Where was “The Star Spangled Banner?”
Perhaps no moment crystallizes a Blackhawks home game more than Wayne Messmer’s rendition of the national anthem. Instead, viewers of ABC’s Sunday NHL-playoff telecast from the Stadium were treated to chatting from studio host John Saunders and sideline reporter Tom Mees.
Where was the anthem, with the sparklers and the roaring crowd?
And then, things got worse. Game analyst Jim Schoenfeld’s microphone went dead as the game began, making him barely audible above the crowd until the problem was corrected.
Even the usually reliable Mike Emrick, one of the best play-by-play men in hockey (OK, he’s no Pat Foley), had opening-game jitters when he mispronounced the hometown of the Blues’ Rick Zombo as “De Plaines” instead of Des Plaines.
And Saunders’ between-periods interview with new Rangers coach Mike Keenan never touched on Keenan’s very recent connections to the Hawks.
The telecast eventually improved as Emrick and Schoenfeld became more comfortable in their perch-like surroundings. And they didn’t duck controversy when an apparent third-period Hawks goal was disallowed, even though cameras showed the Blues’ Rich Sutter illegally knocking the puck off the goal line.
Making Emrick’s and Schoenfield’s jobs even more difficult was having to initiate non-hockey fans to the game. Not an easy task. Better luck next time, which will see Sunday’s ABC broadcast of Game 4 in the Hawks-Blues series competing with the crucial Bulls-Knicks game on NBC.
Incidentally, ABC’s use of ESPN regulars in its broadcast resulted from the collapse of the World League of American Football, which left ABC with five weeks of air time to fill.
– HawkVision, the Blackhawks’ pay-per-view service produced in conjunction with SportsChannel, begins its second season at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Offered to households at $15.95 per game, or $12.95 a game if you order by the series (down from $19.95 and $16.95, respectively, last year), HawkVision again will have limited commercial interruptions, “ChalkVision” and more cameras, including the new “goal-judge cam,” than the usual telecast. In addition, this year’s HawkVision will be broadcast in stereo.
HawkVision officials (who promise to air every note of Messmer singing the national anthem) hoped the introduction earlier this month of a “Rock Your House” infomercial helped advise viewers on how to order. Also, area cable operators took out a much bigger share of the marketing budget this time. Said one cable-system official: “We love HawkVision. We made money on it last year.”
Security teams again will be checking commercial establishments to make sure the bars and restaurants are legally carrying the signal. More than 100 places were cited for illegally taking the HawkVision signal in a lawsuit last year.
– ESPN begins its Stanley-Cup coverage with the Devils-Penguins game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Play-by-play man Gary Thorne and analyst Bill Clement will be the primary playoff announcing team and will work the Wales Conference telecasts in addition to the Stanley Cup finals. Mees and John Davidson will work the majority of Campbell Conference telecasts. . . . Saunders, as he was Sunday for ABC, will be the primary ESPN studio host during the playoffs and will be joined by Schoenfeld. Al Morganti, another ESPN hockey contributor, will provide reports from various sites. . . . “Goals: The Hockey Show,” a youth-oriented magazine show hosted by former Caps coach Gary Green, airs on ESPN at 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays.
– Riding the crest of ratings popularity, NBC has plans to show back-to-back NBA playoff triple-headers May 2 and May 9, with the possibility of a third on May 16. . . . Jockey Steve Cauthen will lend his Triple-Crown expertise to ABC’s coverage of this year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, giving the network six announcers at those events.
– Random thoughts: Kudos to NBC’s Peter Vecsey for tracking down the elusive Tony Kukoc on Sunday. Persistence paid off when Kukoc reaffirmed to Vecsey his intention to join the Bulls next season. “Now’s the time,” Kukoc said. . . . Best feature: WGN-Ch. 9’s salute Saturday to the baseball producer/director Arne Harris for his 30 years on Cubs telecasts. . . . Best line: TBS’ Pete Van Wieren on the weather at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park: “The only ballpark that advertises blankets for rent.” . . . Best shot: Fenway Park fans Saturday applauding White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk, who then forgot how to open the bullpen door.
