Tag Archives: Canadian Press

Voted for the Hockey Team, Didn’t Vote for Rochette

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

As sports guy at NCI FM — the Manitoba radio network that is heard everywhere in this province, even in all the places CBC is not — I had a vote for the Canadian Press male and female athletes of the year, as well as CP’s team of the year.

Turns out I was right about the team. I mean, how could you not be? Team Canada, our gold medal winning Olympic men’s hockey team was an easy choice. I had trouble coming up with a second and third choice. In 2010 here in Canada, there was no other team. Period.

As for female athlete of the year, I wasn’t even close. But I have an excuse. I’m too young.

The insufferable old men who are the sports editors and sports directors at radio and TV stations and at newspapers in Canada are so dull and prehistoric that, for the most part, they believe the only sports that women should be allowed to participate in are gymnastics and figure skating and that’s why a young woman who an Olympic bronze medal in figure skating (Joannie Rochette) is more worthy of Canada’s female athlete of the year award than a snowboarder (Maelle Ricker) who became the first Canadian woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal at home.

OK, OK, I get it. Rochette’s mother died two days before her competition and as a result, it was a great story. I also understand that Rochette was the first figure skater to win the award since 1991. However, I also know a gold medal in a new sport can be overlooked by the old farts because, after all, it’s just a bunch of whipper-snappers with their silly snowboards. And besides, Ricker’s story isn’t as good as Rochette’s.

So good for Joannie Rochette. Congratulations. Sorry, I didn’t vote for you. I voted for Maelle Ricker. Maybe, if the category was “best story” or “greatest example of perseverance,” I’d have voted for Joannie Rochette. But the category was female athlete of the year and that person was snowboarding gold medalist Maelle Ricker.

Of course, if you don’t believe snowboarding is a sport then I understand how difficult it would be to vote for a snowboarder.

Tomorrow, the male athlete will be announced. Full disclosure: I voted 1. Jonathan Toews, 2. Joey Votto, 3. Georges St-Pierre.

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NHL Says No to Balsillie. Accepts Offer for Coyotes That is $64 Million Less. Is That Good Business?

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

So it’s official. Er, sort of. The Phoenix Coyotes will be sold to Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox, while Jerry Moyes, the guy who has lost more than $300 million on this dog of a franchise, has to sit back and watch as a man, handpicked by the commissioner, a guy who bid $64 million less than Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, gets to take over the team.

Wow! It would appear that for the first time in the history of the business of sports, a franchise for sale was purchased for 64 MILLION freakin’ dollars less than the highest bid. WTF! Meanwhile, the poor guy who tried to make ice hockey work in the desert appears to have no say in the sale of HIS team. Get the feeling that anyone who would EVER do business with the National Hockey League is little more than a sucker that Bernie Madoff missed.

On Wednesday, the NHL’s board of governors unanimously rejected Balsillie’s $212.5 million application to become owner of the Desert Dogs while “unanimously(?)” approving Reinsdorf’s $148 million bid.

According to Canadian Press, “NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the process was necessary to comply with the league’s constitution and bylaws and an order by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield T. Baum.”

“We will so advise the bankruptcy court and we will move this process forward,” Bettman told the New York Post.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Balsillie told the CP that Wednesday’s decision would not stop the RIM CEO from his pursuit of the Coyotes. An auction for bidders who would commit to keeping the team in Glendale, Ariz., will be held this coming Wednesday, provided the judge finds “the bids satisfactorily meet the demands of the team’s creditors.”

That means, of course, that Balsillie’s bid is not dead. One can’t imagine the creditors would be happy with a bid that is $64 million less, a bid that would probably cost most of the creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And so not surprsingly, Moyes filed a suit claiming that Reinsdorf’s offer “cannot be approved as a matter of law” and that “there are no qualified bidders” based on terms set by the court.

Get the sense this mess is a long way from over?

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We called another one: TSN’s collective brain WAS bigger than a walnut.

Posted on June 9, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Some things you just know are going to happen. Between France’s 0-0 snoozer with Romania and the Netherlands’ 3-0 blistering of the undermanned Italians in the European Soccer Championship came the news that you will now hear the Hockey Night in Canada theme, Canada’s second national anthem, on all NHL games and Olympic hockey games televised on TSN from now on.

From TSN’s standpoint that’s not a surprise. Even if you had just a little, tiny, squirrel brain, you could have said to yourself, “If those morons at CBC actually do dump the theme, we’ll pay what we need to pay in order to get the rights.”

In fact, in our Friday blog entitled, “CBC to drop Canada’s “second national anthem” along with Bob Cole. Sad,” we wrote the following: “At first, I lamented CBC’s decision to dump the theme and then I thought, “Well if TSN has a collective brain bigger than a walnut, those folks will start sending cheques to the composer, Dolores Claman, and start using the theme themselves.” TSN’s broadcast crew is already better than CBC’s, they might just as well take the theme music — the best there is and, without argument, Canada’s second national anthem. 

Yesterday, the news story arrived…

TORONTO (CP) — CTV has acquired the rights to the song that’s been CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada” theme for the past 40 years.

CTV and Copyright Music and Visuals, the company that controls use of the classic song composed by Dolores Claman, announced Monday afternoon that CTV acquired all rights to the song in perpetuity.

The network says it will use the song on NHL broadcasts on TSN, RDS and during the broadcaster’s coverage of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

CTV says it made an agreement in principle Friday with Copyright Music and Visuals after CBC announced a contest to find a new theme song.

The contest announcement followed months of negotiations that failed to result in a new licensing agreement between CBC and the agent. 

CBC lost the rights to the tune because it made a giant error in judgment that will now haunt it forever. 

The press release read as follows:

“The song has a long and storied history in Canadian sports and has become ingrained in the hearts and minds of hockey fans across the country. It is an iconic tune, embraced by Canadians everywhere, and we felt it was imperative to save it. We know we will be in hockey forever, so there’s no doubt this acquisition will create value for us,” said Rick Brace, President, Revenue, Business Planning and Sports, CTV Inc. “It’s an honour and a privilege to own such a cherished piece of Canadiana.

 

“I am very moved by how so many Canadians have taken the hockey theme to heart. We are so pleased the song has found a new home,” said Claman. “Throughout our negotiations, CTV displayed a tremendous amount of respect for my family and the song. ‘The Hockey Theme’ means so much to Canadians, and we know it’s in good hands with CTV.”

 

Poor old CBC. They actually hired sports lawyer Gord Kirke on Monday morning to negotiate a new deal. By 3 p.m. on Monday, they’d lost the song forever.

 

Obviously, the people who run the CBC do not have brains as big as walnuts. Or squirrels. 

 

However, we must ask: “…and that’s the kind of leadership that our $975 million a year worth of tax money is buying?” 

 

Sorry. Now, I really have to wonder who has the tiny, little brain.

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