I don’t think so. The TV audiences in North America have been strong and the coverage comprehensive.

  But, oh my, what a hodgepodge of mistakes and mediocrity the tournament has been so far, despite the hype and the media excitement over the South African venue.

  On one Toronto radio station this morning, after Portugal opened its scoring against North Korea, the host announced, “A goal has been scored at the World Cup this morning.”

  Yes. A goal. In the World Cup. Given the number 0-0 ties that have been inflicted on us, what a momentous event it was.

  The African teams have been a bust. The European teams haven’t shown much, with the exception of perhaps the Netherlands. France has become a farce. And England, well, England is England — over-rated, under-skilled, and perhaps poorly coached.

   Of the international stars, the only one to live up his billing is the terrific Argentine, Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka have under-achieved, and so have Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba, although both are returning from injuries. Wayne Rooney may not deserve to be included among the game’s best.

    And then you have the officiating, which is typically inconsistent, often inept and perhaps even corrupt. We are forced to watch preening, egocentic referees ruin a competitive game. Good goals are disallowed, bad goals are counted, and, when some referees are in charge, yellow cards are dispensed by the handful, like flyers outside Joe’s Diner. Ronaldo, a player you want in a goals-challenged tournament, gets a yellow card for jawing at another player? Now, that makes a lot of sense.

   On the plus side, you have the South American teams, which have played well. Argentina has been the class of the tournament.

   I could be wrong, but there seem to be fewer flopping divas this year, although it’s a mystery to me why a player, who goes down with an apparent leg injury, lies on the field clutching his head with both hands as if he has been levelled by a sudden thrombosis. Wouldn’t the natural instinct be to grab the injured part of the body?

  The CBC’s coverage has been fine. Every minute of air time seems to be sponsored by something – the Rogers pre-game snow, Captain Morgan’s halftime, etc. — but that’s the reality of TV coverage when rights fees are costly and commercials are disallowed during the play on the field.

   Mitch Peacock is doing a nice job as morning host. Among the commentators, John Collins and Jason De Vos have been the best. Collins, a former Scotland player, is the most outspoken and perhaps insightful of the group, although he had it all wrong about England. My only criticism would be that watching Collins is a somewhat painful experience because of the stress he seems to put on himself to express an opinion. De Vos has plenty of expertise, but needs to say more.

   The morning guys, Bob Lenarduzzi and Nigel Reed, are okay. Lenarduzzi is low key and Reed has this irritating habit of mugging for the camera as if he’s so chuffed to be part of the  World Cup coverage that he can’t help himself from staring into the camera, nodding and smiling, when somebody else is talking.

  But, overall, a good show. Now, if the quality of play would just improve. . .

   An update on right wing TV in Canada

  This isn’t sports related, but it certainly involves television in Canada.

  Kory Teneycke, a former flack for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wants to launch a right wing news channel in Canada, to be financed by Sun Media owner Quebecor. To which I say, if that’s what Kory wants to do, go for it, big guy, but don’t use my money.

  Anybody who has seen Teneycke at work as a pundit knows that he’s not the most subtle guy in the world. A few days ago, he attacked Don Newman, comparing the former CBC News host to an addled U.S. journalist who uttered some anti-Israel, perhaps anti-Semitic, remarks, and lost her job because of it. Newman’s offence? He happened to think a right wing channel was a bad idea.

  A day or two later, Teneycke appeared on CBC News Network where he expressed his personal problems with both the CBC and CTV. He asserted that the CTV network supports the Liberal Party, evidence of which is CTVglobemedia president/CEO Ivan Fecan donating to the party. That struck me as pretty shaky logic.

   And he complained about the fact the CBC is publicly subsidized, after which he declared that his proposed network is “not in the business of handouts from the public.”

  Perhaps, but reports have described the channel seeking a “must carry” designation from the CRTC. If that is correct, all cable and direct-to-home systems in the country would be required to carry it and then past on the cost to the consumer. If, however, the cable and DTH operators have the option of merely offering the channel to subscribers, then it becomes optional. And that’s fine. A cost that is passed on to the consumer becomes a public handout in support of right wing TV.

NBC crew does overnighter for hockey

 We sometimes get the impression that the U.S. sports media has no real interest in the NHL — that the sport’s appeal is limited to a very small group of hard core fans.

  But consider this story: During the French Open, NBC’s tennis announcer Ted Robinson did some promos for network’s coverage of Stanley Cup final. During the men’s final telecast two weeks ago, Robinson suggested on the air to John McEnroe they visit a Canadian bar he knew in Paris to watch Philadelphia-Chicago Game 5 that night. It started at 2 a.m. local time. It turned out 20 technicians, production staff and on air people showed up at The Great Canadian Pub at Quai des Grands Augustins. They watched the game until it was over at 5 a.m. and then headed to the airport to catch their Monday morning flight home.

