After a lot of confusion, indecision, and maybe even fear mongering, Canadian fans can finally sit back and watch hockey. And I'm not talking about the actual game, I'm talking about the intro songs for both the CBC and TSN.
The facts are a little hazy, but from my understanding it went something like this:
Lady writes song, "leases" to the CBC.
"Lease" runs out.
Lady wants more money/ CBC wants more of the song on the cheap. Who Knows?
Lady says no and walks away to TSN/ CBC says no and gives it back to the lady.
CBC has a contest for a new song.
Alberta Teacher wins.
In the end, TSN remade the song and launched it this past week on its "NHL on TSN" broadcast. CBC went along with the teacher's winning song for it's "Hockey Night in Canada" coverage.
Now, the main thing I was looking forward to was the final product, on both sides. Earlier this week I had a chance to go to Youtube and watch the new Hockey Introductions for both the CBC and TSN. I really wanted to see how it all turned out. I was pretty confident that TSN's theme would steal my heart because of the history and awesomeness of the original song. Yet I was also curious to see what the CBC would end up doing. Judge for yourselves:
New CBC "Hockey Night in Canada" intro
New TSN "NHL on TSN" intro
Wow, could that TSN theme video be any worse! I can't believe how boring it was to watch. Were those players even real players or were they computer generated? And no crowd noise? Actually, there wasn't even a crowd in the arena. I don't think I could have imagined a worse video. They totally and completey relied on the legend of the song. The song is good, but after watching this, its clear that the CBC's old videos had just as much to do with tradition as the song, even after changing them multiple times over the years. Shame on TSN for shooting a blank on the video. You pay for the song and then ruin it with the video.
Meanwhile, the CBC lays down an instantly classic video. I'm not a big fan of the new song, but it has promise and the video makers at CBC tied it all togther like Pros. The biggest shock I had after watching this video was that I completely forgot about how much I love the "old" song. It was as though the 2 videos switched places and the CBC was actually the classic/beloved song while TSN's was just another publicity stunt.
In any event, its all over now. We can all keep on loving the classic "hockey theme", but I think that, with TSN, it lost a lot of its sparkle. In my opinion, CBC is still the place for classic/traditional/authentic hockey coverage.
But I live in China, so what do I know?
***EDIT***
I thought that this was the new CBC intro:
CBC intro
Confusing, to say the least. Both CBC videos are miles ahead of TSN's. But for the record, this intro is the champion in my book... but do they still use it?
ps. This video also rules:
Opening Night Intro
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