Spectacular

Over the weekend, the NHL staged their latest Winter Classic outdoor game, a matchup that pits two teams outdoors, in the elements, hearkening back to hockey's roots...or at least, that's the nostalgic frame the NHL is selling us. Anyway, the event took place at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh and featured the hometown Penguins against the Washington Capitals.

The Caps took the win in the league's 4th annual event, which was postponed to an 8pm start time due to rain, but garnered the highest ratings of any Winter Classic and was the most watched regular season NHL game since 1975.

The lead play-by-play announcer Doc Emrick couldn't resist the word "spectacle" at least 3 or 4 times during the NBC telecast. Here's what he meant by it.

The opening faceoff at Heinz Field

The game featured an announced crowd of 68,111

Well, when it comes to spectacle, the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) saw the NHL spectacle and attempted to do it one better. Borrowing the out-of-place playing field notion, with the Penguins and Capitals tussling in an NFL stadium, the ATP put its two top male players - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - on a floating tennis court in the middle of Doha Bay, Qatar, to publicize the start of the 2011 ATP season.

Good luck fetching aces

Federer

Now, the ATP has been known to pull out all the stops to promote the beginning of the tennis season. The last two New Year's Days in Doha featured Rafa and Federer playing atop a floating magic carpet (2009) and on a platformed boat (2010).

New Year's Day 2009 in Doha

New Year's Day 2010 in Doha Bay

But with the two tennis greats facing each other on a floating court, NHL, consider the stakes for spectacle raised.

HBO's 24/7, aka the 2011 NHL Winter Classic hype machine

A couple of story lines previewed in this 12 minute clip from HBO's production of 24/7, a series about the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins matchup in the 2011 NHL Winter Classic.

In no particular order:

• First, playing hockey outdoors is fundamentally special and, also, returns the game "to its' roots." Except for the fireworks and the overwhelming amount of corporate sponsorship, of course.
• Second, HBO behind-the-scenes shows are awesome.
• Third, these two teams have a rivalry that is concentrated around their two superstars, Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. And, both teams are Stanley Cup contenders.
• Fourth, although the third narrative will be prevalent - these teams have other characters that will be interesting to watch.
• Fifth, hockey players are tough.
• Sixth, nobody - apparently - knows what hockey players do off the ice.

Should be an interesting series, especially as an "innovative" extension of the sports/media spectacle.

Canada's Stanley Cup Coverage puts NBC to shame

As in many things hockey, the Canadian Broadcasting Company is putting NBC's lackluster approach to the Stanley Cup Finals to shame.

Time to admit that yes, even with these guys, Canada does it better.

Evidence?  Exhibit A and B, from the CBC, below.  From the opening night (Saturday) of the Stanley Cup Finals...

Sinatra, the history of both franchises, and one of the wildest arenas in all of sport? Well done.  And from last night's coverage of game two of the Stanley Cup Finals...

My favorite part?  About 1:10 in, where you can see Patrick Sharp yelling from the bench at pulled Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton.  The production firepower for NBC's Stanley Cup Finals broadcasts don't even come close.  This is all I could find online from Game 1, and I can assure you that Game 2's intro video was just as short and lame.

I guess that should be expected, considering how low hockey is on the totem pole in the United States, but still - if the Stanley Cup is your property, NBC, wouldn't you give it half the consideration and production power of that overblown, completely out-of-touch venture you call Sunday Night Football?

Well, remember, this is NBC we're talking about.  Still, NBC network executives are probably ecstatic with the Stanley Cup Finals, considering their coverage on Saturday night produced the highest overnight ratings for the opening game of Stanley Cup Finals in 11 years and a 12% jump over last year's opening game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.  While national viewership figures won't be available until tomorrow (Wednesday), we already know that the overnight figures for game 2 produced the highest-rated game 2 numbers in 35 years and a 21% jump from last year's game.

Still, couldn't they put a bit more effort into their production?  As it stands, CBC's coverage is all the more interesting because they are formulating an actual narrative.  A narrative - with all of the dramas, twists and turns, and so on - sells the broadcast.  Seems like common sense.

Never doubt the passion of 20,000 hockey-mad Montrealers...

By defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference semifinals tonight by a score of 5-2, the Montreal Canadiens became just the second 8-seed to advance past the first round of the NHL playoffs (the Canadiens were just the 9th number 8-seed to advance past the first round).

The only other team to do it?  The 2005-2006 Edmonton Oilers, who ran a hot streak past the Red Wings, Sharks, and Mighty Ducks to reach the '06 Stanley Cup Finals.  The Oilers ended up losing that series to the Carolina Hurricanes (the Eastern Conference's number 2-seed) in seven games.

