It wouldn’t be a playoff series if NBC didn’t screw up the scroll on the bottom of the screen. Here’s what happened last year:
And this year?
Still, as silly as these errors are, they don’t compare to Stan Fischler, the so-called “Maven.” Here’s some of his predictions prior to today’s game:
- Before The Maven got carried away by visions of a Sweep early in the
series, I originally predicted that the Rangers would win this tourney
in six games. I’m poised to be proven right. So is Tortorella.- John Tortorella‘s one-game suspension is a shocker,
to be sure. But, The Maven predicts that in no way, shape or form will
it be cause for Rangers disaster. Rather, I suggest that Torts
sitting out what should be the Rangers series-clincher on Sunday
afternoon will be an enormously positive motivator to victory.- I expect the Rangers to win this one for Torts! That done, I’ll tell you how they’ll beat Boston.
Yeah, good luck with that, buddy. I don’t expect the guy to be psychic, but how about having some realistic expectations? He does get a little credit for going way out on a limb here. However, I have to wonder what game he was watching, in his recap today:
- Alexander Ovechkin was well muzzled. My notes showed several Caps misplays. “Few good
chances. Careless giveaways and a general uneasy quality about their
game.”
“Uneasy quality?” I agreed with the NBC guys (for once) when they said that the Caps were just toying with the Rangers midway through the second period. And I suppose it must be impressive to Fischler that Ovechkin won the third star of the game, despite being “well muzzled.” After these comments, I’m looking forward to seeing what The Maven has to say before and after Game 7.
On Frozen Blog 
Did you happen to catch the comments one of the NBC guys made going into the first intermission? He repeatedly referred to the Rangers as “we.” It was blatantly pro-Rangers and completely inappropriate for a national network broadcast.
That was mostly likely Olczyk, who played for the Rangers when they won the Cup. It’s disgusting how he doesn’t even try to hide his bias when it comes to the Pens (who he coached, very briefly) and the Rangers. NBC should be ashamed.
The Maven makes me look “fair and balanced.”
We lost our power and listened to Kolbe and Vogel online and then got the TV signal back and muted it to listen to Kolbe/Vogel. It was so much better to listen to them than Pierre/Milbury. Remember last year when Pierre couldn’t tell the difference between orange and red due to his color blindness? Ha, Ha.
This Stan Fischler character sounds like an absolute moron. His article is infuriating and his perception is about as keen as a brick it seems. The whole NBC broadcast was a joke also, it was palpable they were rooting for the Rangers, singing their praises all period until the Caps pulled away and they were forced to concede credit.
Stan Fischler is in the twilight of a very long, perhaps too long career. He doesn’t deserve ridicule though. I’ve met him many times and his is a true gentleman. A mench for those of you that know what that means. It is not easy getting old and I’m sure all of you at some point had that friend or relative that wasn’t exactly all there anymore. Lay off the Fisch. He’s 76 years old and was covering hockey longer than most of us have been alive.
yeah, the bias in the broadcast was so obvious. i think on a national broadcast like this, it should be done with reps from both teams, so the balance is there. the officiating too was obviously biased. there was no question the refs were trying to help the rangers even things up. is it impossible to get unbiased zebras for these games? can’t we switch them all out with the west coast group for important games like these? just asking =)
Check your tapes again for another big mistake. The scroll at the bottom for top goal scorers listed Kovalchuk as an Anaheim Duck.
Not a particularly smart bunch over there.
Yeah, I suppose they could’ve got Bill Clement to do the ‘cast for the Caps.
Its amazing how much better the fledgling cable network Versus does with hockey than NBC. I’m sure they can’t compete with NBC’s money though.
The blatant bias drove me nuts yesterday! I’d be fine never seeing another game covered by NBC again! Stan may very well be an incredibly nice guy, elder or not, I don’t know him as a person and have nothing against him as a person. As a ‘professional’ though, the total bias though was really unneeded. Root for whomever you want but you shouldn’t be forcing the viewing audience to listen to it!
CSN did something similar when they showed a statistic, including a note about some guy named “Oveckin” at the bottom. They can’t get it right all the time, but it is a little worse when it’s a national broadcast.
I am going to start things off by saying the following comment:
I am a Penguins fan.
While I know we are supposed to hate each other, I am very pleased to see that we share a hatred of NBC.
Things may get ugly between these two fanbases in the coming week or so, but we can always unite and give a big middle finger to NBC for doing the sh*ttiest job of broadcasting a sport known to man.
Death to Pierre Maguire.
Amen, BFN.