Neutral View on USA vs. Russia

[espo*]

Not really. Hockey isnt a sport that is widely watched here in the states. If you they spot lighted forgeign teams there would be even less.

i guess...could'nt understand your last point made in the last sentence. Still,we still show the games of the U.S and you guys don't show Canada's so i don't see where your point is valid.You either show them or you don't and you don't.We do show you so saying we only focus on Canada is false yes?We have to not show anyone else for that to be justified. Logical i think

 

[The Gabe Blade]

i guess...could'nt understand your last point made in the last sentence. Still,we still show the games of the U.S and you guys don't show Canada's so i don't see where your point is valid.You either show them or you don't and you don't.We do show you so saying we only focus on Canada is false yes?We have to not show anyone else for that to be justified. Logical i think

Does Canadian tv, televise more American Football or Canadian leagues?

 

[espo*]

Does Canadian tv, televise more American Football or Canadian leagues?

NfL.....behind hockey it's easily the most anticipated and watched sports programming here.The only game the cfl gets that has bettyer ratings then for nfl games is the grey cup championship game....that's it.Nfl football is big here and getting bigger all the time. Way more popular then cfl.

 

[jcpenny]

We Canadians watch more American TV than ours. We even showed the US games. During the Olympics we showed every discipline sports even if there wasnt any canadian in it. In the US its always about them cuz most of the people there do not care bout the other countries because they know nothing about them.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

We Canadians watch more American TV than ours. We even showed the US games. During the Olympics we showed every discipline sports even if there wasnt any canadian in it. In the US its always about them cuz most of the people there do not care bout the other countries because they know nothing about them.

It's clear most of the people in this thread have no concept of marketing or accurate knowledge of American television viewing habits or the role hockey plays in our culture. That's not a surprise though, since I see ignorance here all the time, from all sides.

 

[espo*]

It's clear most of the people in this thread have no concept of marketing or accurate knowledge of American television viewing habits or the role hockey plays in our culture. That's not a surprise though, since I see ignorance here all the time, from all sides.

You're right....i have this funny feeling it's gonna take a turn for the better soon however.....i know that sounds impossible but i can feel it.

 

[jcpenny]

It's clear most of the people in this thread have no concept of marketing or accurate knowledge of American television viewing habits or the role hockey plays in our culture. That's not a surprise though, since I see ignorance here all the time, from all sides.

Yeah youre right but its not only about hockey. Its about everything and thats why the average american dont no squat about other cultures or what goes on in other countries. Its not because youre on top of the world that you dont have to look down. It can be helpful sometimes, 9/11 anyone?

I dont want to turn this in a rant against the US but its the truth.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Yeah youre right but its not only about hockey. Its about everything and thats why the average american dont no squat about other cultures or what goes on in other countries. Its not because youre on top of the world that you dont have to look down. It can be helpful sometimes, 9/11 anyone?

I dont want to turn this in a rant against the US but its the truth.

Yeah, we dont no squat about nothin...........

 

[Devonator]

Uh to the original poster on this thread!! Have you EVER seen the Canadian announcers and there brutal bias towards the Canadian team all the time???

Seriously it is mind numbing and gagging......as an Albertan that pulls for the Russian and American teams, I wish I had a feed to other broadcasts because the homerism cannot be ANY worse then it is listening to TSN!!

 

[Barnaby]

i guess...could'nt understand your last point made in the last sentence. Still,we still show the games of the U.S and you guys don't show Canada's so i don't see where your point is valid.You either show them or you don't and you don't.We do show you so saying we only focus on Canada is false yes?We have to not show anyone else for that to be justified. Logical i think

We don't show them because noone even watches US hockey at this point. Re-run boxing which isn't big at all any more, and World Series Poker is on over US Bronze metal game. If the US team doesn't get ratings then who will watch the other countries? It's called a business. If you put on Oilers-Stars in NY it won't get the ratings of a Ranger-Flyer game because people are more likely to watch their team play. When less then one percent watch US hockey, then how many will watch other nations? It's not that difficult a concept. I wish it was different, but it's not. It's the same reason you see Yankee and Mets games in NY as opposed to the Seatle Mariners... more people want to watch their team. The avergae fan doesn't care that much about the Mariners!!