However, not even the Oilers can share in the incredulousness of the Canadiens' run because, by beating the Capitals in the first round and the Penguins in the second, the Canadiens defeated the President's Trophy winners and the defending Stanley Cup Champions in successive series.  And that's never been done by an 8-seed in the NHL playoffs.  Ever.

Canadiens fans inside the Bell Center celebrate a first period goal 

against the Penguins on Wednesday night.  Or maybe they just found out 

they could save up to 15% on their car insurance by switching to Geico.

As a result of tonight's victory in Pittsburgh, I'm sure the 20,000 fans who packed the Bell Centre in Montreal are going bananas.  That's right, tonight's game was a sellout hundreds of miles away in Montreal, where the Bell Centre sold out for fans willing to watch the game on the arena's Jumbotron.  According to this report from CTV, the Bell Centre sold out in about 40 minutes.  Tickets were sold by the team for $10 a piece, but scalpers reported that values had increased to about $40-50 at game time.

They love their hockey in Montreal but, in fairness, that is a 

pretty decent-sized HD screen.

When I see something like this, where a team can fill a stadium without even playing in it, I think about the power of sports - and also the power of media.  Because it's not everyday you can attend an NHL-viewing house party with 20,000 of your craziest hockey friends.

The NHL is getting better at this Winter Classic thing

The nostalgia streams are on full blast in this 7-minute montage of the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.  Appreciate it for yourselves, as the NHL piles on the memories...

...your dad used to skate on your backyard pond too, right?  I suggest watching this in HD, nothing says classic memory like a slow-motion HD montage (is that the "Rudy" music in the background?).

Combined with their recent playoff ad series, "History will be made," the NHL's devotion to memory, history, and nostalgia is becoming their bread-and-butter.  Which is fine, except I am a little thrown-off when the NHL adds Mike Cammalleri's swatted-in goal from game two of the current Canadiens-Penguins Eastern Conference semifinals series.

Previous "History will be made" commercials feature Ray Bourque, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, in some of the most iconic moments in the history of the sport.  You're telling me, NHL, that Cammalleri's go-ahead goal (the Canadiens eventually won the game 3-1) in the second period deserves to be on the same historical echelon?  I dunno about that.

Sports leagues tap into Apple's latest gadget

An incredible sports Monday.  Considering that yesterday marked baseball's opening day, Tiger Woods' press conference at Augusta National, and the thrilling NCAA men's championship game, it's an incredible amount of sports fodder for consideration.

However, I cannot help thinking about the big news from this past Saturday, namely, the release of the Apple iPad.  Make whatever joke you please about the latest Apple gadget (and its' name), but I'm hard pressed not to consider mass media theorist Marshall McLuhan's famous adage: the medium is the message.  And, in concert with the recent influx of sports in 3-D, it's hard not to notice all the new and different ways that media are changing the way we watch sports.

People wait in line Saturday morning at the NYC Apple Store on 5th Avenue.

Where is Triumph the Insult Comic Dog when you need him?

Keeping that idea in mind, I look forward to seeing how the coverage of sports evolves to fit the iPad (to be fair, several other companies are initiating tablet PCs as well). While most leagues have already unveiled websites that are "optimized" for the iPad, some are developing more advanced applications for watching and keeping track of games.

It appears that Major League Baseball is the first to launch a video-capable application that is available for subscribers to MLB.tv.  Here's a look at a couple screenshots for a game between the Mets and Nationals.

These screenshots assume that you would actually 

want to watch the Mets and the Nationals.

Other leagues seem more focused on providing applications or web sites that enable a more in-depth experience for watching games by utilizing the iPad as a "second screen."  As a result, you'll notice that the MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLS (Major League Soccer - a stretch, I know) web sites are now organized to fit the screen dimensions of iPads.

Many of those league web sites have recently been re-designed, specifically for the launch of technologies such as the iPad.  Taking it one step further, however, the NBA has created the following application to lure in fans to that "second screen" experience:

I have a hard time seeing why the video asserts "you can see who's on the court and on the bench," when, presumptively, if you're watching the game you will know that information.  But, then again, maybe you won't?  I don't know.

In all, if we have learned anything about Apple and innovation, then tablet computing is apparently here to stay.  And so, the ways in which it will change how we watch sports will likely evolve over time as further iterations of tablets are produced.  But, for now, it appears that when it comes to watching sports, the various leagues are looking to provide you with as much information - and as many distractions - as possible.

To see who's on the court.  Really?

A couple questions that I'm not sure how to answer: first, is that good for sports?  And second, irrespective of the first question, does technology like iPhones and iPad lend themselves to the statistical overload that has engulfed sports fandom since the dawn of fantasy sports leagues?

And while it's hard not to believe that all of this is great for sports somehow, I am more intrigued by technologies that demonstrate how our media continues to define the message.