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Why doesn’t ESPN’s ‘Around The Horn’ cover much hockey? (Podcast)
Along with writing columns for the Washington Post and teaching journalism at the University of Maryland, Kevin Blackistone is one of the panelists on ESPN’s “Around The Horn.” And like many chat shows on ESPN, hockey isn’t usually a front-burner issue.
So we asked him, on the latest edition of Puck Soup: Where’s the hockey on “Around The Horn?”
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We both laugh. “We cover every fight that happens in hockey. Like, I’m not on the show today, but I will guarantee you that that the [Micheal Haley] punch and Sidney Crosby losing a couple teeth, I’m going to bet you those make it,” he said.
When it comes to the NHL on ESPN, a few things break through: Star players doing star player things, fights, violence and rivalries, which do matter to casual fans. When the Penguins and Capitals play, it will resonate on ESPN.
“That’s still my favorite ‘HBO 24/7,’” said Blackistone. “That’s what, as a fan, made me fall absolutely in love with Bruce Boudreau. When he’s talking to the players and he’s like ‘let’s go take two points off those pricks.’ That was great.”
“You need the rivalries,” he continued. “Major League Baseball will serve us Red Sox vs. Yankees until we’re blue in the face, and I think hockey should do the same thing, too.”
When it comes to “Around The Horn” and other shows, part of the problem with hockey talk is that not everyone can talk hockey.
“On our show, and other shows, I think people follow hockey, but there aren’t a lot of people who followed it as a beat,” he said, adding that this doesn’t necessarily mean the topic can’t be debated. “I think we hit on hockey when it’s a topical issue that has transcended the sport. We’re much less likely to do it with hockey when it’s something that’s really inside hockey. So fights, suspensions get attention. But when the playoffs get cranked up, when somebody has a milestone, [we cover it].”
Finally, what about the idea that the NHL will break through if there was more goal-scoring?
“There is that attraction, but I don’t know if the scoring thing is that big a deal. Like, we’ll talk about a 1-0 baseball game.”
The full interview with Blackistone begins at the 32-minute mark here:
(WARNING: STRONG ADULT LANGUAGE AND HUMOR. LISTENER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.)
[LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE AS WELL!]
PUCK SOUP is the hockey podcast on the Nerdist network from Puck Daddy editor Greg Wyshynski and Dave Lozo of Vice Sports, Uproxx and The Comeback. This is a hockey podcast, in the sense that the talk about hockey, both on the ice and about fan culture. That’s the “puck.” This is also a podcast about movies, TV, fast food, life lessons and general idiocy. That’s the “soup.”
On Episode 44, Kevin Blackistone of ESPN’s “Around The Horn” and the Washington Post joins us to talk about the early days of the Dallas Stars, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals’ place in D.C. sports, race and hockey and why ESPN doesn’t talk NHL on its shouting shows. Meanwhile, Dave is recovering from Vegas, Greg has all of Edmonton mad at him, and the boys talk about the U.S. women’s hockey team getting paid, the playoff teams we’re rooting for, why you should never cross Gary Bettman, HBO “Real Sex” and porn roulette, the top seven celebrities to have attended WRESTLEMANIA that Lozo had no idea actually did, the latest in our March Mute-This bracket and reader mail. Sponsored by SEAT GEEK and ZIP RECRUITER.
Here’s the rundown:
OPEN – Lozo’s Vegas adventures
13:45 – All of Edmonton hates Wysh
21:00 – Who were rooting for in the playoffs.
32:00 – Kevin Blackistone!
1:05:00 – Our March Mute-This bracket update
1:09:30 – Our look back at HBO “Real Sex”
1:15:00 – On the triumph of the U.S. women’s team over USA Hockey
1:25:30 – Why you do NOT mess with Gary Bettman.
1:31:00 – WRESTLEMANIA! And the top seven celebrities to ever appear at the event.
1:46:00 – The Puck Soup mailbag!