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

We don't show them because noone even watches US hockey at this point. Re-run boxing which isn't big at all any more, and World Series Poker is on over US Bronze metal game. If the US team doesn't get ratings then who will watch the other countries? It's called a business. If you put on Oilers-Stars in NY it won't get the ratings of a Ranger-Flyer game because people are more likely to watch their team play. When less then one percent watch US hockey, then how many will watch other nations? It's not that difficult a concept. I wish it was different, but it's not. It's the same reason you see Yankee and Mets games in NY as opposed to the Seatle Mariners... more people want to watch their team. The avergae fan doesn't care that much about the Mariners!!

I would have to say that ESPN is about as ignorant as some of their commentators. There is NO WAY that CLASSIC BOXING will get higher ratings than a CANADA VS. RUSSIA FINAL! do any of you know how many RUSSIANS and RUSSIAN HOCKEY FANS live in the USA??? Let me just say that there are more Russian Hockey Fans in just NEW YORK than there are CLASSIC BOXING fans ! If ESPN cared at all about other nationalities and did a bit more research...they would realize their mistake

 

[Paxon]

I would have to say that ESPN is about as ignorant as some of their commentators. There is NO WAY that CLASSIC BOXING will get higher ratings than a CANADA VS. RUSSIA FINAL! do any of you know how many RUSSIANS and RUSSIAN HOCKEY FANS live in the USA??? Let me just say that there are more Russian Hockey Fans in just NEW YORK than there are CLASSIC BOXING fans ! If ESPN cared at all about other nationalities and did a bit more research...they would realize their mistake

Somehow I doubt ESPN is made up of all 3rd+ generation, white Americans.

However, why should they care about other nationalities? It is an American station and most viewers' nationality is American.

There are likely more boxing fans than hockey fans in NYC, the fact that it is a classic match is probably negligible.

To say there is no way boxing would get more ratings is a huge stretch. More people may knowingly tune in to watch the hockey game, but more channel surfers will stay to watch the boxing.

I hate this decision... classic boxing should only be on ESPN classic. If they were really the leader in sports, they'd show current sports rather than old stuff. But they are a business and nothing more.

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

Somehow I doubt ESPN is made up of all 3rd+ generation, white Americans.

However, why should they care about other nationalities? It is an American station and most viewers' nationality is American.
There are likely more boxing fans than hockey fans in NYC, the fact that it is a classic match is probably negligible.
To say there is no way boxing would get more ratings is a huge stretch. More people may knowingly tune in to watch the hockey game, but more channel surfers will stay to watch the boxing.
I hate this decision... classic boxing should only be on ESPN classic. If they were really the leader in sports, they'd show current sports rather than old stuff. But they are a business and nothing more.

see, its not just about Ratings. i will still disagree with u on the ratings even. i mean, its a RERUN of a boxing match, not even a LIVE match. I live in NY and i know just how many Russians live here and most of them LOVE hockey. this is just NY mind u...one state out of 50.
but the BIGGER issue is this: lets say u show BOXING. i feel that only RUINS the reputation of ESPN. Hockey fans are a very LOYAL bunch. We want loyal TV stations that show us what we expect to SEE. so next time that ESPN and MSG/CENTER ICE show the same game...believe me,i wont be watching it on ESPN :lol

 

[Paxon]

see, its not just about Ratings. i will still disagree with u on the ratings even. i mean, its a RERUN of a boxing match, not even a LIVE match. I live in NY and i know just how many Russians live here and most of them LOVE hockey. this is just NY mind u...one state out of 50.
but the BIGGER issue is this: lets say u show BOXING. i feel that only RUINS the reputation of ESPN. Hockey fans are a very LOYAL bunch. We want loyal TV stations that show us what we expect to SEE. so next time that ESPN and MSG/CENTER ICE show the same game...believe me,i wont be watching it on ESPN :lol

I live in NY, too, and I only know a few people with Russian ancestry. You're talking about the city, which is one city out of hundreds. And it doesn't at all typify the country's population at that. How bad will it hurt their reputation when most of their viewers will be happy with the decision?

