Monday, February 2, 2009

Okay... How 'Bout The "Wussification" Of Hockey...

After the use of the word "pansification" was used by hockey analyst Mike Milbury, certain activist groups came down on him in the past week for his choice in vocabulary.

Milbury got, somewhat, of an opportunity to address the fallout in the first two minutes of the "Satellite Hotstove" segment on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" through a series of one-liners. Apparently, the bosses at the network tried to contact him to tell him to come up with another word to use...

Somewhat of a loose agreement between Milbury and host Ron McLean was agreed to...
You gotta love middle ground...
((HT: CBC Sports/NHL))

Later in the evening, highlight guy PJ Stock tried to post Milbury's cell phone number from the 612 area code over his left shoulder before he went to work. CBC tried to break out both a black dot and Ron McLean's right hand to block the shot.

Aren't teammates great...?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The whole world, let alone hockey, has been "pansified!!"

While I usually don't agree with Milbury, he's right on the money this time!

It's a shame that analysts are hired for sharing their personal opinions--only to be muzzled and told what to say by the corporations!!

Villainpingouin said...

...and the wussification continues...The OHF (Ontario Hockey Federation) has now outlawed body checking in House League Hockey (but not Rep. League Hockey) in 2011 because of the perceived high number of injuries to young players (even though Stats Canada shows that hockey is third in the list of injuries following basketball and soccer). The news media all say that this is the step in the right direction but has the real agenda been researched?

House League hockey was a haven for Rep Level players and their parents who where tired of Rep Level coach's "win at all cost" attitute, the shortening of benches, the high cost of being a "pine rider" and the rest of the bovine scattology politics. This resulted in Rep level players enrolling in House League much to the dismay of Rep League coaches where some Northern Ontario House League teams could have almost competed with Rep Level teams.

The best way to get rid of this problem? Take body checking out of House League, making it so much less appealing keeping the Rep Level teams in high numbers where Rep Level teams can still make the most money.

When you can't get what you want, snivell long enough and get the rules changed...