I got the idea to do this thread off the "retire Vince's jersey" thread, but basically, the reason is to discuss how you think the Raptors are treated/covered in the Toronto media (TV specifically). -- Start of Rant -- Personally, I get frustrated with the coverage (or lack of) coverage the Raptors recieve in terms of the major sports channels in Canada (Raptors TV doesn't count). The only one I respect is the Score because they distribute all highlights evenly and have programs for what's in demand, whereas TSN and Sportsnet tend to shove hockey down our throats. I understand hockey is the biggest sport in the country but the overall interest in Canada for basketball is pretty big as well, and getting bigger. furthermore, since most of these shows are based as the "ontario" region, wouldn't it make more sense to COVER THE DAMN HOME TEAMS in news shows rather then focus on hockey teams from the states, curling, baseball, AHL, OHL action...and yes, there has been a news show on sportsnet where all of those things were introduced before any basketball news. What pisses me off the most is those mornings where I heard/read that a cool play/game happened with the Raptors and I turn on to Sportsnet (I don't have TSN or Score) and they spend 20 minutes on hockey or rugby or CFL or CURLING (worst of all) highlights and never get to the highlights of the Raptors. On school days spefically, when I wanna see highlights before I leave, this pisses me off the most. They have no clue about "public wants"...I remember doing one stretch where the Raptors won a game; they put hockey first, followed by CURLING (some championship game was on...I'm sure all 5 fans of curling were thrilled ) and then the Raptors (I think this was the 6:30 edition). Another thing that pisses me off is when they put things like minor league hockey (I mean, who really gives a crap about the AHL of all things) ahead of important NBA coverage/news. I remember the NBA Finals being overshadowed by atleast 3 other things...pathetic. Funny thing is these sports news shows don't at all follow the consensus of the mass public as to what they should cover. Thankfully, I've found the perfect place for coverage/highlights without having to listen to 90 minutes of analysis/panels/discussions/arguements/polls about how the Ottawa Senators MAY win the cup: NBA.com broadband. Note: I realize I am being a bit ignorant with the AHL/Curling comments but regardless, I really think channels like TSN/Sportsnews spend WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much time on what they "think" people want (hockey coverage ABOUT EVERY FRICKIN LEAGUE IN THE WORLD) and too less of a time on what the consensus actually wants, which is more distributed coverage, with hockey being the forefront but basketball not too far behind...I don't think that's too much to ask...these channels treat basketball like it's minor league baseball or something. Here are my basic requests for the networks (and I have actually emailed TSN about this....but this was like 3-4 years ago lol): - Raptors highlights on the days the Leafs have off should be placed before any other hockey coverage (and yes that include the other Canadian teams), or any other sport's highlights for that matter, because if these networks are based in Toronto and doing REGIONAL shows, with slogans like "putting the home team first", why the hell are they putting the Calgary Flames ahead of the Toronto Raptors?? - If the Raptors have an off day, NBA highlights should follow after hockey highlights (unless specfically important "popular" games were played in the other leagues), and highlights should be LONGER THEN 25 SECONDS (specfically applies to sportsnet) -- End Rant-- Thoughts?
I agree with most of what you said. I'm quite tired about all the hockey coverage here. They analyze everything to death and they disuss things when there's nothing to discuss. They spend 10 minutes on Sportsnet News on hockey and then they have a half hour show right after with Hockey Central. The worst is when the hockey deadline is coming up. They beat it to death and discuss all these huge trades that they think are going to happen and nothing ever does. I remember they even broadcast live when the Olympic Team was chosen. Look where they ended up! They broadcast like 10 rounds of the hockey draft...I could go on and on. All this is coming from a Leaf fan so it's not being bias or anything. THey show highlights of the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. the Nashville Predators before they show Raptors highlights. I'm just sick of the overkill and I just wished that they gave basketball and hockey equal share (athough that will never happen). I wish I could get ESPN.