If I'm not mistaken, women's college basketball outdraws NHL games on ESPN/ESPN2, so I really don't think it'd get more ratings.

I agree, I'd much rather watch a game on MSG/Empire/Center Ice... mostly because they have a better product (much better announcers). I don't like ESPN at all and I don't like this decision.

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

I live in NY, too, and I only know a few people with Russian ancestry. You're talking about the city, which is one city out of hundreds. And it doesn't at all typify the country's population at that. How bad will it hurt their reputation when most of their viewers will be happy with the decision?
QUOTE]


its not just NY, there are huge Russian populations in other areas...like Chicago and NJ. also, many Russians are hockey fans...

again, its not just about ratings, its about the reputation of ESPN that its hurting by doing this

 

[Paxon]

again, its not just about ratings, its about the reputation of ESPN that its hurting by doing this

Yes, but it is only hurting its reputation with us, the lowly hockey fans. Since we don't represent a large percentage of their cash cow, they simply don't care. It won't hurt their reputation with most sports fans, especially because they'll never know it happened, which is the biggest shame.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

i'll actually agree with this. i think the taunting is just as low as the cheap shots. but as you guys said, once the Russian players get to the NHL, they will learn really fast that taunting doesnt go unpunished there. i think Ovechkin will have a harder time dealing with it than some others, but he'll learn.

clearly the US networks should cater to their US audience. I totally agree with that too. I also know its hard for them to be objective, espeically when there is a rivalry between the two teams. However, I just feel if u cant be objective, than at least dont just throw all the blame on one team. There has to be some professionalism at least...

i think every country's networks is going to be objective to a certian point. espn,tsn.ca and im sure some of the euro netorks are allways going to be partial to the country they cover. But please dont act like its ESPN that acts the way they do. As far as the Americans playing dirty i saw some of the stuff going both ways, and its not like it wasnt getting called because it was. the only stuff wasnt getting called was the olympic diving exibition put on by the Russians. I am not bitter at the game. The Russians were the better team they deserved to win and took advantage of the breaks givin to them.

 

[octopi]

I'd just like to add that TSN(Canadian) was all over the Russians for "taunting" .They even compaired Ovechkin and a certain Canadian teen phenom who shall remain unnamed so as not to start a flame war, saying that Ovechkin would never be the complete player the young Canadian would someday be because of Ovechkin's behavior during the tournament. That's right, folks, you heard it here first. Ovechkin won't be The Next Best Thing because of speculations from ONE 7 game tournament. Personally, I feel Ovechkin wasn't taunting at all. Nothing wrong with hyper celebrating the insurance goal. Perhaps the fans were taunting him so that was what the thing with his jersey was all about. Malkin, however skated right to the American bench and looked like he was trying to tap their gloves like he would normally do with his teamates. IMHO, that went to far.

As far as the overall bad points: Americans:Hits from behind, slashing.
Russians: Taunting, Exaggerating injuries.

 

[espo*]

We don't show them because noone even watches US hockey at this point. Re-run boxing which isn't big at all any more, and World Series Poker is on over US Bronze metal game. If the US team doesn't get ratings then who will watch the other countries? It's called a business. If you put on Oilers-Stars in NY it won't get the ratings of a Ranger-Flyer game because people are more likely to watch their team play. When less then one percent watch US hockey, then how many will watch other nations? It's not that difficult a concept. I wish it was different, but it's not. It's the same reason you see Yankee and Mets games in NY as opposed to the Seatle Mariners... more people want to watch their team. The avergae fan doesn't care that much about the Mariners!!

I understand why you don't show them.....i always have....the ratings would'nt be there but you're missing my point.The poster brought up Canada giving their team preferential treatment to Team Canada(of course,same with any country) but it makes no sense to bring it up when we at least show games not involving our country.....U.S can't make the same claim so why slag us on something like that considering your networks won't even show one game involving us.......does'nt make sense does it? That's the point.....i totally understand why espn or other stations don't show our games.