WFN’s Gulf spill telethon  

  The World Fishing Network (WFN) has organized a 24 hour fundraiser for the fishing communities devastated by the Gulf oil spill.

 The Toronto based cable channel will air its telethon on Wednesday, June 30, dedicating air time to coverage of the impact of the spill on “recreational and commercial fishing in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.” Jim van Horne and Emanuel Beliveau will be the co-hosts. Viewers will be able to donate to the the WFN Gulf Oil Spill Fisherman’s Fund, www.wfn.tv/donate
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 I’ll be nice, I promise

  I’m off for the summer (and not a minute too soon), and, when I return, you will meet a kinder, more caring columnist, a person who does nice instead of nasty, who loves his enemies, abhors vindictiveness, and is tolerant and praising of even the biggest dopes in the Canadian sports media business (sorry, didn’t mean that. Can we start again?)  .  .  .  Is tolerant and praising of all the good folks who earn a living in Canadian sports media no matter how unpleasant or challenged they might be. Yes, it’s time to turn over a new leaf. So, say goodbye to the mean old me and hello to  .  .  .   Mr. Positive. (I better stop before I get ill.) Enjoy the summer.

   Yes, AM640 Toronto’s Leafs Lunch will be cancelled, as Bruce breathlessly reports in today’s Globe and Mail. But it will be Mike Stafford taking over the noon hour slot, not Charles Adler.

   Here’s a clearer report, I think. (I was given the information yesterday, but incorrectly assumed Bruce would be doing Part 2 of his series on NBC hockey playoff audiences, so didn’t think there was any urgency.)

   The Leafs Lunch show with Darren Dreger and Bill Watters will be shuttered in early July. Stafford’s mid-morning show will be extended to 1 p.m., when Adler will take over, followed by the Bill Watters afternoon drive at 4 p.m. Previously, Stafford took a break from noon to 1 p.m. , when Leafs Lunch was on the air, and then came back for another hour from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

  Why was Leafs Lunch cancelled? Mostly because of ratings.

  The show, in the early years, had good numbers, but over the past year they declined.  Stafford’s mid-morning show (10 a.m.-noon) has been producing an audience share of 5.7 per cent in the male 25 to 54 demographic. But for the hour between noon and 1 p.m. (Leafs Lunch), the share had dropped to 2.9 per cent. When Stafford came back for the final hour of his show from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., the share climbed back to about 5.9 per cent. Over at the Fan590, its noon to 2 p.m. show, Hockey Central, has been up close to a 6 per cent share.

   So, those are the numbers and they help explain why Leafs Lunch was dropped, and Stafford and Adler will handle AM 640’s daytime programming. In his internal memo, program director Gord Harris stated that Leafs Lunch will resume in an abridged form in September.

   He said opting for news talk throughout the day will provide consistency, and he gave thumbs up to Stafford and Adler.

 “Both Mike and Charles have been solid performers,” he wrote, “providing listeners with a solid block of talk programming, not interrupted by a sports show in the  middle of the day, should extend our ratings success from Oakley through Alder (5:30am to 4pm), reduce confusion over what we are (a talk station or a sports station?) and reinforce the fact we are a Talk Radio station that is The Home of the Leafs, with a strong sports-oriented drive show (a time period where there is a greater demand for sports-related talk than in other day-parts).”

   Harris praised the Leafs Lunch staff. “Darren Dreger has brought top-notch credibility to the program and to the radio station . . . .  Bryan Hayes has also done a wonderful job in the short time he has been producing the program . . . we appreciate the extra effort Bill Watters has gone to in giving us so much of his time for on-air performance, maintaining his Leafs Lunch commitment in addition to his key role on Leafs Breakfast and, of course, The Bill Watters Show.”

   That’s the speculation making the rounds in the Toronto radio business.

   Stroumboulopoulos would replace Don Landry and presumably Gord Stellick, although it’s not clear what Stellick’s status at the station would be. Stellick is a survivor and, arguably, nobody in Toronto broadcasting has done as much with as little talent as Gord.

   As for Landry, he appears to be on his way out. His strong words in support of Blue Jays reporter Mike Wilner (and his implicit criticism of program director Don Kollins) last week were seen as a clear sign that he is done and knows it. Wilner was suspended for three days for the sole offense, apparently, of rankling Jays manager Cito Gaston.

