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NY1 Covers Everything Except Hockey

NY1 obsessively covers everything and anything that goes on in New York City. Everything and anything, that is, except for hockey, particularly the New York Rangers.

Last night, for the first time in a long time, I watched NY1's Sports on 1 show, which appears from 11:30-12:30.

The host Tom McDonald, mentioned that Jason Diamos, who covers hockey for the New York Times, would appear as his guest. McDonald then admitted that the show rarely covers hockey and even said that he isn't much of a hockey fan, and that he doubted that more than a few New York sports fans could name five players on the Rangers.

When Diamos appeared, McDonald displayed incredible ignorance. He was only vaguely aware of the 15 round shootout in which the Rangers defeated the Washington Caps ten days ago. He was unfamiliar with Marek Malik, the Rangers' defenseman who very improbably scored the winning goal in the shootout. He referred to Martin Rucinsky, a Rangers forward, as an enforcer type player whose injury made the team soft, not understanding that the Rucinsky injury actually made the Rangers more offensively inept. He said that he liked the new rules but then demonstrated ignorance about those rules.

For whatever reason, many sports fans have less interest in the NHL than MLB, the NFL or the NBA. That's their prerogative, but as the host of a nightly televised sports show, McDonald's disinterest or complete lack of even basic knowledge is completely unprofessional.

Fortunately, I rarely watch Sports on 1, and for years I haven't listened to WFAN's Mike Francesa/Chris Russo show. Francesa and Russo are even worse than McDonald, because while they concede having little interest in hockey, that does not stop them from expressing their opinions. They used to serve as supporters of ex-Rangers GM Neil Smith despite having no understanding of the merits of Smith's personnel moves, and most memorably, when the Rangers acquired Mark Messier in 1991, they described Messier as a low-scoring player whose main talents were leadership and toughness. Messier ultimately retired with 1887 career points, second only to Wayne Gretzky.
posted on 12/06/2005