then again the grammar, spelling, and content in your posts in general make me sad so I shouldn't be surprised.

[Alberta_Beef]

I closed the page when the video started and the announcer said the Flames suck. I'm sorry but whether the team is struggling or not that is unprofessional for a national media outlet.

[Conroy4Mayor]

What bothers me about the article is the use of the term "incredibly overrated". Where are the "facts" to back that up? He cleared waivers, got traded for a conditional 5th round draft pick, and gets paid about league average. I don't think that makes him overrated.

The only plausible explanation is that in the context of a possible Hamonic trade, Russell is seen as better value than most of the Oilers defencemen. This made the blogger jealous, hence the need for the blogger to put down the other team's players.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

God forbid they criticize a Flames player. If you have a beef with the guy's conclusions, maybe explain why they're wrong.

The comments on the article are hilarious... this is my favourite:

lolol

It's not a self-explanatory term and most using these stats in the analytics community are not in a rush to educate. Would rather maintain smug air of exclusivity.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

If we're going to focus on how terrible Sportsnet (still) is, we should start with their HD cameras, not their website. Who goes to Sportsnet's website, anyways?

Every time I flip on a hockey game now I have to double check it's the HD version of the channel... How is it possible that HD has gotten worse in the past ten years?

I have to admit their camera quality does look substandard. Watching say and NFL or even CFL game in HD looks stunning today yet SN's hockey coverage is as grainy as the first time they broadcasted an regional Flames game. Looks more like upscaled 480p than 720p or 1080i.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Answer: Compressing the #### out of the data to squeeze more channels into the available bandwidth. A depressingly common problem.

Generally speaking, I agree. But this is something directly caused by Sportsnet. AC posted an excellent comparison photo set one time that really highlighted how terrible Sportsnet is at calibrating their hardware/software.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by saillias

It's not a self-explanatory term and most using these stats in the analytics community are not in a rush to educate. Would rather maintain smug air of exclusivity.

It's more the assumption, without doing 30 seconds of looking into it, that the guy knows what the term means and therefore its name is stupid. He doesn't know what it means. It might not be self explanatory, but there are a dozen easily findable articles with a quick google search that would explain...

http://www.hockey-reference.com/about/glossary.html

http://www.arcticicehockey.com/2014/...re-stupid-easy

etc.

[curves2000]

My biggest issue with the sports media in Canada is the concentration of it to Rogers and Bell Media. These 2 conglomerates own and sponsor I think 10 combined professional sports teams or their buildings. The coverage that they provide via their sports media business and sometimes their traditional media is routinely biased towards padding their bottom line and ratings for their properties. A few examples are given below but please don't take this the wrong way if anyone of your sports teams are mentioned in a negative way.

1) The Blue Jays: As a non-baseball fan I personally don't have an interest in anything baseball but this notion that they are "Canada's Team" is offensive. The whole #cometogether makes me feel like I am an unpatriotic Canadian if I was a baseball fan cheering for another MLB team.

I have been hearing massive hype about the Blue Jays for years!! Praising players, telling us viewers and readers how they are on the cusp of going all the way blah blah blah. What really ended up happening is that they had several seasons of disappointing results despite having a stacked roster (according to Rogers) This past season got off to another traditional medicore start and it wasn't until the big trades in the summer were they able to go all in. They managed to make playoffs, the entire country was force-fed countless hours of Jays hype and all was celebrated as a success the last several years. Maybe I am an old fashion sports fan, but in my book you celebrate and call everything a success when you routinely win. Not 1 playoff series win in over 20 years. Best part of this was the hype I heard around David Price. This guy went from "best pitcher in baseball" according to dozens of media articles and fans I spoke with to a "winless bum" now that it looks like Rogers won't be cutting a cheque for the close to quarter billion dollars hes going to get from another MLB team.

Toronto Raptors: Same as above with regards hype in the last few seasons. The slogan "We the North" also emphasizing that this is Canada's basketball team. Does anyone remember the hype regarding the 2006 1st overall pick Andrea Bargnani? All I heard was how he wanted to come to Toronto cause its a world class city, the Italian community is legendary etc. The guy never really had any meaningful impact in his performance there in my opinion. I just heard a lot of hype. As for that "We the North" campaign, well the last 2 seasons resulted in 1st round playoff exits including a sweep. The players immediately went down SOUTH to their respective homes. Full disclosure, I am not an NBA fan. Zero axe to grind as I prefer college basketball. A recent article I read was hyping up Jonas Valanciunas "enroute to NBA stardom" I didn't know the guy was in the same field as MJ, Lebron, Kobe, Bird etc

Toronto Maple Leafs: Any hockey fan who knows anything doesn't need an explanation above the level of garbage being spewed. I keep reading all these articles praising the high level of success of the Leafs during the Mike Babcock era. A few articles at the beginning of the season praised the work despite only having 1 win. We have been getting media garbage and coverage of that team for decades despite the fact that they are almost a non factor other than a $$$ cash cow.

In the US sports market despite having well over 100 professional teams you don't have ESPN, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox etc owning, operating and arena sponsoring all these teams. I personally find the reporting to be a lot more balanced and fair.

I apologize about this long rant and post but this is something that has irked me for years about certain aspects of our sports here in Canada. Perhaps this comes from Toronto thinking they are the center of the world or something but no other Canadian city or sports franchise has a worse win/loss record vs media hype than the Toronto-based teams.

[Vinny01]

Not sure who Luke Fox is but he posted an article on the Sportsnet App wondering if the Flames can save their season. Gives them a D+ grade and doesn't think they will get in. Makes a bold prediction that Hartley and Treliving are fired but does make the claim it is very bold so I guess that means he doesn't really believe that will happen. Mentions he could see Trelivng chase Hamonic and Bernier

[heep223]

In what world would Treliving get fired wow. That is ridiculous. Hartley being fired is bold, but more within the realm of possibility.

[Inglewood Jack]

Sportsnet went full Lambert man...never go full Lambert

[AC]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Generally speaking, I agree. But this is something directly caused by Sportsnet. AC posted an excellent comparison photo set one time that really highlighted how terrible Sportsnet is at calibrating their hardware/software.

This one?

Sportsnet has the anti-Midas touch. Everything about their broadcast is inferior to whatever the alternative is. (Except maybe that American broadcasts love to show a huge ticker on the bottom, and even shrink the existing feed to do so sometimes).

Anyways, this is an older example but still 100% accurate:

The TSN Jets broadcast of a game vs the Flames Sportsnet. Obviously its the exact same camera source.



The TSN feed is brighter, more vivid, and sharper. How is this an issue still?

Another comparison, this time between Sportsnet and the Predators regional FSN feed:

[MrMastodonFarm]

Think it's even worse now.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

When Rogers Sportsnet is giving idiots like Jonathan Willis and Thomas Drance time and space, they sacrifice all right to be called professional.

I stopped considering them professional a long time ago