I'm Trying To Watch This, But...

...I can't watch this coverage on Versus.

The NHL needs to get itself off Versus.  Immediately.

If you don't know what Versus is, it's a bizarre sports network that can sometimes not be found on your basic cable.  You sometimes can't even locate the channel it's so far down the list.  They show lots of outdoor shows, a show called "Sports Soup" and unfortunately, the NHL.

I'm not a regular watcher of this network, but I'm forced to watch it for the NHL All-Star weekend.  As a renewed hockey fan, I wanted to check out the five Blackhawks players participating in the weekend.  Instead of an enjoyable experience, as I expected, it has been more aggravating than anything else.

Yesterday, while watching the skills competition, they started festivities with the fastest skater competition.  Each of six skaters got to do one lap around the rink, with boundary markers show where they could navigate the ice.  Yet, the stopwatch graphic didn't work, and you couldn't tell how fast the skaters were skating until the broadcast team of Doc Emerick and Brian Engblom told you after the fact.  All you could see was a hockey player skating in a circle.  There was no suspense to see whether a record was broken or which skaeter was the fastest.  It looked like it was someone's YouTube video.

Still, I watched.  I watched as they showed the breakaway challenge, while never explaining what the skaters were supposed to accomplish.  They didn't show how much time was left until the players had five seconds left, nor did they tell you how much time they had.  So you couldn't gauge how quickly the players had to take their shots.  And it appears they're going to assume on all-star weekend they're only getting diehards to view the events.  Brutal.

But here was the kicker of the night.  Sideline reporter Chris Simpson (that's a woman) asked one all-star a question while using the word "sucks" in it.  I can see that from a talk show host, but not from a sideline reporter or a play by play guy.  She asked the player a question, "kinda sucks doesn't it?"  I don't remember the context, probably because I was so shocked by the usage of the word I blocked out the rest of the moment.

It's no secret the NHL has done a number of moronic things to decrease the popularity of their league.  But maybe the dumbest thing they ever did was associate with this terrible network.  There are students at college TV stations that probably watch this and think, "I'm good enough for this!"

Please, go back to ESPN.  I criticize them sometimes, sure, but they know how to put a sporting event on TV.