Barenaked Ladies' version of the NHL on TSN Hockey Theme

Why put words to the song? Terrible. The poor song gets defaced even more with this lousy rendition. It doesn't help that I can't stand the BNL in the first place.



Simple Plan's version wasn't too bad.

Now if only TSN could get Slayer to try it out. Oh yeah, they aren't Canadian. They hail from hell. Sorry.

T Tags: Barenaked+Ladies+Hockey+Night+in+Canada+version song Simple+Plan TSN
NHL+on+TSN

Melrose calls Strachan a liar

CBC's analyst Al Strachan made a remark (and claimed he had sources) about Lightning owner Len Barrie coaching the players behind coach Barry Melrose's back. Well Melrose has a few choice words for Strachan.

"Al is sort of like a spaghetti salesman. He just throws so much against the wall and hopes something sticks and it usually doesn't stick," Melrose told the Tampa Tribune Monday. "It's B.S. and Al thrives on B.S. It's total lies."
If it is coming out of the locker-room, then I have some liars in the dressing room," Melrose said. "If that's the case then I am worried about that, but at the same time I can't worry about that. If a guy is a liar, he's a liar. I can't worry about that.
Canada used to be a country where you couldn't lie," Melrose told the St. Petersburg Times. "I was brought up in Saskatchewan, and if I lied, my father would kick my butt. But, obviously, that's not the case in Ontario, where you can say anything you want without repercussions. . . . I guess there's not much journalistic integrity anywhere in Canada."

Wow. Melrose going off on Canadians. He's just blowing off steam and speaking out of anger though. It sounds like he has ventured over to the dark side, which is the USA. (I kid)
He may just be right about Strachan though. I don't like him either.
Actually, I thought Mike Milbury, who was sitting next to Strachan was going to punch the old man out over a different topic (Alan Eagleson).

T Tags: Melrose+vs+Strachan liar Canadian+media Lightning

Mad Mike joins Satellite Hotstove

Milbury is a great addition to Satellite Hotstove. He doesn't mince words. Maybe he can beat some sense into those politically correct doofs like Ron MacLean in Mad Mike-fashion. They needed a bit of an controversial edge on the segment, and now they have it.
Man, I would love to see Milbury throttle this guy.

T Tags: Mike+Milbury+added+to+Satellite+Hotstove CBC

CTV acquires rights to Hockey Night in Canada theme song

Toronto, ON - CTV Inc., together with Copyright Music & Visuals, today announced that CTV Inc. has acquired all rights to 'The Hockey Theme' in perpetuity, preserving the song's legacy and ensuring it will be heard on national television for years to come. 'The Hockey Theme' song will now live on CTV Inc. properties TSN, RDS and across Canada on CTV during coverage of the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympics as outlined below.
The deal between CTV and Copyright Music & Visuals was agreed to in principle after the CBC publicly announced last Friday at 5 p.m. ET that a deal could not be reached with the rights holders. Due diligence was completed earlier today.

Well, at least the song lives on, but on TSN? Does it really matter? In my mind I'm not fully content because I always equate the song with Ron MacLean, Don Cherry and Bob Cole's voices following soon after. But, I will get used to it.

---

Meanwhile, Sportsnet is reporting that Stompin' Tom Connor's son is saying that his father is open to licensing his famous song "The Good Ol' Hockey Game" with CBC as a replacement. To that I say....no way. Sure, catchy little historic Canadian song, but not something I want to hear every damned Saturday. Did Connors write that song when he was in grade 3? The words are just terrible. I think the new song needs to be a musical, no lyrics, just muzak. And it has to have a classical feel to it. An orchestral piece, as Hodge put it today. I agree.

T Tags: CTV+acquires+Hockey+Night+in+Canada+theme+song RDS TSN

Hockey Night In Canada theme song is finished

From Faceoff.com:

A "saddened" CBC formally announced Friday that it is dropping the popular but disputed theme song to Hockey Night in Canada, ending a 40-year tradition that produced what has been described as the country's "second national anthem."
Despite talks between network executives and composer Dolores Claman's (pictured) Toronto agent that went on past Friday's 5 p.m. (EST) deadline, the CBC issued a statement a few hours later saying the two sides did not resolve disagreements over a 2004 lawsuit and licensing rights to continue airing the famous "Dunt-da dunt-da dunt" trumpet fanfare, which has signalled the start of thousands of hockey broadcasts since 1968.

I wonder how much Dolores was making off that song all these years. Sad that licensing rights have officially destroyed a long-serving classic song that any Canadian can recognize. I never tired of that tune.
So now the hunt is on for a new song. It may come in the form of a contest (confirmed, $100,000 to the person who comes up with it). I was thinking they should go the death metal route. OK, maybe not. But how can any song ever match the original? It won't. We'll just have to get used to it and move on.
I just don't want to hear Nickelback's version of "Saturday Night" anymore. In fact, I don't want to hear another Nickelback song ever again for that matter.

For a detailed history of the song and its composer, check out hockeytheme.com.

And for a completely different angle, David Johnson from Hockey Analysis.com is urging fans to "ditch the song." His reasons are justified.

I hate being used and because of that I have decided to support CBC in ditching the song and going in a new direction. I hope the owners of the song never make another penny off of it. CBC and HNIC made this song what it is and made the creators of the song a whole boatload of money and if the creators of the song choose to bite the hand that feeds them then I can only hope they they never get fed again. It’s time for CBC and everyone else to ditch the song and its greedy overzealous owners.

Nicely put, David. You have to read his whole article though. Follow the above link. You'll probably agree with him. I do now.


T Tags: Hockey+Night+in+Canada theme+song done over finished lawsuit history

Bob Cole, Harry Neale and the Leafs to be demoted on CBC

Thanks to Matt for pointing this out. This story was broke by William Houston at Globe and Mail Sports a couple of days ago.
It appears that there will be some changes to CBC's play-by-play department and their televised games.
Jim Hughson and Greg Millen will take over as the top play-by-play team, replacing the long-standing Bob Cole and Harry Neale tandem, who will have a reduced role. Hughson and Millen are younger and more fresh and deserve the promotion, as Cole and Neale have sounded a lot less enthusiastic and more prone to Alzheimer's in recent years.
All the years of hearing Bob Cole countdown until the final buzzer of a Cup-winning game and Harry Neale quoting Shakespeare and the like away are officially over. It's been over 20 years.

To the joy of many, the Leafs will get less exposure on national Hockey Night in Canada than ever before. Teams like Ottawa and Montreal will get more national exposure. William Houston put in this controversial way:

Another issue for Hockey Night is the quality of the Leafs' team. Insiders suggest there's a concern about the limited success the team is likely to achieve in the next several years. Most hockey experts rank the Leafs as the weakest among the six Canadian NHL teams. The probability of the Leafs making the playoffs any time soon is questionable at best. Hockey Night will seek to showcase Canadian teams with a better chance of advancing to the postseason.

He also mentioned that perhaps a big cause for the lack of viewers watching the Sens in the playoffs was because they were not given enough airtime nationally during the season. That is debatable.

T Tags:Bob+Cole Harry+Neale Leafs Demoted Hockey+Night+In+Canada