   Insiders say Strombo, in addition to being host of the Fan590 morning show, would keep his job at CBC News Network where he is host of the late night show The Hour.

  The question is, when would he sleep? Well, The Hour is taped at 4:30 p.m. ET every afternoon and then airs at 11 p.m. local times.

   That would give George enough time to grab some sleep and rise at, what? 5 a.m. for the morning show.

  The people at Rogers Media, which owns Fan590, would view Stroumboulopoulos as somebody who could deliver a younger audience to the morning slot. And he has a history with the station. He got his start in broadcasting there in the 1990s.

  Fadoo.ca RIP

 Yes, Bob McCown’s website, fadoo.ca, is history. It was shuttered this week after about a year of operation. “It just didn’t make business sense, anymore,” a source close the operation wrote in an e-mail message.

  Since my Truth and Rumours column was carried on fadoo.ca, I will, needless to say, miss the $1,500.00 a column that Bob was generously paying me. I just spent the afternoon looking around for more lawn mowing jobs.  (Uh, disregard the previous paragraph and the lies within.)

  My sense of fadoo.ca was that McCown lost interest in it months ago. And it showed. All the best to the good people who were involved in the website.

Big World Cup numbers

The CBC drew a record 2.275 million for the England-United States match at the World Cup on Saturday afternoon. That’s the largest audience ever in Canadian television for a World Cup finals preliminary game.

In the United States, ESPN and ABC are averaging three million households for eight games and 4.25 million viewers, an increase of 75 and 80 per cent respectively, compared with the opening eight games of the 2006 World Cup (1.72 million households and 2.36 million viewers).

Friday

Opening Ceremony – 382,000

 South Africa-Mexico, 906,000, 269,127 total live streams (includes Opening Ceremony)

Uruguay-France, 1.010 million, 155,087 total live streams

Match of the day (South Africa-Mexico repeat), 535,000 audience  

 Saturday

Korea Republic-Greece, 605,000 audience, 40,790 total live streams

Argentina-Nigeria, 1.305 million audience, 62,072 total live streams

England-USA, 2.275 million average, 86,711 total live streams

Match of the Day (England-U.S. repeat), 465,000 audience

 Sunday

Algeria-Slovenia, 513,000 audience, 24,734 total live streams

Serbia-Ghana, 1.212 million average audience, 43,376 total live streams

Germany-Australia, 1.660 million average audience, 78,168 total live streams

Match of the day (Germany-Australia repeat), 509,000 average audience

 Other audiences:

  Friday

Jays-Colorado, Rogers Sportsnet, – 362,800 – 90 minute rain delay, game started at 10:30 p.m.

Saturday

Jays-Colorado, Sportsnet, – 482,000 MLB Saturday – 179,000 – Phillies vs Red Sox and Yankees vs. Houston Astros – both 4 p.m. starts

 F-1 Canadian Grand Prix qualifying, TSN, 184,000

 MMA Connected, UFC 115 Preview show, Sportsnet, – 110,000

 Sunday 

Jays-Colorado, Sportsnet,  – 352,000

F-1 Canadian Grand Prix, TSN, 578,000

NBA Finals, L.A.-Boston, TSN, 544,000

NASCAR Sprint Cup, TSN, 414,000

  ITV had cut away to a Hyundai commercial.

  Viewers with standard definition televisions, however, were not affected. The Telegraph reported that the mistake might have been caused by a transmission problem.

   Notes:

  A couple of readers have criticized the work of World Cup host broadcast announcer John Helm. He really is a mediocre play by play voice, yet he seems to get the big games.

   Six minutes into England-United States, after England took an early lead, he said, “There’s plenty of time left, of course, for the Americans to come back and win the game.”

  Yep, that’s right, John – 84 minutes of time, and thanks for stating the obvious.

  — You can always count on the CBC’s World Cup host Scott Russell to put a happy face on bad news. He called the U.S. goal scored on England goalkeeper Robert Green “a tricky play.” Tricky? It was a 75 foot shot on the ground, and virtually straight at him. A 10 year old could have stopped it. Analyst John Collins had it right. He called it “a school boy error.”

 – More on the Fan590’s weekend suspension of Blue Jays reporter Mike Wilner for confronting manager Cito Gaston with persistent questions about his use of the bullpen:

  On the Fan590’s Prime Time Sports, Jeff Blair interviewed ESPN baseball analyst Keith Law, who formerly worked in the Jays front office, about the college draft. After being thanked by Blair for the interview, Law said, “Thank you and I support Mike Wilner 100 per cent.”

