Un cuarto de una hora en el anfitrión Russ Thaler del programa se detuvo brevemente para el oxígeno y en un recortado al anuncio refirió a un desarrollo el romperse de la lista hacia fuera en Kettler. At OFB we call that progress for puckheads.

I was able to survery the rush-hour sports segments for both WJLA and WRC. Tim Brandt’s coverage was predictably pedestrian. I can’t get worked up about the old linebacker’s middling musings about hockey. And it’s just WJLA, after all.

But Lindsay Czarniak’s 6:00 sportscast, my readers will be shocked to learn, garnered my admiration. She opened her sports report with the 24 hours-old highlights of Sunday’s Nats-O’s game, but then she used Sunday RFK to transition into Capsdom. Backstrom threw out Sunday’s first pitch there, and she was impressed by the Swede’s courage and control in the endeavor.

Czarniak Interviews Backstrom

Her coverage of Monday at Kettler included interviews with Mr. Leonsis, the team’s general manager, Backstrom’s new coach, and the star goalie. And we saw snippets from all of them. I felt almost as if I were watching an evening sportscast in Winnipeg.

WRC grade: A

I also was able to catch Comcast Sportnight’s coverage of the Backstrom presser. It lasted all of about 40 seconds. Same outlet covering the frothing canines caper. Ten minutes on the four-leggers, 40 seconds on the two-legged SuperSwede.

Grade: F

WaPost this morning bumped hockey all the way up to E3, out of its usual perch below the obits. Tarik’s account is fine I suppose. No pic of the newest Cap, which struck me as odd, from an event designed mostly for photo ops. But smack in the middle of E1 Washingtonians are confronted by Steve Goff’s account (with accompanying color photo) of a Maryland pro soccer team no one in the history of the world has ever heard about.

Grade: D+

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Posted at 8:25 am. Filed under Comcast SportsNet, Lindsay Czarniak, Media, Morning cup-a-joe, Nicklas Backstrom, Print, TV, Tarik El-Bashir, WRC, Washington Capitals, Washington Post.
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12 Comments

  1. b.oor4 wrote:

    We can beat our heads against the wall about the MSM covereage of the Caps, but all that really will achieve is giving us a monumental headache. Give Tarik credit for at least trying, but it’s clear his editors view hockey the way I view cricket, as a meaningless sport only foreigners play. Not to repeat myself, but who really needs them. With blogs such as OFB and Dump & Chase, Home Ice on XM Radio and, yes, even our beloved message boards, I get more hockey talk than I can handle. The Post and Times still do fill an important need. I’ll be painting my bedroom this weekend and I’ll need something to catch the splatter.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 9:38 am | Permalink
  2. Nate wrote:

    If you’re inclined to tune in again, Nicklas Backstrom will be visiting Washington Post Live this evening around 5:15 p.m.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 12:41 pm | Permalink
  3. idl wrote:

    NBC’s coverage was definitely the best from what I saw. The local CBS also did a bit on Backstrom in their 11 o’clock show, tying in the coming talent for the Caps with what the Nats should expect after a couple more years of suckitude.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 2:36 pm | Permalink
  4. Bryan wrote:

    Agree with most of your post, but this Hershey Bears season ticket holder has definitely heard of Crystal Palace USA. Come on you, EAGLES. There still should have been more on the Backstrom signing in the paper of record for the DC area.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 2:44 pm | Permalink
  5. littles wrote:

    Wow, you tell me who talks more hockey than WPL in the area and I will give you a cookie.

    I’d say the fact that Capitals Beat Writer Tarik El Bashir was on the show just one day after the news broke that Backstrom would indeed be ‘Coming to Amercia’ next season is a pretty good indication that the sdhow is giving hockey it’s due, but to each his own.

    I hope you enjoy the five total minutes that WRC will devote to hockey for the next five months.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 2:46 pm | Permalink
  6. littles wrote:

    I’d also add that WPL ran a good amount of the video coverage from Moscow including the interviews with Ovi, Backstrom, and Mike O’Sullivan.

    Must have missed that too, huh?

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 2:51 pm | Permalink
  7. Empty Maybe wrote:

    littles, where do you think they got the video from?

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 4:25 pm | Permalink
  8. chanuck wrote:

    I personally gave up on the Washington Post. The Sports editor is a tool and will never give hockey any love. I get more than enough info from you and other bloggers. If the WP doesn’t care about what I like, I will take my business elsewhere.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 4:47 pm | Permalink
  9. usiel wrote:

    Lindsay Czarniak is so money. Backstrom who? :P

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 5:38 pm | Permalink
  10. littles wrote:

    Um, I’m pretty sure I know where the video from Moscow came from.

    Why else would I be here?

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 7:25 pm | Permalink
  11. pepper wrote:

    I’m generally with Bobby “oor” - who needs those that won’t cover the sport. We can’t force them except by not watching.

    Granted I’m now “out of market” and so I imagine I’d be more upset if I were living in the DC area (and its worse than it was when I lived there several years ago), but all of the official website’s coverage, Canadian media, this blog, and others (Caps and non-Caps) with notable coverage, give me most everything I want to know about the Caps and the NHL.

    Half of you guys travelled with team officials to Moscow (!) and that’s better than any other MSM outlet has to show for itself, so why bother focusing on it? They wouldn’t even expense Tarik for a cross-country trip much less a half-way-around-the-world trip, and that’s not going to change in the face of burgeoning alternative media and declining numbers of newspaper subscribers. Why was Washington Post Live conceived anyway? To try and extract some value from cable programmers for the Washington Post name perhaps? Good luck with that! What kind of advertisers pay for that show?

    For Tarik’s part, its clear that he’s a hockey fan, and so makes time to foster discussion, but also has to earn a living and raise a family, and his job requires him to cover such things as car races and golf which are deemed by his superiors to be far more important.

    Better to just focus on Lindsay (!) and the Bears for now.

    Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 11:26 pm | Permalink
  12. maruk wrote:

    Right on, pepper.

    Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 7:15 am | Permalink

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