VIDEO: P.K. Subban advertises his [censored] on ESPN

Warning from Ed. The following article, submitted by Poor Len Canayen, our National Sports Editor, is all about race, sex, and hockey -- the ultimate WWW trifecta. 

Tank youse, Hed! In my first post this morning, I mentioned former NHL player P.K. Subban, now the star DEI hire on ESPN's hockey telecasts, on which he appears as the "colour(ed) commentator". He is obviously loathed by Mark Messier, a real former NHL star, and Steve Levy, the moderator of the panel. 

Why so? Consider this clip from a recent studio show. After a clip showed player Jack Eichel cutting his stick with a saw, P.K. made what he considered a joke, which his colleagues and a lot of viewers found offensive. Listen up. 

 

Yes, really. "I'm not a carpenter, but I do carry around a hammer." Steve Levy say "Yes, you do! So I've heard," and Mark Messier just look into the camera.

This caused a hyuge reaction on social media and in the news. Some fans are even saying it was "inappropriate" for the professional black guy to refer on TV to an ancient trope, which I'm sure our readers don't need to have spelled out.

Here's one comment. "Bye bye subban!!!! I might not be a carpenter but I carry a hammer???? On the air?? Any other man would be taken off the air. Everyone knows what he was referring to."

Yes. Yes, we do know. Many white guys believe that it's the "hammer" that attracts white girls, like Lindsey Vonn here, to black men. I'm sure P.K.'s money has nothing to do with Ms Vonn's eagerness to become half of a  poster for bi-racial coupline. For more on this see "Innocent question about racism in TV commercials" WWW 13/5/25. 

Although some people found Mr Subban's little jape funny, others thought it was wrong for him to advertise his... errr... words fail me, on TV. We're waiting now see if ESPN will do anything about it. [No way. Walt. Lifetime pct .988.] If he's called on the carpet, P.K. is expected to plead the Costanza defence: "Was that wrong? If anybody had told me that was frowned upon..."

There's an old saying that one hears sometimes when Mr Subban's name comes up in conversation. "Some folks is black. Some folks is niggers." If he wants to be counted among the former, P.K. should take lessons from David Amber, who has worked for years on hockey telecasts, for both ESPN and TSN/Hockey Night in Canada, without ever mentioning his "hammer".

Footnote: Ms Vonn/Mrs Subban -- we're not sure which she prefers -- was an Olympic skier, which obviously qualifies her for a seat on the advisory board of "women-led" Athena Capital, as annoounced today.

NHL Stanley Cup finals: how come fewer Americans are watching?

Yes, it's that time of year again! We know it's spring because the Leafs are out... of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But the defending champions, the Florda Panthers, will face off in about nine hours against the Edmonton Oilers, last year's runner-ups... runners-up?... the team the Panthers beat last year. The competition will be fierce, yet fewer and fewer Americans will be watching. Our National Sports (as long as it's hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen, thinks he knows why.  

Tank youse, Hed! Even though la Sainte Flannelle didn't make it to the finals, Habs fans were pleased that they got through to the first round, and it was certainly no disgrace to lose to the Panthers. So I'm following the final series with interest, and am pleased to report that the quality of the games (as evidenced in Game 1) is excellent. 

The bad news is that statistics reported recently in Sports Business Journal, NHL viewership in the US of A was down 12% in the regular season, 25% in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs and a whopping 31% in the Conference Finals. Wha hoppen?!

IMHO it's not the quality of the hockey being played, let alone the sport itself, that's to blame. The NHL is suffering from a flawed business proposition, advocated for decades now by (((Gary Bettmann))), the American lawyer who never laced on a pair of skates, yet has tenure as Commissioner (read: boss) of the National Hockey League.

From Day One, Mr Bitchman argued that the only way to grow the sport was to put teams in locales other than the US northeast. He encouraged the establishment of teams in such sun-drenched climes as Raleigh NC, Atlanta and Nowheresville AZ. 

The Atlanta franchise failed twice and was moved to Calgary. The Arizona team, which had neither a permanent home nor more than two die-hard fans (Sid and Doris Bonkers), was moved this year to Utah... Utah!... because Gary wouldn't cave to pressure to restore the Québec team which he'd moved to Colorado.

The Carolina Hurricanes, based in Raleigh, got into the playoffs and played to SRO crowds. The Florida Panthers generally attract good crowds, because their home base is in Sunrise, part of Fort Lauderdale, where the majority of residents are Canadians. 

But does anyone watch the southern teams on TV? Nah. If you lived in North Carolina or Florida or Dallas, would you want to be sitting indoors of a warm May or June evening watching hockey? Fuggedabahtit.

