This is not meant as a commercial for Versus programming, but credit where weirdness is due -- somehow their hockey intermissions have become hilariously contentious.
For decades, Don Cherry owned the intermission business with his Coachs Corner on CBC. He was the loosest of cannons, who came out in favor of hard-hitting Canadians over every other subset of National Hockey League human. Even now, he commands a headline, as when he tackled the leagues harsher new tone on the hitting and even fighting that he always thrived on his day. He did so by noting that the three players who died this summer, Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien, all notorious fighters, had been betrayed post mortem by three other noted fighters. And he expressed his dissatisfaction by calling them hypocrites and pukes.
Pukes? A little dated, but still pretty good rantage this late in a career.
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SIGN UP HERE But the Versus crew, which includes on differing occasions Mike Milbury, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Jones and Ed Olczyk, stirs it up in volume over the same subjects. Roenick is sick of Sidney Crosby giving daily updates on his post-concussed head. Milbury says hes angry about the sport becoming apink hat league, a particularly unfortnaute metaphor given the emphasis on breast cancer this month. Olczyk looks like hed rather be anywhere else, and Jones is hoping none of the mustard gas blows his way.
It is, in short, fabulously chaotic television, at a time when so much of it is pre-programmed commercials for the sweetness and light of the company being spotlighted. It is, in fact, closing slowly on Charles Barkleys domain as the true dominant force in intermission television, especially since Barkley is locked out himself, a turrible turrible (cq) thing.
It is a perfectly organic exchange of ideas, rebukes and fist-shakings, the kind of thing that frankly may leave you baffled at times but is unlikely to leave you untouched. And because its all genuine (as near as we can tell; faking it on television is particularly hard to do), it accurately reflects the fevered debate inside the sport on new cop Brendan Shanahan.
And a little honesty never hurt anyone. Much.
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Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com.