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Starting November 27th, our favorite person–Gary Bettman–will be hosting a weekly one-hour radio show on XM Canada satellite radio. He will be sharing/rotating the hosting duties with other NHL executives.
Fans (you!) will be able to call and email in your questions and comments during the show. This means you get to go right to the source and tell Gary how much you like him and how he has done such great things for the NHL and the game of hockey ;). We here at FB are sure he will be delighted to hear from you all. According to Mr. Bettman “The NHL has the best fans in sports. Thanks to XM Satellite Radio, we are able to offer this unique outlet for answering their questions… I look forward to hearing from our fans directly and being a part of this one-of-a-kind radio show.”
Let’s make him regret the second part of that statement and prove the first half of it even more true than ever. We are the greatest fans in sports, and Mr. Bettman is going to regret the fact that he ever opened himself up to such direct criticism. Then let’s see how long he is able to take this direct criticism, and thus, how long this radio show will last. Come on fans, stick it to the man and give him a little dose of reality!!!
Little gary’s public life is carefully choreographed and rehearsed. You can bet all calls will be screened and enough air time delay to protect derfuhrer.
Wow, I have to hand it to Gary, putting himself in the open like that. I hope they put this on iTunes, I’m not a satellite radio subscriber.
I suspect it will be heavily screened, nobody likes the guy after all. Will he actually respond to questions about Nashville, contraction, schedules, Hamilton/Winnipeg/Canada, rule changes? I doubt it, or if he does, it’ll be in the typical Gary-robot-speak that only he can do…”We don’t have the proper figures at this time”, “At this time the league is not looking at that possibility”, “Not at this time”, “Our game is great right now”, etc. Boring radio if that’s the case.
On the other hand, good for the NHL to take another step in the right direction as far as reaching out to fans. Problem is, they reach out 1 step, and take 2 steps back in some other way. Good luck Gary, you’ll be grilled.
Sorry, OddYo, I don’t consider a pay to listen broadcaster as reaching
out to fans. It is repeating the mistake of the Versus contract that is not available on most cable providers.
Looks like I spoke before I read the whole press release. It will be on NHL.com as well as XM. Cool, I look forward to it.
For those wanting to submit questions for Gary (from the Toronto Star):
“Fans who want to submit questions can call 1-877-645-6696 or email homeice@xmradio.ca.”
As the first comment says, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole show was screened and edited. A little bit of “fan-interaction” always makes a person look “thoughtful.” It’s all just a show.
-oak
http://thelinesman.blogspot.com/
If I get through I have my question “Mr. Bettman, I’m not sure how much time you spend on the internet reading the blog sites, how do you feel about the majority of hockey fans hating you or thinking that you and your idea’s are bad for the NHL and hockey in general and when can we expect you resignation from the office of commishiner?”
That show was and is “scripted”. Not one negative call or email. All “love what you’ve done with the league” and offering suggestions on Overtime, Shootouts, etc, etc.
I sent at least 10 negative emails that were in a professional manner (no swearing, personal attacks) and I didn’t receive one response.
I guarantee the people they let call in were NHL interns or personal friends that had only positive things to say.
This guy needs to get fired, now. And I won’t stop going to games because I’m addicted to going to see my favorite team (the Flyers), play.
Whether you’re a Leafs, Habs, Flyers, Panthers, Predators, or Ducks Fan, NHL Fans need to unite and get this guy outta there. I watched an AHL game a few weeks ago and I was amazed at how much more exciting and physical it was even though the talent is not as good as the NHL.
Junior games in Canada are even more exciting.
The NHL used to be this entertaining; not since he stepped in.