I didn't watch that game specifically, but I have been watching other NHL games and have seen a fair amount of both regular commercials (All Rise for MLS!) and in-game promotions for the game of the week.
Consider things sidetracked. Is your comment in response to something that happened? I don't follow the NHL.
You forgot the h in http, and probably better to link to the pic with a racial slur warning for people viewing at work.
Has anyone heard anything about other MLS programming, like a review show or an MLS Tonight or MLS 36 like they do with the NHL and Indycar?
Nothing groundbreaking, just a catching up with the folks at NBC Sports over the performance of NBCSN so far: http://shermanreport.com/miller-on-nbc-sports-network-sports-viewers-want-an-alternative/
Has anyone noticed that NBC seems to use the high and wide camera angles that we see on EPL and other European broadcasts? Just get such a better appreciation of the flow and speed of the game in ways that you don't get with the close camerawork that ESPN prefers. They should take notes. It makes MLS matches look so much more beautifully played when you can get an appreciation of the spacing and ball-movement. Thank you NBC! This is how the game should look.
When the deal was first signed, I read something about them vaguely discussing such a show for 2013. I haven't heard or read anything about it since, but I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed for it. -G
Not soccer related but this caught my attention. It looks like ESPN finally had to say something about NBC Sports and NBCSN. From: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2012/05/shots-fired-nbc-sports-in-war-of-words-with-espn-nbc-sports-network-john-skipper-greg-hughes/1#.T7XoXetYvnj Hopefully, both see MLS as valuable after 2014 and teams finally see some real money coming in.
The circumstances of this upcoming weekend slot of games has made necessary the coming to NBCSN of... J.P. Dellacamera and Brian Dunseth http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/thegoalkeeper/152410395.html It's probably for just this weekend but the article mentions rumors of even more appearances at that network.
Not soccer-related but this is something that should be concerning if you believe that teams should be allowed to have viewing parties for really big games. NBC was said to have stepped in to stop the NJ Devils from having one during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fireice/nbc_blocks_viewing_parties_harrold_happy_for_kings_hoping_to_face_them/ Not cool, as soccer is a sport that is big on big screens for very important games, especially the World Cup. Not to mention the pub culture surrounding regular league matches. Just another thing MLS should consider when deciding who their long-term TV will be after 2014.
That is a pretty poor comparison by any standard. One reason Super clubs are Super clubs is as a natural consequence of having a storied history in professional competition. Also these teams are not made up of show ponies but the very best players in the sports, not to mention they don't play exhibitions against other fictional teams who's only purpose is to roll over and lose embarrassingly. Whatever peoples feelings about "Eurosnobs" I think the reason they prefer to watch the sport being played competitively at the very highest level rather than a more modest level is pretty easy to understand and remember a lot of US fans are no more emotionally invested in a MLS franchise than any storied Euro club. Personally I don't see why someone can not be a fan of both, I know I am.
Hmm, I think the comparison is fine. Not perfect, as with any analogy, but close enough. Real Madrid won by scores of 7-1 and 6-2 in La Liga this year (with 4 draws and 2 losses over the entire season, one to Barcelona). Barcelona won games by scores of 8-0 and 7-0 (with 7 draws and 3 losses, one to Real Madrid). 2nd place Barca was 30 points (!) ahead of the third place team in La Liga. Those La Liga victims of all-star rosters may not be "fictional teams who's only purpose is to roll over and lose embarrassingly" but the effect doesn't look that dissimilar to me. Perhaps you see this as fine and dandy...both clubs have storied histories and some of the best players in the world. I'm not the only one who sees it as problematic: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/sep/07/la-liga-barcelona-real-madrid By the way, I was not talking about the UEFA Champions League (where you might actually be able to make the case that you have the "very best players" in soccer or "the sport being played competitively at the very highest level") but about the increasingly stratified state of domestic leagues like La Liga and the EPL. I'd also love to know how Manchester City's storied history relates to their current status as a "Super club". As I posted in this very thread, "it's not that I don't watch soccer outside of MLS or am 'hating' on Barcelona. I'd just like to see the domestic league keep growing."
I think you missed the point, there is a world of difference between a team that plays competitively and one that plays for exhibition only just as there is a world of difference between a World power house of a sport because of their history and support and fictional teams whose only support is the hype machine behind them and have never won a competitive trophy. That is why it is such a poor comparison. If you want to talk about the current dominance of some super clubs in their leagues then fine (that's for another thread) but there is still no comparison to be had or arguments to be made that it is comparative to a basketball team playing exhibition games. Also Manchester City are not a Super club, that shows a lack of understanding on your part. You need a glorious history and/or to be able to stand on your own without benefactors and be recognised worldwide for that to be true. If Man City lost their owners they would go back to being Man Shitty - if Man Utd had never seen the ugly mugs of the thieving scum suckers the Glazer family they would be at least £500,000,000 better off right now and still a force and a super club.
No, I didn't miss the point. I think you have an overly restrictive understanding of analogy. Read the article where a former Real Madrid general manager is quoted as follows: "In the future Madrid and Barcelona will have to look at teams that travel at the same speed as them and that will lead to a European league." Does that make La Liga sound highly competitive to you or does it sound more like a competition that is somewhat predetermined at the outset? Your repeated insistence that it's such a poor comparison is particularly interesting given your emotional and highly selective definition of "Super club." In any case, I don't see much point in continuing a conversation with someone who tries to lecture me like a schoolmarm and dismisses any disagreement with "that shows a lack of understanding on your part." Have a nice day, Mucky.
Harlem Globetrotters versus Washington Generals: a team of all-stars versus a team of complete nobodies with no prayer of winning. Real Madrid or Barcelona versus almost any other team in La Liga: a team of all-stars versus a team of complete nobodies with no prayer of winning. Seems like a perfectly fine analogy to me. I'd actually planned to make it myself. The fact that the situation is contrived in one case and evolved (more or less) naturally in the other is beside the point, which is that a game between Barca or Real and some other Spanish team is essentially an exhibition. The result is not in doubt, and you only watch in the hope that one of the big stars will do something entertaining. ------RM
Sorry you felt offended you described a club that has just won its first championship in forty years, has never won the European cup or champions league and is not at all world renowned as a super club. That in my opinion shows a lack of understanding as to what a super club is. Your analogy was that watching Real Madrid in a competitive La Liga game was like watching the a basketball team made up solely for the purpose of exhibition games in which they we're not allowed to lose. I say that is self evidently a poor analogy. There is nothing wrong with the argument that Barcelona and Real Madrid currently dominate La Liga to such an extent it is unhealthy but you were wondering why people would rather watch La Liga than MLS and thus made your misplaced analogy out of scorn. In that context do you think people would rather watch the Harlem Globe Trotters on TV than a competitive NBA game between even the best and worse teams in the division where the result was in little doubt? There is nothing contrived about La Liga games, no make believe teams, no predetermined plays agreed by both teams, no shenanigans or goofing around, no predetermined result. If the players and team don't perform they don't win and the fact that they are better than most other teams and likely to win does not make all the other points moot and the analogy good. I am disagreeing with you just as you are disagreeing with me, no need to go into a sulk about it.