Yet they're never talked about it seems. I almost always watch NHL tonight and a few other hockey shows on NHL network and they're not talked about a lot. Are the Bruins not as a sexy team to talk about say as the rangers or penguins? Or The Bruins doing as well as most people expected?
It's the typical media thing; you talk about what gets people riled up.
1. Complete systematic breakdowns; see Washington and LA.
2. Sexy Personalities; see Pittsburgh
3. Controversies; see Vancouver (heck, see the Bruins last year)
The Bruins get a fair amount of props when mentioned among the best teams in the east, but they're quietly plugging along with little to no drama.
I'm 100% fine with that. The less distractions, the better.
Top 5? The bruins are among the best of the east and have one of the best records in the league to show it. 2 games in hand and only 2 points out of first.
I also think part of it is the Atlantic usually has 3-4 Cup contenders along with some huge media markets. So ESPN and NHLN seem to give the Pens, Flyers and Rangers more coverage than teams in the Northeast or Southeast divisions.
It's analogous to the NFC East in football. They always seem to get a ton more coverage than anyone else b/c they have the glamour franchises, major media markets and multiple playoff teams pretty much every year.
Another team getting a lot of love (rightfully so) is the Devils. I don't know if it's because people thought they would be horrible without Parise, or what but you can add them to the list of teams that get talked about more than the Bruins.
I don't care what kind of publicity they get because everybody knows how good they are. The Bruins are recognized as a cup contender regardless of the coverage they receive. Media folk know it, coaches know it, and players know it.
I think it depends WHERE you're looking in terms of publicity. ESPN, the supermarket tabloid of sports, is going to talk little to no hockey. They'll talk about Crosby and Ovechkin because it appeals to the casual fans who don't know what a blue line is. They do have Boston ranked second in their power rankings this week though.
Locally, the Bruins are still behind the Sox and Patriots in terms of popularity, especially when it comes to having something to talk about. The landscape is changing, but the talking heads would still rather talk about the Red Sox drama than talk pucks.
Canadian networks probably have the best coverage, but they are understandably biased and will talk more about the seven Canadian clubs.
Anyway, it feels like we have this same topic every year. It used to be that this place was a great haven to come and get real hockey discussion, but over time this place has declined.
I have said it before, the team has taken on Julien's personality to a t and while I think that is great, it makes it a bit of a tough sell. The team takes the way of humble hard work and moderation in most things and that really is tough to create an image for and to sell. However, I have seen them in the top 5 of most mass market power rankings and heard Wayne Gretzky say they were his second favoirte to come out of the East, so they get their due.
Personally, I hope they continue to get little respect. You want them to have that us against the world mentality. Right up until they shove it up the hockey medias lower intestine w/ a candle on it, like when they beat the nucks. Eddy O sounded like he was at a wake.
Hard not to notice the lack of respect, e.g. NHL tonight on the NHL network, they went on and on a/b the Devils and the Hawks, calling NJ the class of the east. Hurts a lil bit w/ Kathyrn Tappen sitting there. They gave them some props, but nothing on the order of what some teams seem to get. It's far worse when Kevin Weekes is on, not a B's fan, he made that pretty clear during the Cup run.
I think it depends WHERE you're looking in terms of publicity. ESPN, the supermarket tabloid of sports, is going to talk little to no hockey. They'll talk about Crosby and Ovechkin because it appeals to the casual fans who don't know what a blue line is. They do have Boston ranked second in their power rankings this week though.
Locally, the Bruins are still behind the Sox and Patriots in terms of popularity, especially when it comes to having something to talk about. The landscape is changing, but the talking heads would still rather talk about the Red Sox drama than talk pucks.
Canadian networks probably have the best coverage, but they are understandably biased and will talk more about the seven Canadian clubs.
Anyway, it feels like we have this same topic every year. It used to be that this place was a great haven to come and get real hockey discussion, but over time this place has declined.
The OP gave the NHL network example. You would think that both NHLN and NBC would have the most balanced coverage of the league and given the success of the Bruins you'd expect them to get more coverage from those two outlets, but I think they definitely get less props than some other teams despite being better than some of them.
I think at the end of the day it goes back to them not having many big stars to speak of, but I still don't think that's a good excuse and it sucks.
What does it matter if the talking heads aren't talking about the Bruins? Who are we, Roberto Luongo circa June 2011 or Joe Flacco circa September 2011 - February 2012? Let their play do their own talking and leave the pundits with their mouths shut.
You're on a hockey forum that has a subforum specifically for talking with other people about the Boston Bruins. This is enough for me.
Personally, I hope they continue to get little respect. You want them to have that us against the world mentality. Right up until they shove it up the hockey medias lower intestine w/ a candle on it, like when they beat the nucks. Eddy O sounded like he was at a wake.
