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If you're not an expert on European soccer, the Euro 2008 commentary of Dick Howard and Craig Forrest can be as difficult to follow as the footwork of Portugal hotshot Cristiano Ronaldo.
Neither of the TSN-Rogers Sportsnet analysts seems able to produce complete, well-developed information on the players or the teams involved. Often we aren't even given the first name of a player, never mind a few words about his background.
Yesterday, when Howard was asked to comment on France before its game against Romania, he started by alluding to the injury to veteran Thierry Henry.
He couldn't remember Henry's name, but that happens, and he was prompted by host Vic Rauter.
Then he said, "But Anelka will come in."
That would be Anelka, who plays for Chelsea of the English Premier League, but we would have settled for his first name (Nicolas).
"And Benzema will come in," he added, without mentioning his first name, although he did provide some information: Benzema (whose first name is Karim) is the leading scorer in French soccer.
"They've got a lot of depth," he said about France. "But that will certainly affect them [the injuries] and the same thing with Vieira."
And the same thing with Vieira?
It turns out France's Patrick Vieira, who plays for Inter Milan, is also injured.
Then it was over to Forrest to discuss Romania.
"Mutu is the type of player who can turn games for you," he said. "He's had his problems in the past, but he had a great year."
Mutu's first name is Adrian. His problems? Your guess is as good as ours.
On it went.
When they were setting up the Italy-Netherlands game, most of the references did not include a first name, never mind a few words to tell us who these people are.
Howard and Forrest are effective at discussing strategies, but too much of their pregame information and analysis is disorganized, half-baked and poorly presented.
COC v. CBC
The Canadian Olympic Committee is raising questions about the CBC's plans to launch an all-sports television channel.
The Olympic body is also questioning the fairness of the regulatory procedure that grants TV licences.
In a letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, Chris Rudge, the chief executive officer of the COC, notes his committee applied for a licence to start its own amateur sports channel "a full two months" before the CBC filed its application.
Yet, the CBC's proposal will be heard first, in early July. The COC wants the two applications heard at the same time.
The COC's proposed channel would be devoted exclusively to amateur sport and would allocate funds from the must-carry service to amateur athletes.
The CBC is offering something quite different, Rudge notes. In his letter, he says the CBC would commit only 25 per cent of its programming to amateur sport and the channel would not include a French-language companion service, which is part of the COC's proposal.
Rudge argues the CBC will air most of its amateur sport content outside prime time, which is when most viewers watch.
And he charges the CBC's motive for starting the channel is not to advance amateur sport as much as it is to improve its competitive position when applying for large international events, such as the Olympics.
Although the COC offers "qualified" support for the proposed CBC channel, Rudge writes that the channel "does not comprehensively address the needs of amateur sport in Canada."
Wall of China
Chinese red tape and security threaten to diminish television coverage of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
The Associated Press reports that a "contentious" meeting between broadcasters and the Beijing organizing committee failed to resolve issues that threaten to hamstring the broadcasters.
John Barton, the director of sport for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, said: "The Chinese are very concerned about something going wrong, and so they are in Olympic gridlock. They are suffocating the television coverage in the crazy pursuit of security."
TSN averaged 258,000 viewers for the first two games of the NBA final, more than double last year's two-game average (115,000, Cleveland Cavaliers-San Antonio Spurs). ABC's telecast of the second game was watched by a huge 13.49 million U.S. viewers, an increase of 58 per cent over last year's second game (8.55 million).
The first four telecasts of Euro 2008 on TSN and Sportsnet, Saturday and Sunday, averaged 284,000 viewers, up 4 per cent from the first four, all on TSN, in Euro 2004.
Rating the weekend
| EVENT | NETWORK | VIEWERS | SKINNY |
| Friday | |||
| Baseball. Orioles-Jays | TSN | 301,000 | Peaked at 399,000 in last 25 minutes |
| Saturday | |||
| Tennis. French Open | TSN | 159,000 | So-so for women's final |
| Soccer. Switzerland-Czech | TSN | 266,000 | The tournament opener |
| Baseball. Orioles-Jays | CBC | 217,000 | Jays on losing streak |
| Soccer. Portugal-Turkey | TSN | 333,000 | Better matchup than the opener |
| Horse racing. Belmont | TSN | 277,000 | Also carried by ABC |
| Auto racing. Nationwide Series | TSN | 123,000 | The usual |
| Sunday | |||
| Tennis. French Open | TSN | 176,000 | Nadal wins men's final easily |
| Soccer. Austria-Croatia | Sportsnet | 224,000 | Not much marquee value |
| Auto racing. Canadian Grand Prix | RDS | 663,000 | Up 8 per cent from 2007 |
| Auto racing. Canadian Grand Prix | TSN | 293,000 | More viewers for RDS telecast |
| Baseball. Orioles-Jays | CBC | 427,000 | Big number, Jays win |
| Soccer. Germany-Poland | Sportsnet | 285,000 | Germany is Euro 2008 favourite |
| Auto racing. Sprint Cup Series | TSN | 370,000 | Good NASCAR audience |
| Soccer. Toronto-Houston | Score | 20,000 | Poor on a busy Sunday night |
| Basketball. Lakers-Celtics | TSN | 280,000 | Strong audience for NBA finals |
| Baseball. Cubs-Dodgers | Sportsnet | 98,000 | Not bad considering competition |
