How pumped was I for hockey being back? I got up before 7.00am on a Sunday ready to watch the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings raise their Championship Banner before taking on the Chicago Blackhawks in the first game of a season we've waited a long time for.
In America, the plan was for NBC to show the entire Stanley Cup ceremony and the first five minutes (real time) of the Kings vs. 'Hawks and then some of the country would switch over to the Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh game. But not FOX Sports Two in Australia, at least not according to their Electronic Program Guide.
When Dave Strader announced that the Pens vs. Flyers game was about to start I expected nothing to change...but a few seconds later, we got the usual arena shot behind the Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia graphic. Eh, no big deal - I mean, hockey's hockey, right? And we've waited long enough. And it wasn't as though they'd switched over to a boring match-up. Pens vs. Flyers is blood rivalry stuff, so it wasn't all bad.
Except that the NBC commentary didn't come along with it. I mean, it was kinda nice to not hear Pierre McGuire between the benches, but oddly more annoying to see him talking without the words coming out. And I missed Doc Emrick's voice. The game started....and continued...and continued. No sound. Finally a graphic promising that audio would be back. Then another graphic announcing that FOX Sports would resume Chicago vs. LA coverage soon.
Then an ad break. A random one. Come back, and there's a second goal on the board for Pittsburgh. So we missed a goal, but finally the sound is back. No sign of the defending Stanley Cup champions. Crowd restless in Philly, down 0-2 to their hated rivals. Starting to feel the same way. But at least there's a game with sound on my TV.
8:06 gone in the first period and a graphic comes up. FOX Sports "endeavouring" to return us to Chicago vs. LA shortly. Finally, at the end of the first period in Philadelphia and after an intermission report...back to LA. Hello, Strades, Edzo and Engblom. But really? It's 3-0 already. Half the scoring's done. The game's basically over. Why did FOX not just stick with the battle east in Philadelphia? At least we'd seen the entire contest - albeit some without sound, but still, the pictures were there - and it made sense to continue. Instead, we saw a period of one game and two periods of another. Disjointed viewing if ever I've seen it...and a strange start to the already strange 2013 of the National Hockey League
Not a good start for FOX Sports. Two live games a week will be awesome, as long as we can get sound and picture for both. And one full game, rather than bits of both. Not too much to ask, is it?
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