Well if you put things into perspective, Toronto media coverage for the nba is starting to pick up. Before the Vince Carter era, the media couldn't give two craps about anything Raptor-related. Now-a-days, they usually jump on Raptor stories as long as they seem the least bit interesting. Granted they're usually negative stories, but at least they're getting attention. Just ask Sam Mitchell, he's the last person that thinks Toronto media doesn't care about the Raps. I agree that our media does like cramming our beloved hockey down our throats. The message is clear that they want hockey to be Canada's number 1 sport and will do everything they can to keep it that way. But really, you can't blame them for not covering the Raps as much because we've been a crappy team ever since 2002. Ever since 1996 it's been an uphill battle trying to gain some of the spotlight away from the Leafs, Blue Jays, Argos, etc. and it's gonna take a while for us to do so. Stuff like that doesn't happen overnight. And it doesn't help the fact that we've been perennial losers for almost half a decade now. Give it some time, and hopefully the Raps continue heading up while the Leafs can continue their road to mediocrity.
I think it goes like this it terms of worst basketball coverage 1.TSN (Always playing hockey/curling/fishing!) 2.Sportnet (Not as bad as TSN/still put other sports before basketball) 3.The Score (Pretty fair/i like the commentators/cabbie on the street is funny/courtcuts is awsome) It pisses me off too, I personally hate hockey. I dont mind some hockey highlights, but when they start going off to american leagues, that just pisses me off.
one of funny things about the lack of media coverage is thats its counter-productive for the most part. e.g. sportsnet uses regional programming + it televises the most raptor games of any network, yet it chooses to lead with latest developments in junior hockey and nhl teams in the south. clearly the decision makers are inept.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Eclipse:</div><div class="quote_post">I wish I could get ESPN.</div> ESPN sucks, especially if the team you like is a crappy NBA team. If you're a fan of the Yankees, Lakers, Red Sox, Patriots, Heat, Steelers, or you enjoy random "news" updates every 3 minutes on T.O., Barry Bonds, Kobe Bryant, Lance Armstrong, or anyone on the Yankees then you'll probably love ESPN. If I miss a Warrior game and want to see the highlights on sportscenter I have to wait through their annual 5 minute Yankee highlight that they always start sporscenter with, then watch a bunch of other crappy baseball highlights with random stories about how Barry Bonds isn't indicted (why is that news?), or why Tom Brady wants to kick his golden boy image, or a summary of Alex Rodriguez's slump that I've seen everyday for nearly a month now. Then I might get to see an 8 second highlight reel of the Warrior game (none of the highlights are from the Warriors whether they win or lose) followed by the final score. I feel sorry for hockey fans in America who get even crappier coverage, if thats possible. As for your situation in Canada. I think that the canadian sports channels are just trying to appeal to the masses of the country. I'm sure there are alot of Basketball fans but theres only 1 team, how much coverage can they possibly put on that team? I doubt that most people outside of the Toronto area care much about the Raptors as well. At least they have their own TV channel.
