EHM The Blue Line

YoungStars is on right now on Versus in the US...

They have a "rail cam" set up that follows the play down ice to give you a sense of the speed of play... and from the first views of it may I say... "Hey geniuses... how about you put the rail cam on the side of the ice that ISNT directly in between the standard camera locations and the ice?" The 'rail' runs along the top of the rink glass and instead of having it on the far side they have it on the near side, so all the non-rail cam angles have the rail cam prominently blocking a good portion of the near ice.

And it's pretty clear that nobody cares about the game anymore past the first period as it's become "the stand around" game... it's really pretty pathetic actually, and I blame it all on Malkin who gave up on the game first and decided he'd just stand at the opposing blueline and wait for a pass. Ever since that everyone's just given up so now it's stand around in the offensive zone until it comes to you then try to make a move while skating in slow mo. I tell ya, it's a classic...

Whats the score Minty??

Well, its All-Star....nobody wants to get hurt or something, I guess....but hey, people pay anyway to see them play, right???

LOL....just crazy that camthing, lol!!!

Is the all-star game MVP earns any money for his title? If not, they'd better create a cash prize, so they'd be sure that every player on the ice will do his best...

Pathetic indeed...

grrrrrr....its frustrating!!!! I just made a quick zapping on TVUPlayer to see if they stream the Allstar, but nothing....only boring NBA

I agree Minty. That rail cam got annoying during the normal shots. There were a couple times when it would come flying into the shot, and for a brief moment I thought it was a player who fell and was sliding into the action.

East takes both the YoungStars game and the Skills Competition. Both by close margins.


I agree, that camera was extremely annoying. Also, I didn't even notice they had changed sweaters, so all that hulla-ballo about it was really for nothing.

in 2008-09 All-Stars comes in Montréal!!!

Okay i'll prefer stanley cup finals...

E5150_ca wrote:East takes both the YoungStars game and the Skills Competition. Both by close margins.


I agree, that camera was extremely annoying. Also, I didn't even notice they had changed sweaters, so all that hulla-ballo about it was really for nothing.

All the uniforms used tonight were the normal uniforms. The "new" ones won't used till tomorrow night (assuming you're talking about the form-fitting uniforms).

E5150_ca wrote:Also, I didn't even notice they had changed sweaters, so all that hulla-ballo about it was really for nothing.

The new sweaters come in tommorow. For tonight everyone was just wearing their home sweaters.

The whole thing was really disappointing in my mind, like watching one big shootout pretty much so chalk up another thing I used to enjoy ruined by the shootout. It was also killed by Versus' student-project production values and total lack of preparedness. The guys didn't even know what the game rules were for crissakes and it was horribly paced without a bit of cohesion to tie the whole thing together. Like nobody really knew what was supposed to happen when and they were constantly being caught of guard and having to make it up as they went along in a scramble. It was really pathetic, in the same way that the very first "studio shows" on Versus were at the beginning of their time covering games when they were playing the wrong highlights at the wrong times and showing the wrong graphics etc.

And I'm really doubting I'll tune in tommorow for the game if we have to watch the whole darn thing past and around their on-screen promo/add graphics that take up half the screen and around the glorious rail cam. I can say this for cetain though; I'm glad now that this is on a Tuesday and Wednesday night because it's just embarrassing for the sport.

B. Stinson wrote:All the uniforms used tonight were the normal uniforms. The "new" ones won't used till tomorrow night (assuming you're talking about the form-fitting uniforms).

Minstrel wrote: The new sweaters come in tommorow. For tonight everyone was just wearing their home sweaters.

Guess thats why I didn't notice a change.

Not very smart by the teams to put out three left-handed shots in that "In the Zone" part.

Minstrel wrote:

E5150_ca wrote:Also, I didn't even notice they had changed sweaters, so all that hulla-ballo about it was really for nothing.

The new sweaters come in tommorow. For tonight everyone was just wearing their home sweaters.

The whole thing was really disappointing in my mind, like watching one big shootout pretty much so chalk up another thing I used to enjoy ruined by the shootout. It was also killed by Versus' student-project production values and total lack of preparedness. The guys didn't even know what the game rules were for crissakes and it was horribly paced without a bit of cohesion to tie the whole thing together. Like nobody really knew what was supposed to happen when and they were constantly being caught of guard and having to make it up as they went along in a scramble. It was really pathetic, in the same way that the very first "studio shows" on Versus were at the beginning of their time covering games when they were playing the wrong highlights at the wrong times and showing the wrong graphics etc.

