This has been a busy Saturday. Unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with a lot of family stuff today. Nothing major, but it’s kept me from blogging. Anyway, I have to discuss another story that’s been burning up Twitter and the blogosphere today, however, I want to discuss this first.
It was first reported in the Montreal Gazette on Friday that Versus NHL rinkside reporter Bob Harwood was informed that he would no longer be used during game broadcasts, but perhaps be used during the playoffs. In addition, other rinkside reporters, Lindsay Soto and Charissa Thompson could also be used during the postseason. There were rumors that 29 people at Versus’ NHL coverage, mostly on-air would be losing their jobs.
However, there are denials from the new management team at NBC Sports/Versus about this. The really bad thing is the fact that NBC has decided to utilize ex-players rinkside/on the ice/inside the glass. This means we’ll see Pierre McGuire on Versus. If you follow me on Twitter or have read my NHL TV Awards, you’ll know how much I dislike him.
Greg Wyshynski of Versus broke the news regarding this change.
As much as NBC does a good job on the NHL, one of the worst decisions was to make Pierre McGuire an on-ice analyst and a game host. He rarely adds anything substantial to what analyst Ed Olczyk says. I do hope that McGuire won’t be made a host on Versus, because less of Pierre goes a long way. And because of his work on TSN, he’s overexposed to NHL fans who have access to the Center Ice package.
The first decision by NBC Sports as it takes over Versus is not a good one as far as I’m concerned. I’ll continue to monitor the changes at Versus for you.
