The Cormac MacSweeney Blog - 660News Calgary

I know this is a little late, but I need to get my opinion in on this one.

I normally don’t give my opinion on news stories but I’m willing to take a “speaking to” from the boss just to stand up for something that I feel passionately about. Also it’s a chance to bash a national competitor.

By now we all know the Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) theme is no more. Well, its still here just with a different station. CTV has picked up the rights to the song which has been associated with the CBC for decades. CTV owns TSN, so coupled with their new fat contract with the NHL we may be turning to a different station for our hockey fix. TSN now has about 70 games on their broadcast list with a Canadian team in each one…but they are still shut out of Saturday nights.

None the less if CBC is having a hockey broadcast garage sale, we could see Don Cherry making his way to a new network. We all remember the contract issues that have come up over the last few years…and we know CTV has the cash in their pockets to steal another piece of Canadian heritage from the CBC. I wouldn’t blame them if they even tried to steal the name “Hockey Night in Canada”.

One of the many excuses I have heard from officials at our public broadcaster is that they are in charge of our money and need to spend it wisely. I’m sure if they did a survey of Canadians, we would have wanted to keep the theme rather than see it go to another station.

I’m not sure if the head honchos at the CBC had too many pucks fired at their heads but the decision making process there seems out of touch with our views and values. It’s incredibly sad but I’m sure it’s a reality, more people would probably get into a fight with an American if the HNIC theme is disgraced than if the national anthem was mocked. I call it “incredibly sad” because I love this country more than a hockey song…but with hockey and Canada pretty much synonymous, I guess it makes sense.

I truly believe the only way the CBC can save face on this one is to make Stompin Tom Connors’ “Hockey Song” the new theme. Other than that it will be one of the biggest mistakes regarding our heritage in my lifetime…and probably yours.

If you want a good laugh check out what Stephen Colbert had to say about the subject.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Kx5a__Osfpw

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.