 

[HockeyCritter]

I would have to say that ESPN is about as ignorant as some of their commentators. There is NO WAY that CLASSIC BOXING will get higher ratings than a CANADA VS. RUSSIA FINAL! do any of you know how many RUSSIANS and RUSSIAN HOCKEY FANS live in the USA??? Let me just say that there are more Russian Hockey Fans in just NEW YORK than there are CLASSIC BOXING fans ! If ESPN cared at all about other nationalities and did a bit more research...they would realize their mistake

Do you realize that this game is also on at the same time the Orange Bowl is being played? While there might be a lot of Russians and Russian hockey fans live in the US, I'm pretty sure that that number pales in comparison to college football fans.

I suspect ESPN was going to run a tape of an old boxing match because they anticipated lower viewership and throwing in a taped sporting event cost them no money.

But since it seems ESPN will be broadcasting the show (most likely since they've already accrued production costs) the point is moot.

 

[wilka91*]

I agree with you 100%

Me too! 100%

 

[The Gabe Blade]

NfL.....behind hockey it's easily the most anticipated and watched sports programming here.The only game the cfl gets that has bettyer ratings then for nfl games is the grey cup championship game....that's it.Nfl football is big here and getting bigger all the time. Way more popular then cfl.

So that proves that all stations only care about ratings. And since Im sure more people watched the weather channel then hockey, why would they show a forgein country sports that would get less viewership?

 

[wilka91*]

Best post of the day. Period

Best ever on this website

 

[espo*]

So that proves that all stations only care about ratings. And since Im sure more people watched the weather channel then hockey, why would they show a forgein country sports that would get less viewership?

I'll try this again.I said i know and agree why they don't show our games in the U.S.A...understandable......what i don't understand is why you would bring in a point about Canada caring more about Canadian teams when at the very least we show games that don't involve us while you don't,what was the point?.Just seems like something that does'nt make sense considering the reality just mentioned......seems like throwing stones when there is no high ground on your side to bother doing it.......i hope this is cleared up now.This was never about WHY you don't show them but everything about asking why would you bring up something about Canada caring about it's own teams more(natural) when at least we show your games and the same is not done the other way around......o.k....i think this is cleared up now...hope so

 

[Oi'll say!]

There is so much bitterness going on on this site between the Russian and American fans that it needs to stop. This site should be dedicated to intelligent talks about HOCKEY...not to rather nationalistic and shallow fights. Although i was born in Ukraine, I have always prided myself in trying to look at BOTH sides of the story and to be OPENMINDED. thats why while i cheer for Russia, I also cheer for the U.S.A and Sweden and any other team that i think plays a FUN style. I mean, why cant a Canadian cheer for Russia if he likes their style of play? Why cant a Russian enjoy how the USA team players like KESSEL play? I know i enjoy Kessel and i'm Russian.

What i'm trying to say is, people here need to STOP being so PATRIOTIC for a second...and start showing more RESPECT to other nations and teams. The USA coverage of this WJC on ESPN has been SICKENING to me and to many other fans from Russia, Sweden, Finland, etc. The USA always makes their teams look like ANGELS and GODS, while showing no respect or recognition to other teams. I mean, look at how the USA shows the OLYMPICS...they MOSTLY show USA competitions, talk about only USA participants, etc! My point is, such SHALLOW coverage from teh USA is what triggers USA fans to not respect other nations and teams. I will be the FIRST to admit that what the Russian team did with its taunting was TOTALLY WRONG no matter what. However, did even one USA commentator on ESPN say ANYTHING about how OVECHKIN got hit in the face way before the taunting began? I will not even mention the cheap shots by DOWING and other players. I will also be the first to admit that Ovechkin is not a leader and he is rather selfish in his celebrations. But has anyone seen Malkin, who is a class act, EVER TAUNT anyone??? HE NEVER DOES THAT. The only reason why he did some taunting in this game(which he wasnt great at) is because he also got FED UP with being hit in the face and seeing these cheap shots to his TEAMMATES...he is very much a TEAM PLAYER.

MY point is, everyone here needs to learn to look at BOTH sides of a story, not just ONE side. It is a shame that ESPN hides one side of the story while glorifying the other...but that doesnt mean that the viewers have to be GULLIBLE

All of the praise for this post is misplaced due to one glaring falsehood. It's a perfect example of how opinions can be manipulated by misinformation and why you should never rush to judgement based on the facts reported in the media or by any other 3rd party source.