– During WGN’s telecast of the Cubs-White Sox game, a cameraman found Patrick Kane, who scored the Chicago Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup winner, on a rooftop watching the game immediately after the Blackhawk parade. Dead-panned White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone, “You think he could get a better seat than that!”

–  TSN’s Dave Hodge has it right about the vuvuzela horns at the World Cup. Unless you enjoy the noise of attacking hornets, you need to push the mute button on your television.

  –  Also agree with the many commentators who pointed out that the hockey writers goofed in awarding the Conn Smythe playoff MVP award to Chicago’s Jon Toews. As Steve Simmons noted on TSN’s The Reporters, Toews was a minus five in the Stanley Cup final and was involved in only two of 19 goals.

   That’s a terrible basis on which to award the trophy to a player. It’s also an embarrassment to writers association. True, the Blackhawks probably would not have made it to the final without Toews, but a player’s performance in the final series should count for at least 50 per cent of the overall evaluation. The winner should have been Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith.

• Live telecasts of all the games, most of them on the main network, and some on the CBC cable channel Bold.
• A prime time repeat of “the game of the day” on the main channel, plus more repeats on Bold.
• Telecasts on the CBC’s main network will be in HDTV. Bold, which will air a few live game telecasts as well as encores, will be available in HDTV to Rogers and Cogeco cable subscribers. The CBC launched a HDTV feed for Bold last week, but as far as I know, Rogers and Cogeco are the only two distributors carrying it.
• The CBC’s pre-game, intermission and post-game panel will consist of Jason De Vos, Bob Lenarduzzi and John Collins, a former Scotland player, and Toronto announcer Nigel Reed.
• Reporting from South Africa will be Brenda Irving of CBC Sports; Kim Brunhuber, a national correspondent; and Tom Harrington of CBC News.
• The host broadcast British play by play announcers will be John Helm, David Woods, Steve Banyard, Gary Bloom and Kevin Keatings.
• All the games will be streamed on CBCSports.ca.
• CBCSports.ca will provide its own studio commentary with John Molinaro; Cape Town SuperSport commentator Mark Gleason; South American soccer writer and BBC broadcaster Tim Vickery, and Madrid-based guardian.co.uk soccer columnist and commentator Sid Lowe.
•  The Cup final and third place game will be available in 3-D on Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, and to TELUS subscribers. It’s worth noting that Bell TV is not making the 3-D telecasts available nor is it carrying the Bold HDTV feed. Note to Bell TV: Thanks for nothing.
• Mobile applications and video on demand will be available.

  As for the CBC’s original programming, my guess is the studio panel will make the biggest impact. De Vos, Lenarduzzi and Collins will help shape our views of news developments, important plays and decisions made by the teams.

   I’ve liked the work of De Vos and Lenarduzzi, both former players, in the past. And Collins has provided commentary for European television.

     De Vos caught the attention of many of us during the Beijing Olympics when he called out the Canadian women’s soccer team coach, Even Pellerud, for employing the long ball game – a simplistic strategy that dooms a team to second tier status.

  Hearing De Vos’s blunt criticism of a Canadian coach was unusual in a sport where commentators in Canada have tended to boost the product without providing analysis that is pertinent or compelling.

  In an interview last week, he said he sees his role as one in which he balances context and exposition for the casual fan with in-depth commentary for the aficionado.

 “It’s a challenge in Canada because you have such a wide variety of soccer fans,” he said. “You have die-hard, passionate supporters who watch everything they can on television. And then you have other viewers who perhaps watch soccer once every four years during the World Cup, because it’s such a huge event.

  “My philosophy has always been you can’t just speak to one audience. You have to be as broad as possible. But I don’t want to talk down to anyone. I don’t want to simplify the game so much that the passionate fans won’t get anything out of it. So, it’s a balancing act.”

   Here are some opinions and questions from De Vos about the World Cup:

  How successful will the African teams be? Historically, nations perform well when the World Cup is played on their continent. So, what will the South African venue do for the leading African sides of Ghana and Ivory Coast?

  What impact will the weather have? If you assume the temperatures in South Africa will be warm trending to hot, you would be wrong.

  “It’s actually going to be fairly cool which should play in favour of European teams,” he said.

  Like most commentators, he views Brazil and Spain, and perhaps Argentina and Germany as favourites.

  He sees the Netherlands as a team to watch, although he made that observation before winger Arjen Robben limped off the field with a hamstring injury.

  “[The Netherlands] are playing some beautiful football right now,” he said. “They always do. They’re very fluid in their movements. They’re all very gifted.”

  England will be competitive, he says, if Wayne Rooney can produce. He has concerns about the goaltending.

