A sad spectacle.
That's the view of Don Cherry, a proponent of fighting, regarding the junior hockey brawl in which Quebec Remparts owner-coach Patrick Roy cheered on his son Jonathan while Jonathan pummelled Chicoutimi's Bobby Nadeau - both goaltenders - after which Jonathan flipped the crowd his middle finger.
"It just boggles the mind," the Hockey Night in Canada commentator said. "When I fought, I was always under control. I was never, ever mad. When you see a kid [Jonathan] go like that, there's no doubt it's bad for the game.
"The only other thing I'll say is, it's meat for the people who are anti-fighting. They just eat it up. Down in the States, they led off with it [on the sportscasts]. That's all they do."
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Would Cherry hire Patrick to coach an NHL team?
"I'd hire him because he's a winner and that [his intensity] is what made him a winner as a goaltender. But he's got to learn. All he's done is hurt his club."
Trying out some French, Cherry said: "This [incident] is the pièce de résistance that will take all that nonsense out of him [Patrick Roy]. You can't act like that."
Campbell's call
Jamie Campbell will begin his fourth season as a Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster tonight when he calls a spring-training game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Rogers Sportsnet. He will then announce the season opener against the Yankees in New York on Monday.
Campbell has improved significantly as Sportsnet's voice of the Jays, but it's been a rocky road.
Baseball is tough to call at the best of times because it's a stop-and-start sport that requires storytelling far beyond merely reporting what or who is moving from A to B. And Campbell was thrown into the job with virtually no experience.
Just to make it ridiculously difficult, Sportsnet required him to work with a rotation of three game analysts rather than allowing him to get comfortable with one.
Campbell's work took a sharp turn midway through last season when he received some advice. Serious and preoccupied with preparation, he was told to lighten up. Instead of spending his off-time staring into the laptop, he was advised to reacquaint himself with members of the broadcast crew.
"I think one of the problems was that I might have taken it a little too seriously," Campbell said. "To a degree, I might have ostracized myself from the broadcast team.
"I was too busy pounding on the Internet. I felt the pressure to be exceptional right out of the gate and I might have missed the importance of developing an easy relationship with everybody."
After connecting with his co-workers, Campbell felt more comfortable in the booth. His play-by-play became lighter and more conversational. He seemed relaxed.
But there was room for improvement.
In the off-season, he sought help from Jays radio veteran Jerry Howarth. Campbell arrived at Howarth's home with a box of game tapes and the critique began.
Howarth felt Campbell, too concerned about statistics and player information, was straying from the developments on the field. The narrative wasn't focused and the important story wasn't being told.
Some words were overused or inappropriate. It's not setup guy; it's setup man.
Campbell rarely announced the score or the inning. Because the information is on the TV screen, he assumed it wasn't required. Wrong.
Despite what some critics say, there is nothing wrong with reporting the score. It gives the broadcast a framework and it provides the viewer with a certain comfort level. Besides, baseball viewers aren't always watching the TV. They could be making dinner or in front of the computer.
"I was very surprised by the things Jerry could pinpoint in one broadcast alone," Campbell said. "Now, the exciting part for me starts when I begin to apply it [tonight]."
All HDTV Jays
The key change to Sportsnet's Jays coverage is that all 100 of its regular-season games will be available in high-definition television.
Pat Tabler will be in the booth with Campbell for most of the games, 54. Rance Mulliniks will do 41 and Darrin Fletcher five. The telecast will use new music and graphics.
TSN will air 20 games, all in HDTV, with Rod Black and Tabler. TSN will have the Jays-Phillies exhibition game tomorrow (1 p.m. EDT). The first regular-season telecast will be on Thursday, Jays-Yankees.
The CBC's Jays schedule will consist of 24 games, starting on June 7, Jays-Orioles. All games will be in HDTV. Jim Hughson, Mulliniks and Jesse Barfield will be in the booth.
Jays radio: All games will be on The Fan 590 in Toronto and 21 other stations. Howarth and Alan Ashby will be the commentators.
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