General

Sour Grapes snubs Crosby

Click here for an interesting riff on the chill between Sidney Crosby and Hockey Night in Canada, which refers to the the post-game segment above.

You may find, as I did, the crew doesn’t snub Crosby quite as scandalously as William Houston, the Globe’s designated couch potato, suggests. Still, the distrust between Crosby’s camp and HNIC is real, and a lot of it percolates on the other side. After Cherry quite stupidly slammed Sid a few years ago for a bit of teenage hotdogging, Crosby stood his ground. Ever since, he’s been restrained yet icy in his responses to Cherry’s repeated slights (like his beef about Crosby wearing the ‘A’ in his rookie year). Moreover, he doesn’t seem star-struck by the HNIC aura, which seems to have galled the CBC gang further.

Last year, Sid’s keeper with the Pens, Frank Buonomo, failed to deliver the Kid for an on-air appearance with Cherry during a Pens game in Toronto, sending Grapes into a rage on Coach’s Corner. I was in the press box that night, and talked to the Pen’s chief flack, Tom McMillan, who did a nice job professing befuddlement. Crosby had done a pre-taped segment with the CBC already, he pointed out. How much did CBC want? 

Anyway, it’s kind of fun to watch. Without intending to, Crosby is showing HNIC’s stuffed shirts—especially Cherry—they don’t have the suction they used to. Through the NHL Network, TSN, RDS, YouTube and various other enterprises, he flies over their heads to reach his Canadian fan base. More evidence that shoving Bob Cole onto an ice floe won’t be enough to drag the Mother Corp’s broadcast into the 21st century. 

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