Hard not to notice the lack of respect, e.g. NHL tonight on the NHL network, they went on and on a/b the Devils and the Hawks, calling NJ the class of the east. Hurts a lil bit w/ Kathyrn Tappen sitting there. They gave them some props, but nothing on the order of what some teams seem to get. It's far worse when Kevin Weekes is on, not a B's fan, he made that pretty clear during the Cup run.
He is a Tuukka fan, since before the season opened.
My take is the hockey media is all about marketing, and for that you need some sexiness, drama or controversy. The B's don't have any of that, and quite thankfully.
When TT got traded, it was the #1 popular article for the Toronto Sun site, not just sports, all of news.
If the B's want media coverage, then they should sign Tebow, ha!
Last edited by howaryuh: 02-11-2013 at 07:44 PM.
Reason: added 'site'
It's the typical media thing; you talk about what gets people riled up.
1. Complete systematic breakdowns; see Washington and LA. 2. Sexy Personalities; see Pittsburgh
3. Controversies; see Vancouver (heck, see the Bruins last year)
The Bruins get a fair amount of props when mentioned among the best teams in the east, but they're quietly plugging along with little to no drama.
I'm 100% fine with that. The less distractions, the better.
Sexy Personalities? Isn't Crosby one of the most lame, generic superstar personalities we could have? Malkin seems fairly overshadowed by the underwhelming personality of Crosby. Amazing hockey player, but boring personality.
I think I would prefer the Bruins fly under the media radar.
As for why other teams are talked about-I think is is partly a lack of sexy players. The Bruins are a lunch pail team and outside of Chara there just aren't any players that generate lots of worship.
The Pens have Crosby (and Malkin) and the Rangers got Nash.
I also agree that there is a bit of an emphasis on the Atlantic teams-probably because of media market.
That said=I think the Devils seem to be a pretty good contender this year, but they also get ignored a bit-unless they are brought up in a Parise discussion and then it is along the lines of losing him to free agency.
As long as the Pens have Crosby they will be a much discussed team.
He is a Tuukka fan, since before the season opened.
Well, on a panel I watched he was the only guy that didn't have the B's in his top 5 this year. Top 5! Com'on. I think he even had the sharks in there.
Tuukka, that explains why he was so down on the B's in the 2011 playoffs. Wanted Lucic suspended for punching someone, which was a big nothing. Made excuses for the nucks and Luongo, it was heaven. As was Eddie O's silence on NBC.
Edit: Ok, have to give Weekes props. Tonight he had the B's at #2 in his power rankings. Gave Looch some props ranking him #2 as a powerforward behind Clarkson, which you can't argue with. Before the season he had the B's out of the top 5. Which, I'm sorry, was a bad call.
Sexy Personalities? Isn't Crosby one of the most lame, generic superstar personalities we could have? Malkin seems fairly overshadowed by the underwhelming personality of Crosby. Amazing hockey player, but boring personality.
I didn't mean sexy in a "hubba hubba give me some" kinda way.
I mean marketing-wise.
Crosby is the face of NHL to the casual fan that the NHL wants to attract. I don't like it, but it is what it is.
Media outlets look for stories: coaching changes, big free agent acquisitions, unhappy stars asking for trades, stars injured or returning from injuries, scoring records, scandals (rare enough in hockey), and so on. If you're looking for stories, our B's offer slim pickings. This is the same core of players (Chara, Bergeron, Lucic, etc) and the same coach that were knocking on the door for several seasons and finally broke through in 2011. This is the same old team, with the same identity (hard working, hard hitting, good on the boards, solid in the back), the same "roll four lines" approach. We're faster than we used to be, but most of that speed was added two seasons ago. Oh yeah, and we've managed to cultivate a stubborn suckitude on the power play for half a decade now.
In short, we're sort of just there.
Don't kid yourself: everyone in the league, fans, players and media, are highly aware of the B's. We're always at least in their peripheral vision. Original 6 team, highly recognized franchise, far-flung fanbase (esp. in Canada), hard-to-play-against, and playoff threat. But the B's are a fixture, part of the furniture... you don't really need to talk about them because everyone pretty much knows what they stand for and who they are. I don't think the B's are "boring" as hockey spectacle, per se (the 'Nucks brought out the most crowd-pleasing aspects of the B's character, I would argue), but what are you going to say about them within a two minute segment before the commercial break? "That Dougie Hamilton is going to be a star in the NHL someday". Yeah you can say that, but how many times?
The flip-side to this is that, while the B's do not provide storylines for the national media, the continuity from season to season provides us the hardcore fans with a great sense of familiarity with our team that, IMO, deepens our support, and increases the intensity (for me at least) with which we watch each shift. I don't know about you, but I watch these guys as though they were my sons, keeping close track of their highs and lows, keenly alert to when they're in the "zone", and triply thrilled when a guy breaks a slump. But this is not the stuff of which national stories are made. It's the stuff we here obsess about, just like a parent obsesses over the photos from the family vacation, the same photos that make friends' eyes glaze over.
It's actually just the way I like it (okay, minus the PP).
