Why Tom Boswell (and the Post?) ignores hockey?

“Well, Jason Chimera had a “triple” last night: a goal, an assist and a good fight. "

Boswell is a baseball guy first and foremost. He’s used to slow, mellow, laid back sports. Hockey is the worlds fastest team sport, after all.

What a fucking asshole.

So Boswell’s just saying his mind is too slow to keep up with hockey?

Why am I not surprised?

To me this is a cop out. If Boswell wanted to learn how to follow the game, he would spend the time to do it. All of us have. I’ll agree that watching on TV makes the game much more difficult to appreciate, but to say that the game is happening too fast, and therefore not worth covering is absurd.

Baseball is easy, but unless you cared to know you wouldn’t understand the strategy behind a hit and run. Football is easy, but you certainly didn’t see the athleticism of Jerry Rice as he breaks down a DB until a replay because the cameras are all on Montana. I can’t buy an argument from a “sports guy” that hockey is that much different.

There is something to it, but it’s not an acceptable position for a professional that covers sports. I have said for a long time that casual fans have a harder time appreciating hockey because if you haven’t done it on skates it’s harder to appreciate. They make it look so easy that people overlook the skill required. Battling for a puck in the corner is not glamorous, but happens a hundred times a game and is overlooked by most people because it’s not flashy. But it’s incredibly hard and deserves more respect. But if you’re a professional… then it’s your job to learn the sport and actually try to cover it well.

I might get shelled here, but I almost completely agree with him. Honestly, did anyone see exactally how Backstrom scored that goal last night? I THOUGHT I saw it, but what he did was completely different than what I saw. (I also thought Knubes scored until I saw him mouth to the ref that he didn’t.)

A guy like Semin is a great example. Can the average fan appreciate the skate work that helps him control the puck as well. Probably not. Until you get a good grasp of flow of the game, speed, timing and rules, you can’t even begin to let your brain try to pick up on the little, more awesome things like Ovie’s shots through D-man’s legs.

I wouldn’t say that it’s impossible, it just takes more time than sports that stop every 7 seconds for a snooze to let your brain process what you just saw (and get every conceivable replay).

I will say, broadcasting of games has to be improved in the coming years. Best innovation ever is that floating camera above the QB. I’d love for arenas to put cameras under the scoreboard to give me a blue-line-in view, especially on a power-play. Baseball is one of the few sports that has the viewing angles right for just about every play.

Another thing I’d like sports produces to implement is a player-tracking system. It’s not hard. but give me a GUI HUD like in a sports video game. For example, baseball. Give me a translucent view of the field with dots where the defenders are. If a guy’s on base, expand that and show me video of what the runner is doing. Same can be done for football (though less affective) and hockey.

I don’t agree with him, it sounds like he needs a High Def DVR, he could slow down play and rewind as needed.

All in all I think the fast pace helps the game. It makes it more interesting and suspenseful. Especially the way the caps have been scoring this year. I don’t think I’d enjoy Ovechkin’s shot or Varly’s saves as much if they slowed it down.

I don’t mean to change the subject, but I thought that one of the reasons for the new post lockout rules was to speed up the game, so that we don’t have 1 – 2 games all the time anymore, and so we have more interesting game play, where the players can show off their skills. A slower game didn’t work then, I don’t think it’ll work again.

(first post here, go easy on me)

One of the things I can’t stand about televised hockey is when they come in for a tight closeup of “the action” and fail to cover the “other action” that might be going on behind the play, or over on the other side of the ice, or someone snaps off a pass and it takes the TV guys a second to find their butts to get a new angle because suddenly the puck is all the way over there, and the camera’s pointing here, and… yeah, it can be a pain in the butt to watch on television, but I manage.

Hell, I manage “watching” games on the radio with little trouble, and if I can visualize a game with only audio input, I’m sure a professional like Boswell can too, if he puts his mind to it.

I know I definately don’t enjoy listening to games on the radio. Especially when the announcers are talking about non related hockey things while the game is actually progressing..

In terms of reporting Hockey, I think the Post should really concider finding a sports reporter that genuinly likes the game, because let’s face it, Hockey is the ONLY thing DC has going for it right now.

There is a long history in DC of dissing the Caps and hockey generally. I don’t know if Sonny, Billy and Sam were prejudiced about it, but Kornheiser and Wilbon are pathologically against both hockey and soccer. I don’t know why. It might be that they just love sports with lots of time outs so they can run their mouths and sponsors get paid.

Speaking of running mouths, I laughed when Locker the other night actually admitted talking over goals. That was the night I think when they completely failed to discuss a Caps penalty that happened right before a break. Never effing mentioned it.

I’ve always felt (and previously stated) hockey should take the lead in technology and don’t be so concerned with real-time broadcast. Spend time choosing the best angle for each shot/each hit, the best camera for following puck movement, even switch to slo-mo in “real-time” for a great move or to show something particularly hard to see like a puck crossing the goal line or a nasty hit. Bring real cinematic tension and power to the broadcast event, and make it easier to follow the play.

I know they are reliant upon what the broadcasters offer to some degree, but the technology is there.

Guess I’ll have to stitch something together and send it in myself…