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12/15 2010

Call of the Day: This Is A Strange Way For Versus To Promote A Show On HBO

Posted by Dan Levy.

During the first intermission of the Flyers-Penguins game on Tuesday night, the Versus hockey panel of Bill Patrick, Brian Engblom and Keith Jones spent an entire segment talking about whether or not the HBO cameras are to blame for the Washington Capitals recent woes (Keith Jones thinks the answer is yes). First, though, Patrick posed the question if the HBO cameras were, in any way, helping the Penguins on their — now defunct — 12-game win streak.

In a word, “no,” explained Engblom. The whole segment was a thinly-veiled promotion for the HBO series 24/7: Penguins/Capitals, which chronicles the weeks leading up to the Winter Classic for both teams. The show begins tonight on HBO.

Jones could be right in that having cameras in every meeting, practice and intermission could be hampering the free-wheeling side of some of the Caps. But the whole “hey, we’ve got a conspiracy on our hands, right…riiiiiiight” by Patrick was clearly the best way they could ‘naturally’ promote the show on another network.

That said, didn’t it feel a little like talking about a high-school team getting 15-minutes of local TV notoriety for making the state finals? These are NHL players…and two of the most well-covered teams in the league…do we really think a few cameras would mess with them? Don’t they have cameras in their faces every single day? Sure, hockey isn’t football and the six or seven TV cameras at a football game or practice may be one or two reporters a few days a week, but still; if cameras are getting to you, remember you’re a professional athlete! Besides, if you ask nicely, maybe next game one of the camera guys will bring you orange slices.

Oh, and don’t forget you can ring in the new year with the Winter Classic preview show at 11pm on New Year’s Eve. You must really love hockey if you’re watching that. Plus, you probably hate your wife and friends. Or, at least they hate you.

Anyway, here’s the NHL.com preview of HBO’s show that starts tonight.

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Posted on December 15, 2010 at 6:59AM

 

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  1. Puck Headlines HBO 24 7 hype from Leonsis; KovaLOLchuk update – Puck Daddy – NHL Blog – Yahoo! Spor | Ugg Boots Shops Online
    12/15 2010

    [...] Dan Levy can’t quite believe that Keith Jones of VERSUS used HBO cameras as an excuse for the Capitals’ poor play: “Didn’t it feel a little like talking about a high-school team getting 15-minutes of local TV notoriety for making the state finals? These are NHL players…and two of the most well-covered teams in the league…do we really think a few cameras would mess with them? Don’t they have cameras in their faces every single day?” [Press Coverage] [...]