  “I’m a little bit worried that there isn’t a standout goalkeeper among the three that are going,” he said. “Every team that wins the World Cup has a very strong goalkeeper.”

  Conventional wisdom has the most competitive group, the group of death, as Group G (Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, North Korea). But De Vos believes advancing from Group D, with Germany, Ghana, Australia and Serbia, also will be difficult.

  Will the highest paid player in the world (and arguably the best), Cristiano Ronaldo, be able to lead Portugal out of the group of death?

   De Vos, and others, have noted that Ronaldo has not played well internationally.

  Three young players who could emerge from the World Cup as international stars, De Vos says, are Thomas Mueller and Holger Badstuber of Germany, and Simon Kjaer of Denmark.

  Reaction to the Mike Wilner suspension

  Last weekend, the Fan590 pulled Toronto Blue Jay reporter Mike Wilner off the New York Yankees series, because during a pre-game media scrum on Wednesday he had apparently rankled the Jays by pressing manager Cito Gaston about his bullpen decisions in a loss to Tampa the night before. It was described by the National Post as “an intense exchange.” (The Jays and Fan590 are owned by Rogers Communications.)

  There is, of course, nothing wrong with aggressive questioning. Wilner was doing his job. Needless to say, suspending him was a bush league move and an amazingly stupid thing to do. Subsequently, the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers Association wrote a letter to Jays president Paul Beeston, stating that it “would like to officially voice its support of the right of Mr. Wilner or any other reporter to ask challenging questions”. Of course.

  What amazed me was the number of readers who thought Wilner was arrogant, had crossed the line, and therefore deserved to be slapped down. The Globe and Mail’s Jeff Blair tweeted that Wilner had made the wrong decision journalistically by showing up Gaston “in a group.” In other words, don’t hurt Cito’s feelings.

    And then there was this comment, which I didn’t post because it contained profanity, which stated in part, “Sports is entertainment, not the national budget. Post game pressers are the realm of the reliable anecdote and old cliches. They are not a parliamentary hearing.” In other words, the best we should expect from sports writers and broadcasters is pap. That argument is so moronic as to not deserve further comment.

  I thought the reader who sent in the following summed it up well. He (or she) wrote, “Interesting to see that many of you who don’t like Wilner for his arrogance and rudeness are happy about the suspension and would like him off the air. But once again, this IS an issue about having the freedom to ask the tough questions and report the truth. This has nothing to do with whether you like Mike or not. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Wilner and will never be for those same reasons mentioned above. But can’t Toronto reporters or hosts really ever speak their minds without being punished  or indirectly censored in the future?
“If that occurs, you will never get tough questions being asked which we continue to see for the past decade in Toronto.”

  Finally, consider these words from Don Landry, co-host of the Fan590’s morning show. Landry, a Rogers employee who is paid by the Fan590, said  on Monday morning:

   ”The wrong decision was made here. It was a mistake to suspend Mike Wilner. Mike Wilner did not volunteer to take the weekend off. He was told not to be at work. And I think that’s wrong, and it sends the wrong message. And I think this company made a bad mistake. . . And it makes us look bad, and it may even in fact be embarrassing for some people here at the radio station. I think it is embarrassing to the radio station, I think it’s embarrassing to Mike Wilner, unfortunately. And I think it all could have been avoided if it weren’t so public.
   “What I have not been able to figure out is, was this an edict from Rogers Corporate?  Was this an edict from the Blue jays, directly to us?  Was it from someone in the hierarchy of the Blue Jays to someone in the hierarchy of Rogers and then it trickled down?. But I think it’s the wrong decision, it shouldn’t have
happened and I’m sorry it did.”
  Well said.

  Let’s start with astonishing – astonishing that a media outlet, even if it is a radio station, would pull a reporter off the beat because he confronted a baseball manager with questions about his in-game decisions.

   Isn’t that what beat reporters are paid to do?

  According to a National Post report and by people who were at the media scrum on Wednesday, Wilner didn’t yell at Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston. He didn’t call him names, didn’t swear at him or ridicule him.

   He pressed him about his use of the bullpen in the Jays’ loss to Tampa Bay last Tuesday.  Gaston apparently didn’t answer the questions and instead asked Wilner twice if he “had seen the stats”. The Post called it a “brief but tense exchange.”  Wilner, writing about it in his blog, said near the end of his piece that Gaston had “belittled” him.

   I don’t know about that. But as a result of incident, the Fan590 pulled Wilner from the Jays’ weekend series with the New York Yankees.