That NHL viewership is in decline has to do with the business of TV sports rather than the location of the teams or the quality of the games. Today's hockey telecasts are carefully produced to fill three hours of air time, even though actual playing time is just one hour!

To pad out the allotted time, each 20-minute period is interrupted by three -- count `em, 3 -- "TV timeouts", which are filled with commercials. Then there are the two 15- or 20-minute intermissions, in which a panel of progessional gabbers tell us what we've just seen. The same thing happens before we get to watch the singing of the national anthems the puck drops, and afterwards, if the game finishes early.

Whoever's responsible for these incredibly boring TV shows obviously doesn't understand the audience. Today's young people -- the millennials and gen-whatevers -- have the attention spans of mosquitoes. They won't, they can't sit still for a quarter-hour of dreck. When I saw "Virtual PK" Subban on ABC/ESPN, I nearly broke my wrist changing the channel. More about ESPN's  "colour(ed) commentator" later today.

Yes, there are still die-hard traditionalists in Canada and the northeastern states who still watch hockey on TV. But was aren't as tech savvy as the kids, and less likely to subscribe to streaming services and specialty channels like Amazon's Monday night hockey or the Bank of Nova Scotia's Wednesday night version. And we resent being asked to pay extra... or anything... for what used to be free!

Putting business and the almighty dollar -- the almighty US dollar, that is -- ahead of sport has just about killed hockey, at least on TV. Maybe that's not so bad. Hockey is best viewed (as well as played) outdoors, in sub-zero temperatures (the ice is faster, then) or at least in an old, unheated barn designated as the Soandso Memorial Arena. Hockey isn't just another "entertainment product". It's a sport!

Asian-American sportscaster pulled off the air because of his name

In today's Germany, "Adolf Hitler" is an uncommon name, more so, even, than "Adolf Shicklgruber". That's because Germans are ashamed of Adolf Hitler, the notorious dictator who led the Fatherland into a disastrous war. Americans, by contrast, are proud of the great historical figures the USA has produced in nearly two and a half centuries of existence. Even today there are 1000s of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Lincolns... and Lees. Robert E. Lee may have fought on the "wrong side" (according to the liberals and SJWs), but he is still regarded as the greatest general America ever produced, as well as an honourable man who fought for the cause he believed in -- states rights -- and accepted defeat with grace and in a spirit of reconciliation.

Of course not all the Lees in the USA are descendants of or named after General Lee. Many people of Asian, as well as Caucasian, descent have "Lee" as a surname. It's a very common family name in China (where it may be transliterated as "Lee" or "Li") and Korea (where it's usually "Lee"). There are many 1000s of Asian-American Lees. Some of them are even named "Robert"... "Robert Lee". One such is the gentleman pictured on the right below.

This "Robert Lee" is a sportscaster for ESPN, a part of the great Disney empire. The Mouse has not been happy with ESPN lately because viewership is dwindling and revenue is declining. To stanch the bleeding, ESPN has embarked on a desperate search for relevance, so has decided to become a social justice warrior network, "treating all liberal opinion makers as those worthy of promotion and casting aside all those who had the gall to challenge the new Disney world order." That quote is from "ESPN Profit Plummets As Network Turns Left", posted 8/2/17 on OutkickTheCoverage, which says "MSESPN" would be a better name for the failing "network".

Fast forward half a year to this week's announcement by ESPN/MSESPN that Robert Lee will not call the University of Virginia's football season opener on September 2nd because of the recent violence in Charlottesville. A spokeswoman (note) for ESPN says Mr Lee has been sent to cover Youngstown State's game at Pittsburgh on the ACC Network, "simply because of the coincidence of his name."

You might think this is a gag, lifted from The Onion, but once again, truth is stranger (and funnier) than fiction. The official MSESPN line is that "We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties."

OutkickTheCoverage headlined their story "MSESPN Pulls Asian Announcer Named Robert Lee Off UVa Game To Avoid Offending Idiots". OKTC's Clay Travis wrote:
"...according to multiple Outkick fans inside ESPN, MSESPN decided to pull an Asian college football announcer named Robert Lee off the William and Mary at University of Virginia college football game because they were concerned that having an ASIAN FOOTBALL ANNOUNCER NAMED ROBERT LEE would be offensive to some viewers.... Does ESPN really believe people are this dumb or that having an Asian announcer named Robert Lee is too offensive for the average TV viewer to handle?"

Apparently the answer is: Yes, yes they do. You couldn't make this stuff up, but such is the polarization of the Excited States of America as we near the end of the summer of 2017. Stay tuned.