The Watermark: Media + the NHL

Every Saturday morning from now until the end of time and space, we are going to take a look at the week that was in media coverage of the NHL. We will take a look at how the newly formed NBC Sports Network looked at our beloved game. We will shine a light on what ESPN did to not shine a light on this poetic game of modern warfare on ice.  We’ll focus on the good, the bad, and the Milbury. We’ll focus on things like…

THIS WEEK IN… LEGITIMIZING YOUR SPORTS CHANNEL OFFERING

Say what you want about Versus (and there is a lot to say), but the one thing I can not get past about the channel is how completely adolescent its name is. I mean, Versus? Really? Comcast, don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you shouldn’t let 14 year olds or Spike TV name your national sports channel. For crying out loud, you named it after a preposition. There has to be a rule somewhere in the Oxford English Dictionary that bans such a level of idiocy.

So when whispers started circulating after the NBC/Comcast merger that Versus was on track for a re-branding, trust me, not many people were happier than me. The rumors were proven true when four days ago, Comcast revealed to the world that on January 2^nd, 2011, Versus would be officially rebranded and merged with NBC Sports to create the new NBC Sports Network.

Now, all my qualms about NBC Sports aside, this simple little name change already works wonders for the NHL. The NHL’s broadcast home for the next 10 years is now NBC and the NBC Sports Network. You can tell that to someone who doesn’t watch hockey (poor, malnourished soul that he is) and not have to brace yourself for the giggles when they hear that the NHL can be found on this channel called “Versus.” Almost instantaneously, there is a stronger air of legitimacy and credibility just by the virtue of the brand not having an absolutely stupid name.

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“What channel’s the hockey game on?”

“NBC Sports.”

“Cool.”

It really is as simple as that.

THIS WEEK IN… WE SHOULD PROBABLY HIRE A COPY EDITOR!

But then they had to go and do this.

If you click through on that link, and then the link on that tweet, you will see that the article is about Todd Fedoruk, a journeyman enforcer looking to make it on to his seventh team, and some guy named Owen Noland.

Who is Owen Noland, you ask? You don’t, because you already know who he is and recognize the absolute garbage level mistake going on in that tweet and article. First of all, it would not even be excusable if it was Fedoruk who suffered the injustice of a (supposedly) legitimate news institution misspelling his name. It truly requires the absolute minimal effort on a writer’s OR editor’s part to pull up Google and make sure the name of the guy you’re publishing a story on is spelled correctly. So when such an egregious mistake happens over a player who suited up 1,200 times for an NHL team and recorded 885 points over a 20 year career, FROM THE OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER OF THE NHL FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS, NO LESS, you just want to slam your head against the wall. Repeatedly.

Furthermore, it’s even more baffling that the tweet and the article were published two days ago and have yet to be corrected. Click on that tweet and just look at the responses. Every single one of them is about how they spelled OWEN NOLAN’S name wrong. NBC, I don’t want to say you’re better than this, but, for your own sake if you want to legitimately compete in the sports channel market, at least TRY to be better? Hire a copy editor, or if you want to save some money, introduce your current one to Google.

And then I think: You know, maybe it’s not as simple as that. They actually spell Nolan’s last name correctly in the third paragraph of the article. But that just begs the question, why is it spelled wrong in the tweet, the title, and the first paragraph!? Or—as terrifying and likely as it sounds—is their actual mistake spelling his name correctly? Think about it, would you really be shocked if you were to find out that the offending parties thought “Noland” was the correct spelling, and the use of “Nolan” in the third paragraph was just their own careless mistake? It makes you want to smash your head through that wall.

THIS WEEK IN… WHAT IS TO COME NEXT

I am excited to join the team at Too Many Men on the Site. As seen above, I’ll be doing a weekly rundown/coverage of the media’s (lack of) coverage of hockey. I have always loved talking about how others talk about my favorite sports. So I hope this will be fun for you guys as it will be for me. This column will track NBC, ESPN, SI, Fox Sports, relevant online and print publications, and even HBO when the 24/7 fun begins again. It will NOT spend time on hockey-centric publications or Bleacher Report, unless it is super relevant (for the former) or we have to make fun of it (for the latter).

Also, I will be doing a weekly ranking of top players and coaches that will eventually morph into coverage of the awards races once we get deep enough into the season. It will probably start right before the season with a pre-season ranking.

Get comfortable guys, this will be fun.

Sahil Patel has been called many things. “Steve” is not one of them. Follow him on Twitter at sahilness.