   There’s a word for the station did to Wilner. It’s called punishment. The weekend off was a suspension. Whether he’s getting paid or not, and I assume he is, it is still a suspension.

  So, there you have it. A Jays reporter persists in asking  some pointed, perhaps tough questions, and his employer sends him home for a few days.

   Welcome to the world of Rogers Communications, the Vampire Squid (with apologies to Matt Taibbi) that seeks to wrap itself around the face of professional sports in Canada.

  Rogers owns the Jays, Rogers Sportsnet plus other cable channels, and Fan590 as well as plenty of other radio stations. It has a huge cable TV operation, not to mention wireless and telecommunications divisions.

  It’s safe to assume the Fan590’s program director Don Kollins didn’t suspend Wilner on a whim. He received a complaint from the Jays. It could have been from one of the PR people, or vice president Howie Starkman,  who works diligently to root out offensive media types, or Paul Beeston, the  president and a long time Gaston defender. (Beeston claimed he knew nothing about it.)

   Whatever the case, a radio executive with backbone would have politely listened to the Jays’ grievance. His response would have been to do nothing other than perhaps ask Wilner to not accuse Gaston of belittling him when the situation was more likely a give and take between two people who don’t like each other much.

  But not Kollins. Showing himself to be a world class coward, he bowed to the Jays and suspended Wilner, thereby embarrassing himself, not Wilner, and the station. He didn’t even have the guts or the courtesy to respond to calls from the Post. I’d like to think Kollins’s predecessor, Nelson Millman, would have handled the matter differently.

  The Post reported that the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America sent Beeston a letter voicing concern about Wilner’s suspention.

  Chapter president Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star wrote, “The baseball writers association would like to officially voice its support of the right of Mr. Wilner or any other reporter to ask challenging questions.

 “Similar lines of questioning in the wake of difficult losses are not uncommon in all pro sports. The concern of the BBWAA is that this amounts to an attempt to either censor or intimidate the media coverage that the Jays receive on a daily basis in all four newspapers and the wire services.”

  Another compared the MacLean-Bettman interview on Hockey Night In Canada to a “a repeat of a bad sitcom.” It certainly was. Like all the others, it was awkward, a little strange, somewhat contentious and not very enlightening.

   MacLean tries to be aggressive and confrontational during these sessions, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no reason to soft ball the guy, although the more pressure you put on Bettman the more it seems to elevate his level of smugness and condescension.

  The big problem was the subject matter. MacLean dealt with the financial issues and problems confronting the NHL clubs in a convoluted manner that didn’t explain much of anything. He went from one club to another, wondering which owner was going to “turn in the keys” and which owner wasn’t. As Bettman noted, there is a difference between turning in the keys and deciding to sell.

   The biggest problem with any interview that MacLean conducts is context and first references. He doesn’t believe in either, which, of course, pretty much reduces his efforts to a mumbo-jumbo hardly worth listening to. Still, the CBC is obviously okay with this, because the network has allowed him to ignore basic journalistic principles for years.

   In this one, he raised the issue of the Goldwater Institute, which has challenged the city of Glendale’s multi-million dollar deal with the Coyotes. The problem was, MacLean threw out the word Goldwater without telling us that it is a Phoenix based think thank that believes the Coyotes deal will force taxpayers to subsidize the club’s loses. If you’re not going to explain what the thing is, what’s the point of mentioning it?

  Sean McCormick done at Sportsnet

   Anchor Sean McCormick is quitting Rogers Sportsnet immediately to “devote his time” to winning a seat on Toronto city council.

  McCormick announced several weeks ago that he would run in the municipal election and that he would resign from Sportsnet if he won.

  Given that voting day isn’t until late October, McCormick is giving himself plenty of time — the best part of five months — to prepare and campaign.  His last day at Sportsnet is tomorrow (June 4).

  The following is the internal memo sent out by Nelson Millman, the executive producer of studio productions at Sportsnet, announcing that McCormick is leaving. (Nelson, who joined Sportsnet from the Fan590, is certainly a radio guy – he misspells television twice.)

  As I am sure you all know, Sean McCormick has decided to run for Toronto City Council in the municipal election to be held on October 25th. There is no question that running for politics is a time consuming initiative that requires
full attention in order to be successful. To that end, Sean has decided that in order to give himself the best opportunity to win, he needs to devote his time to the campaign and election process. Therefore Sean’s last day at Sportsnet will be Friday June 4th.
  Sean has been with Sportsnet for the past 7 years and has certainly established himself as one of the country’s premier sports televison broadcasters. His presence, sense of humour and experience will be very much missed by all of us here. However, serving one’s city is a noble endeavour and I’m confident he will be outstanding when he wins the election in his riding.
  I’m sure you will all join me in wishing Sean the best of luck as he moves over from the televison stage to the political stage.

