HabsCast Hockey Blog

Flip Floppin’ Reporters Take the Habs for Granted

I was reading the Gazette last week and noticed an odd pattern. Here in Montreal, unlike most cities in the NHL, the Habs are the only thing going on in the winter. There is no market lost to basketball (anyone know about the Matrix?) and minor hockey teams. That being said, our sport reporters know more about hockey than most in the “hardcopy” press.

They also have a tendency to put all the attention on every little detail of the performance of our beloved wearers of the Saint-Flanelle. Now you might say: “This is good, we get in depth reporting on a team we really like to read about, why are calling it an odd pattern?” The oddness stems from the fact that none of the reporters add anything new to what is being said. They all repeat the same things over and over. And more often than not, point out what the players are doing wrong. And they never seem to be able to hop off the bandwagon.

Everyone knows, much to the fans displeasure, that the Montreal Canadiens go through the pre-during-post holiday slump. (If that is not yet a certainty to you, look up the last few years of hockey.)

Just before the slump, all the reporters are screaming Stanley Cup, and the following week, they are calling the Habs “lackluster” or “heartless” and going on and on about the poor play, as if the strong showing at the beginning of the season meant nothing. Who the hell are they to say the Habs are going for the top when they know what’s coming? They have been following the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge for years, and they should notice the slump, I sure did. And after the All-Star Break we should go something like 20-10-5 again. It’s what the Habs do.

But that’s just me, and I hate press coverage that flip flops and says whatever, to seem like they are fans. If you are a fan, you tough out the rough spell, you don’t berate the players and irritate them, they know exactly how bad they played, and they will never tell you that they know. Just ask them about something else, something you expect will get an honest answer.

But that’s just my two cents. What’s yours?

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