I once tuned on TSN when there were like 50 NBA games playing at the moment, but I was only disappointed to find out that they were playing some spelling bee contest for like 8 year olds. Being slightly frustrated and disappointed, I thought Sportsnet would have a game on, since they were known to at least show a few games here and there although most of the games they showed were matchups against teams that no one gave a crap about. I changed the channel to Sportsnet only to realize that they were showing a bunch of lumberjacks sawing off a gigantic tree. After growing a few more grey hairs, I went on my computer to check the schedule for Sportsnet (I didn't bother checking TSN because I knew that the spelling bee garbage would take up the entire night, especially at the rate the kids were spelling those gigantic words like "Nuhversahgtisorkiveism"). Then I realized that Sportsnet were showing the following shows after that lumberjack contest: 1. Curling 2. Poker 3. Sportsnet News (More Lock-out garbage being shoved down my throat) To make a long story short, Sportsnet and TSN blow ass.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting asdf:</div><div class="quote_post">I once tuned on TSN when there were like 50 NBA games playing at the moment, but I was only disappointed to find out that they were playing some spelling bee contest for like 8 year olds. Being slightly frustrated and disappointed, I thought Sportsnet would have a game on, since they were known to at least show a few games here and there although most of the games they showed were matchups against teams that no one gave a crap about. I changed the channel to Sportsnet only to realize that they were showing a bunch of lumberjacks sawing off a gigantic tree. After growing a few more grey hairs, I went on my computer to check the schedule for Sportsnet (I didn't bother checking TSN because I knew that the spelling bee garbage would take up the entire night, especially at the rate the kids were spelling those gigantic words like "Nuhversahgtisorkiveism"). Then I realized that Sportsnet were showing the following shows after that lumberjack contest: 1. Curling 2. Poker 3. Sportsnet News (More Lock-out garbage being shoved down my throat) To make a long story short, Sportsnet and TSN blow ass.</div> true dat
I'm getting increasingly tired of the Poker shows as well. It was fine when they broadcast a couple of shows but it's getting pretty ridiculous. Don't even get me started on the CFL coverage. Who watches that anymore? Bottom line is Sportsnet is good for showing basketball/baseball but has too much hockey coverage and TSN has gone downhill. The Score is basically the best thing that we have that is closest to giving pretty equal coverage to basketball/hockey/baseball.
^^ The problem is that not every basketball fan is going to get Raptors TV. If that is the length we have to go just to see HIGHLIGHTS of our home team's games, then there's a problem.
Raptors TV used to be cool but I've gotten tired of it. I can only watch Heaney on the Hardwood and Paul Jones for so long. On radio and the papers, though, it's not half bad. The Star and Sun have at least some Raptors coverage everyday, but I hate how the Star has this Hockey Free Agent Watch and any signing in the NBA gets little to no coverage. At least the Jamaal Magloire trade was 1/10 of a page...
I've always had my beef with media coverage of the Raptors, or basketball in general, in Canada. Not only the quantity, but also the quality. For some stupid reason, our whole commentating team revolves around Chuck Swirsky. And he really annoys the hell out of me (I'm sure I've explained why before). Outside of him, we have people who talk a lot, but really don't say anything (Leo, Paul Jones, etc.). And getting an opinion piece on the Raps (that isn't depressingly negative) is next to impossible. It's ridiculous how little knowledge of basketball the anchors on sportsnet, TSN have on basketball. I remember watching the sportnetnews guys have a conversation as the show was closing that was built on incorrect facts (they were talking about the Steve Nash charity event, and one guy mentioned how it's ridiculous how low he was picked in 98, and then the other guy rattled off a bunch of names who weren't even in the 98 draft). My other main problem is that there is no reason why basketball should be so neglected. I remember the Toronto Star did an article on the popularity of different sports among the youth (target audience?). Basketball or soccer were 1st/2nd. Hockey was 3rd! Baseball was 6th! You have to wonder why these networks are doing this if there is no monetary reason for them to. I'm a basketball and soccer fan first, and it's just a bi*ch trying to get any sort of coverage. I love hockey as well, but sometimes this oversaturation just turns me off the sport. I really don't care who's going to arbitration when the NBA draft is coming up. And the CFL is just crap.
The Worst is when TSN shows that show about fukcin FISHING!!!!! Fisherman: OH BOY! What a catch you got there Billy!! Billy: OHHHHH BOY! look'it the size of this babY! fuckin idiots
I think the worst part of the whole deal isn't necessarily the raptors coverage, but the basketball coverage in general. There is a huge market of people out there who live in canada who don't consider themselves raptors fans who want to see the games, and all we get is 90% raptors games with no attention paid to other nba teams (except the score - courtsurfing is awsome !!). You can't tell me that a solid NBA game isn't going to outrate NHL 3rd rate teams like nashville vs. columbus... no one has an interest in watching that - yet they broadcast it constantly !!!!