    More important for staff was news that copy editing assignments will be contracted out to an external service.

   Globe staffers aren’t happy about this, but weren’t able to stop it. At the Toronto Star, the out-sourcing of copy editing was proposed last November. However,  an alternative proposal by the union to keep the work in-house was accepted in January.

    In an e-mail message to employees, Globe editor John Stackhouse insisted that jobs will not be lost. “There is no planned reduction in headcount,” he wrote.

    Stackhouse expressed confidence in the editing company retained by the Globe. It’s called Pagemasters North America. He said the Australian based parent company, Pagemasters, “has a track record of doing excellent production work for some of the biggest papers in Australia and New Zealand.

   “They have also been doing pages for the Daily Telegraph in London. Pagemasters was formed in 1991, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Australian Associated Press.  Pagemasters North America [PMNA] is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Canadian Press.”

   Stackhouse said Pagemasters’ “two-page-a-day trial” will start June 7. “From July 6^th until Labour Day, approximately 70 pages a week will be moved to PMNA.  If the summer trial goes well, our plan is to continue to provide PMNA with some work.”

    Stackhouse used a Q&A to deliver most of his message:

 Q. Which pages will be given to Pagemasters?

 A. During the trial, split pages from the A Section as well as the Wall Street Journal page will be provided to PMNA.  During July and August, the pages provided to PMNA will be from a variety of sections. 

Q. Will PMNA be given front-page stories and front pages?

 A. No, PMNA will not be given front-page stories.  We want our best people on the highest-profile work, which includes front pages and front-page stories.

Q. Why did we decide to engage the services of Pagemasters?

A. We are doing this during the summer months to help with vacation relief in this transition vacation year.  If the trial goes well, we are planning to continue this arrangement after the summer because we have ambitious digital plans, including the launch of the GlobeLife hub, and are keen to further integrate our newsroom by developing greater web skills among our own editing team. We can make that happen by providing some of their previous work to PMNA and diverting people to priority areas.  We want to concentrate more resources on what we think is a competitive edge: creation and display of first-rate content.  This arrangement will also free time for enhanced skills training. We are bringing in one of the top Newsgate trainers in North American in a few weeks and will be following through the summer with world-class experts in other areas as well.

   Also, this arrangement will allow us to prepare for and focus on the newspaper redesign this fall.

  Q. How will we ensure our high quality is maintained?

 A. We will have a Service Level Agreement with PMNA that sets out our expectations of quality and timeliness. Pagemasters has a long history of doing excellent production work for some of the biggest papers in Australia and New Zealand as well as the Daily Telegraph in London.  They very clearly understand, and are committed to maintaining, our high quality standards.  As mentioned above, the summer trial will be used as an opportunity to assess the quality, reliability and consistency of their work.  We also encourage you to keep an eye on the quality and provide us with your feedback.

   Readers asked why last weekend’s Sunday night baseball game was carried on Rogers Sportsnet instead of TSN2 which acquired the rights a few weeks ago. Answer: It was a one-off. TSN2 had scheduling conflict involving auto racing. And it had to hold Sunday night for a potential NBA conference final Game 7.

  Strong U.S. audiences for Stanley Cup final

NBC earned a 4.1 overnight rating (percentage of potential U.S. households tuned in) for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final (Philadelphia-Chicago).

  That’s the highest rating for a SCF Game 2 since 1975 (Buffalo-Philadelphia). The rating was also 21 per cent higher than last year’s rating for Game 2 (Pittsburgh-Detroit). The top TV market was Chicago (a 25.1 rating). Philadelphia was second with 18.5.

  NBC’s 2.8 rating for Game 1 on Saturday night  was up 12 per cent from last year’s final (Pittsburgh-Detroit).

  As well, the 2.8 rating was the highest for a SCF Game 1 in 11 years (Buffalo-Dallas, 1999, 3.7 rating). NBC’s 2.8 won the night in U.S. television, topping the other networks in prime time.

  The increases numbers aren’t a surprise given the size of the two markets. As well, the Flyers have a national following. HBO’s documentary last month on the Broad Street Bullies didn’t hurt the Flyers’ profile.

   In Canada, the CBC’s audience for Game 2 was down from the first game. The telecast was watched by 2.775 million. Game 1 drew 3.164 million. The  Game 1 pre-game show was watched by 989,000.

  For round three – the two conference finals – CBCSports.ca had 356,000 views for the online streams. That’s a 600 per cent increase over 51,000 in 2009.

