Getting the scoop on a blockbuster trade
January 31, 2010 · 16 Comments
When Darren Dreger does a good reporting job, you will hear in the sports TV business the occasional “yes, but.”
The “yes, but” qualifier has to do with Dreger’s connection to Dave Nonis, the senior vice-president of hockey operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They’re second cousins. Therefore, the perception by some will always be that Nonis is helping out cuz over at TSN with information.
I have no idea who Dreger’s sources are or now much, if at all, Nonis contributes. I don’t know how close they are. But none of it lessens the good work that Dreger along with Bob McKenzie and Gord Miller did by breaking blockbuster Leafs-Calgary Flames trade, the biggest NHL deal to come down the pike in years.
At about 8:45 a.m. ET on Sunday, Dreger tweeted that a major change on the Leafs would be announced that day. By 11:24 a.m., well before Burke stood before the podium at the Air Canada Centre, Miller had learned that Dion Phaneuf was the key to the deal, and the trade was reported: Nik Hagman, Matt Stajan, Jamal Mayers and Ian White to Calgary for Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie. Miller
Regarding Nonis, Dreger said in an email, “Up until a few years ago, Dave and I didn’t even know we were related. For anyone to suggest I’m the benefactor of ‘family favors’ is insulting to me and I suspect, insulting to Nonis as well.”
It’s worth adding that in journalism you get your information where you can, for the most part. And if it checks out, which is to say confirmed, you report it.
In terms of full disclosure, I’d suggest the only time Dreger would need to disclose his familial connection to Nonis would be before or after he has praised the work of Nonis or defended him against something. I’ve never heard him do either.
Rogers Sportsnet, the Leafs TV rights holder, was slow to the Calgary-Toronto trade story. The Score, for example, had the speculated deal on his main webpage before Sportsnet did.
As for Leafs TV, it could have attempted to make the case that it’s a for-real sports channel rather than a club marketing arm by breaking into its NCAA hockey game before noon to report the trade buzz and speculate on what Burke would be announcing. It didn’t bother.
The reaction in Toronto was, of course, predictable. The radio guys went gaga. If Roger Lajoie at Fan590 said once that he was head-over-heels for the trade, he said it a couple of dozen times. But let’s be fair: On the face of it, this looks like a very good deal for the Leafs. Phaneuf is young (24), a top defenseman, a former all-star and clearly the player with the most upside among the seven. That old saw about the team getting the best player winning the trade holds up pretty well.
The only cautionary note I would make is this: No NHL general manager knows Phaneuf better than Calgary’s Darryl Sutter. He drafted him and has watched him play over four and half seasons, and suddenly gave up on him after one lousy half season. Why? Is it because Phaneuf is sour, a bit surly and not a good dressing room presence? Is it because Sutter’s brother, Brent, the coach, dislikes Phaneuf intensely, and the feeling is mutual? I don’t know.
But, at his point, chalk up one for Burke.
Tennis fans stiffed again
Here’s what TSN did very wrong this weekend. For years, tennis fans have complained, justifiably, about the short shrift TSN gave tennis. That was supposed to change when TSN2 launched. And the coverage certainly has improved because of TSN2’s ability to carry tennis programming that TSN would not.
But consider the Australian Open men’s final (Roger Federer and Andy Murray). Neither channel carried the match at a reasonable time. TSN had it live at 3:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning, which was good. And TSN2 repeated the telecast, but it aired at 6:30 a.m., and, unless you set you PVR or VCR, or got up awfully early, you missed the live and repeat telecast of a pretty important Grand Slam final. The point is this: TSN2 carried SportsCentre from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday when it could have given tennis fans a break and aired a repeat of the tennis match.
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Tennis??
On TSN's curling, the did have a couple of comments about it. I think Russ even said he liked the trade.
Dregger may have gotten the early scoop but his Leafs fan boy attitude reduces the little integrity he has to start with.
HEllo Tennis Fans – if you want to watch Tennis – get the hell up and Watch it …I did…
The Score did have the Phoneuf trade on their ticker during the game yesterday. I'm not sure what time they first ran it, but that's how a bunch of us at the pub found out about it. Gave us Gooners something to distract us from the carnage we were witnessing.
Haven't people realized by now that TSN2 is nothing more than a glorified west-coast feed of TSN, showing everything the original TSN shows 3 hours later? It's awful whenever golf or curling preempt Around The Horn and PTI, and instead of showing those shows on TSN2, they're showing what was on TSN 3 hours before. And 3 hours later, they will show the golf or curling once again! There's very little "alternative" about TSN2.
Anthony – this is because that's what their license from the CRTC gives them the rights to do – TSN2 can only show 10% original programming per week. That amounts to only about one live event per day. I believe the CRTC amended TSN2's license recently to change this and allow them to show as much original programming as they like, but I don't believe that the changes took effect immediately.
TSN is doing as much as it is allowed to with TSN2.
Around The Horn and PTI have been bumped again by curling this week but this time TSN2 is showing them, which is good news for fans of those shows
Overall, on a sleepy Sunday morning, I equate how this was covered to 9/11, where the President was busy talking to schoolchildren and when alerted to what was happening, he just stood there shellshocked, totally frozen, not prepared to act. I know this analogy is taking it to the extreme, as we are talking hockey trades, regardless of their magnitude, but this should serve as a lesson to the Sports Media that they need to be prepared in a 24/7 media driven society to be able to act when huge sports news breaks like this. I imagine that some key managers in the Sports Networks will be given a stern talking to this morning, and IMO, justifiably so.
"but this should serve as a lesson to the Sports Media that they need to be prepared in a 24/7 media driven society to be able to act when huge sports news breaks like this. I imagine that some key managers in the Sports Networks will be given a stern talking to this morning, and IMO, justifiably so."
The information was readily available. People are used to going to the web for this kind of info now. When I catch wind of a big trade or free agent signing, I never flip on the TV — I turn to the web to get caught up. Both TSN and Sportsnet had this well-covered from that angle via their websites, text alerts and Twitter feeds.
That's the reality of new media — I get it went I want it and I don't have to sit through a block of commercials before I get caught up. What's the alternate? Turn on the TV and sit through an hour of Connected/Sportscentre and wait for the 5 minute story at the top and half-hour of the newscast?
I was astonished by how badly the sports television networks covered it for the most part. I give The Score a pass, as they had a live EPL game going between Man U and Arsenal, and any interruption of that game and they may have had their building burnt down. Rogers Sportsnet Ontario was showing recycled highlights on Connected, so they had no excuse not to mobilize and get some live coverage. You would never have known that the trades were going down by watching them. TSN was showing live curling, so I can accept that, as those curling nuts would have burnt their building down had they cut in. TSN2, the supposed alternate network, was showing recycled sportscentre highlights and as gulity as Rogers Sportsnet Ontario.
On Twitter, where I follow a fair number of sports journalists, Bruce Arthur was doing his best to keep everyone updated. Elliotte Friedman turned off his phone for the first time since August and missed everything – totally unacceptable. Yes, Dreger was active on Twitter with updates, so he deserves kudos forewarning us of some monstrous stuff to come.
Part 2 to come
I recognize that being first is important in the news-sports reporting business but honestly I could care less. Most of the time we are only talking about minutes difference and I suspect that most people dont pay that much attention to who was first. Personally Im a TSN guy, but if sportsnet had broke the story first I would still tune in to TSN for the coverage. You heard it here first!!!
pierre lebrun actually had the toskal trade well before Dreger did on ESPN.com
At about 8:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, he tweeted that a major change on the Leafs would be announced that day.
i presume that should be 8:45 a.m.
Yep. Thanks