And I'm really doubting I'll tune in tommorow for the game if we have to watch the whole darn thing past and around their on-screen promo/add graphics that take up half the screen and around the glorious rail cam. I can say this for cetain though; I'm glad now that this is on a Tuesday and Wednesday night because it's just embarrassing for the sport.

Yeah things took a turn for the worse when it became the 'Cold F/X All-Star Game brought to you by Reebok, Versus, Pepsi, Tylenol, Toyota and Tampax.'

very weak.

I was just listening to Mike and Mike on espn radio, and they topic of the allstar game came up. Mike was asked was he going to watch the All star game and he was like is that on tonight? Then they go digging through newspapers for the details. They couldnt find anything on it so he was like i dunno maybe but i will prob watch American idol. How sad these guys know everything on the NFL, NBA, and MLB but when asked about the NHL they are like huh.

Why was the All-Star game and all the associated festivities scheduled for the middle of the week this year? Did they do it that was last year too? To be honest with you, I've lost a lot of my passion for the NHL since the lockout and the rule changes, so I didn't even bother looking for it last year. I always remembered All-Star games being a weekend event.

bruins72 wrote:Why was the All-Star game and all the associated festivities scheduled for the middle of the week this year? Did they do it that was last year too? To be honest with you, I've lost a lot of my passion for the NHL since the lockout and the rule changes, so I didn't even bother looking for it last year. I always remembered All-Star games being a weekend event.

Last year the AllStar did not happen because of the Winter Games
Usually it is the sunday afternoon, but the US TV rating were catastrophic, so they are trying to do it on weeksday. They're desesperately trying to sell their product in USA. I'm sceptic if in weeksday it will work, with all those blockbuster tv series and reality shows running.

It should be shown this weekend on ABC because there isn't a football game on this weekend. And of all nights it had to be on against American Idol which gets like 3 million people a show.

holydogg wrote:

bruins72 wrote:Why was the All-Star game and all the associated festivities scheduled for the middle of the week this year? Did they do it that was last year too? To be honest with you, I've lost a lot of my passion for the NHL since the lockout and the rule changes, so I didn't even bother looking for it last year. I always remembered All-Star games being a weekend event.

Last year the AllStar did not happen because of the Winter Games
Usually it is the sunday afternoon, but the US TV rating were catastrophic, so they are trying to do it on weeksday. They're desesperately trying to sell their product in USA. I'm sceptic if in weeksday it will work, with all those blockbuster tv series and reality shows running.

Well at least they decided to show it before "Lost" came back. I forget what else is on Wednesdays. I'm still catching up with stuff I've got recorded on my DVR.

So they actually skipped the All-Star game last year? I didn't know they decided to do that, even on Olympic years. I used to like the All-Star weekend. I'd always watch the skills competition on the Friday or Saturday night (whatever it was) and then the next day I'd watch a little of the actual ASG before getting bored and dozing off for a nice Sunday afternoon nap.

Stillblind wrote:It should be shown this weekend on ABC because there isn't a football game on this weekend. And of all nights it had to be on against American Idol which gets like 3 million people a show.

I kind of wonder how much overlap there is between the NHL and American Idol? For some reason, I don't think they really share much of an audience.

Maybe just at my house then. My g/f controls the tv on these two nights i cant watch nothing but fox.

LOL! I didn't say that hockey fans didn't get "stuck" watching it. I just said there wasn't a crossover in fan bases. To be honest with you, I got stuck watching American Idol last night too. My girlfriend likes watching it and she watches shows like Rome with me or football and hockey games. It's all about the compromise!

Back to my original point though... when they're scheduling they look at target audiences, not the folks who get stuck watching something they don't like.

I thought last night was a mess. The youngstars game was hardly a game, and the skills competition seemed more like a race to fit the event in a 1-hour timeslot than a competition showcasing the skills of the NHL All-Stars.

There's nothing like the Versus network to make you long for the days of Fox and their fighting robot animations. ESPN wasn't so bad either, was it?

Espn was good because they promote their product.

I just read this ASG related story and though it was nice...

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/6400 ... 62&ATT=142