 Blue Jays

 Friday, vs. Baltimore, Sportsnet, 581,000.

Saturday, vs. Baltimore, Sportsnet, 527,000.

Sunday, vs. Baltimore, Sportsnet, 334,000.

 MLB

 Sunday, Texas-Minnesota, Sportsnet,187,000.

 Basketball

Friday, Orlando-Boston, TSN, 348,000

Saturday, Suns-Lakers, TSN, 435,000

Hockey

Friday, NHL scouting combine, TSN, 171,000

Saturday, That’s Hockey Stanley Cup preview, TSN, 243,000

Saturday, Hockey Central, Sportsnet, 186,000

Tennis

Saturday, French Open, TSN, 145,000

Auto racing

Sunday, Turkish Grand Prix, TSN, 312,000

 Soccer

 Saturday, CBC, Hungary-Germany friendly, 134,000.

 Track and Field

 Saturday, Diamond League, CBC, 109,000.

   Banyard, 46, calls English Premier League telecasts for IMG London and does some work for Sky Sports.  He is also a lead play by play announcer for the FIFA host broadcasts. He has worked on World Cups as well as under-20 and under-17 tournaments. He was in Canada three years ago for the under-20 event. And he will be in South Africa to call World Cup games (June 11 start). In Canada, the telecasts will be aired on the CBC.

  I asked Steve to list his top three World Cup seeds.

 They are in order:

Spain

 “For me the big question mark is the fitness of [Fernando] Torres. He missed the last month of the season in the English Premier League and has had a few interruptions through injury this season. However, he’s as good a striker as there is in world football when he’s fit.

 “Spain broke the mental barrier of winning a major tournament when they won the Euros two years ago, and they have as good, and as settled, a squad as anyone.”

Brazil

 “Five time winners. The only nation to participate at every World Cup. They won the South American qualifying group. Enough said.”

England

 “Any successful team has to produce goals, and this could be Wayne Rooney’s time to shine. He’s been utterly brilliant for Manchester United this season and that’s reflected by him winning the major domestic awards as the best player. Fabio Cappello’s instilled a greater sense of discipline and focus, and he’s a manager who is a proven winner.

  “If I’ve worked this out correctly, a Brazil v Spain final can only happen if they both win their groups (or indeed both come 2nd!) as the groups are aired in the Round of 16 knockout stage.”

 The surprise team of the tournament:

Ghana

 “There’s never been a better and more appropriate time for an African nation to make a real impact and reach the latter stages. The continent’s hosted both the U20 and U17 World Cups in the last 12 months, Ghana beat Brazil in the U20 in Egypt in the autumn (or fall, I guess you’d say!) and a number of those players will be stepping up to the senior side. Ghana have tremendous energy, now married with more experience. They beat both the Czech Republic and the USA on their World Cup debut four years ago, and only lost to Italy and Brazil. One to watch for sure.”

His assessment of the U.S. team:

“I was really impressed with the impact made by Landon Donovan in his brief spell with Everton in the EPL this season. He added invention, creativity and was a genuine goal provider. The US also has several proven top-class goalkeepers.

  “However, when I saw them play the Netherlands in March, they were lacking a cutting edge up front through the middle, and I’m not sure the squad has sufficient depth of quality to get past the Round of 16.

 “I’d love to see it happen as it would be a fantastic boost for MLS and for the sport stateside. Lots of people want to build the rivalry between England and the US for the opening game, but personally I’d love to see both do well and I think both should qualify from Group C.”

More on England:

 “Fabio Capello’s tighter regime is already paying dividends. Nine wins in 10 qualifying matches came about by the team applying themselves better, working together, and not allowing unnecessary distractions to get in the way.

 “Rooney is the headline-grabber, but players like [Frank] Lampard, [Steven] Gerrard and [John] Terry give the spine real quality. One concern is the goalkeeping position. David James is occasionally vulnerable (he’s sometimes been referred to as ‘Calamity James’ over here for high profile errors), so it’s unclear if he’ll get the nod. Joe Hart could be a surprise choice between the sticks despite a lack of international experience, or Rob Green may be preferred. Everyone’s just hoping it doesn’t go to penalties again. . . !”

 On the host country:

 ”South Africa will provide a truly unique World Cup, whatever happens, just by virtue of being the first African nation to host the tournament. The local horns or ‘vuvuzelas’ will ensure an atmosphere unlike those at previous World Cups (and we might need ear plugs!) but it’s going to be a great spectacle. Let’s hope the South African people embrace the tournament, there are no security concerns and that the football provides some wonderful memories.”