Scene: Hockey Night In Canada's Coach's Corner. Don Cherry in full voice... "It's our game, eh. And you've got these guys, these guys taking jobs from good Canadian boys! It's a disgrace!"
Typically, this is how Cherry laments the loss of playing jobs to players from outside the country. But in the wake of the Edmonton Oilers hiring an American Jack Michaels as their radio play-by-play (PBP) announcer, some people are imitating Cherry in asking the musical question, "Wasn't there a Canadian good enough for the Edmonton radio job?" After all, almost every Canadian sports announcer with a pulse was interested.
Michaels is a Pennsylvania native with more than 900 games to his credit who most recently called the games of the ECHL Alaska Aces. (PBP cognoscenti give him big props.) So Usual Suspects asked Alan Watt, the Oilers' executive in charge of media: Couldn't any announcer in the land of hockey pass muster for the team in Alberta's capital?
"I don't think it's much different than a Canadian symphony bringing in a guy from Milwaukee to conduct their orchestra," Watt said Monday. "There's a long list of Canadians who have announcing jobs in the U.S., and no one is bothered. The game itself is now full of Russians and Swedes and Czechs, so I think that's a little bit xenophobic to say we have to hire a Canadian in Edmonton.
"When we got into this process we said, 'Let's hire the best guy.' From the beginning we looked at everyone. Then, when we got it down to 20 names we set our criteria. It was close, very close. But Jack just kept cutting through as the best. This was not a one-person decision. It was not easy. But we feel we've got the right guy."
Fair enough. But can he find Wetaskiwin on a map?
Watt says he learned something from the exhaustive process of selecting a successor to Hall of Fame honouree Rod Phillips. It's getting harder to make a living in the business these days.
"There are fewer places where young guy can get 200-300 games experience calling games and still make a living these days. It's tough sledding out there for them to get the mentoring and support you need. Plus, these jobs often only come open once in a decade or two. A lot of guys just can't hang on that long."
Michaels did and joins Taylor Hall as an Oilers rookie in 2010-11.
Do As I Say: Strong segment Tuesday on Andrew Krystal's FAN 590 show with Dahna Sanderson, mother of Don Sanderson, the Whitby Dunlops player who died after striking his head on the ice during a fight in 2009. Krytstal cited recent American research indicating that hockey has the highest risk of concussion amongst the major sports/ recreation activities - higher than football even. Sanderson, whose family sponsored a symposium on sports-related concussion at York University Tuesday, cited the disconnect between what young players are taught on safety and what they see on TV.
While young players are shown the essentials of safety, they receive a different message at the pro level: players wearing equipment inappropriately, checking from behind and no respect between opponents. And while Cherry tried to horn in on the Sanderson's tragedy to promote his fighting mandate last year, Sanderson told Krystal she understood the passions of the sport but saw no place for it in the game.
It was a lively, topical current affairs segment. It remains to be seen if FAN listeners want the temperature of the room raised that much from the previous format. Predictably, there has been pushback from the sweats outraged by changing tone, but the FAN seems firm in keeping the faith with its change.
I Don't Wanna' Go To Rehab: As reported earlier, Jay Mariotti, one of the regulars on ESPN/TSN's Around The Horn, was arrested on charges of domestic assault two weeks ago in Los Angeles. That brought a deluge of criticism for the acerbic Mariotti from his media peers. Mariotti has not returned to the show, but that doesn't mean the show's stars ignored him as it resumed taping. (ESPN says it has no "set plans" to use the voluble Mariotti any time soon.)
Host Tony Reali broached the subject. ""Now let's get awkward. Fanhouse columnist and long-time Around The Horn panelist Jay Mariotti was arrested last week in Los Angeles following an alleged domestic dispute. What followed that was an avalanche of criticism toward Mariotti from fans and athletes and even media. Guys, the charges are the charges. But what is your reaction to the reaction?"
The reactions ranged from neutral to Woody Paige's "We have chosen, all of us, to go on this national stage and offer strong, powerful opinions, and as a result of that, sometimes the critics become criticized." Bob Ryan, who was suspended himself back in 2003, offered, ""I only regret Jay does not enjoy that same support [I had]but he'll have to start rethinking about how he's going about his business."
Incoming: How to become famous. German TV talking head Jessica Kastrop took a ball to the noggin while doing her show live. The video went viral. So naturally, CBS dropped everything to get the scoop on The Early Show. Watch for the helmet. BTW: It's the third time she's been konked live on air. Which we think it's simply showing off.
The Twit In Twitter: Finally, Washington Post reporter Mike Wise thought he'd make a point about Twitter. So he tweeted a false story about Ben Roethlisberger's NFL suspension being reduced to five games. The idea was to show unsubstantiated rumours go viral, are stolen by rivals and generally have no credibility. Instead, Wise's scoop was reported-- with credit-- by the media. The blogosphere failed to go insane. Wise's trusted reputation led everyone to believe his scoop.
In short, he punked himself, not the media. Monday, Wise announced he'd been suspended for a month by the Post. He did not report it on Twitter, however.