Monday, February 25, 2002
It's gold for CBC, bronze for NBC
By PERRY LEFKO -- Toronto Sun
It was a chance for all Canadians to watch hockey history on television and wish you had a 50 Mission Cap.
Yet, it wasn't just Canadians united together to watch Canada and the USA battle for gold. Some 90 countries picked up the world feed.
The CBC, basking in the euphoria of a country that had gone goofy over its national game, provided a one-hour pre-game show, which allowed Ron MacLean to stoke the audience like he was snowboard analyst Rob Stevens.
An hour later, Don Cherry, the pied piper of hockey Canadiana, expressed the sentiment that Team Canada would receive the first penalty (he was right) and would be facing the best U.S. team ever assembled.
"But, we're still going to beat them," Cherry said.
Meanwhile, down the dial, NBC provided live coverage from its studio, dubbed "Hockey Central." NBC came up as short as Team USA on the scoreboard by too often going to commercials during breaks and missing resumptions in play.
NBC colour analyst John Davidson provided all kinds of interesting insights: About the Canadian loonie buried in the ice; Brett Hull looking like his dad on the pivotal shot he missed in the third; and comments made by the members of the Edmonton Mercurys to the current Canadian edition.
NBC play-by-play man Gary Thorne showed his objectivity late in the game when he said: "What a day in Canada. This will last in Canada for a long time."
Studio host Jim Lampley, who should stick to working with George Foreman on boxing coverage, did his best to pump up American pride during the second intermission.
"Twenty-two years ago and two days, Herb Brooks coached USA to a gold medal. Where's Mike Eruzione? Where's Jim Craig? Where's the magic this time?"
While NBC showed only snippets of the post-game ceremony, it televised the entire playing of the Canadian anthem and some of the players singing. CBC provided full coverage of the medal presentation, but chose to show a montage of Team Canada moments while the anthem played. Good images were of Owen Nolan filming the proceedings and two Canadian players, Mike Peca and Joe Nieuwendyk, with their infant sons in the arms.
While CBC may have gone overboard with its post-game coverage, it had committed to the time slot leading up to the closing ceremony 31/2 hours later.
Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky was either interviewed or shown in interviews three times within a period of 90 minutes and said much of the same things. He looked exhausted by the time Brian Williams talked to him, but ever the class act the Great One apologized twice for missing a pre-arranged interview with the CBC host the night before saying he was superstitious.
Perhaps the most telling comment Gretzky made came in the news conference when he was asked whether he felt joy or relief and he said both.
Bob Cole put a touching end to the game when he said: "It's time for Canada to stand up and cheer. The Olympics. Men's ice hockey. Gold medal. Canada."
QUICK CUTS: Just what the Games needed: A drug-scandal on the final day. When Williams knocked the Russians for their whining and jokingly suggested that he hoped protests wouldn't become a demonstration sport in four years, didn't he sound like Don Cherry? ...Somewhat apropos Jamie Sale and David Pelletier carried the flag in the closing ceremony. The networks were going through withdrawal without them.
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2002 Games News Coverage
