Uncensored Hockey?

1) Recently on one of our listed/favourite blogs by Mike Chen (linked) he asked a very good/relevant question regarding the usage of on ice sounds/conversation. Asking could it be used during broadcasts, what/how it could be done. We recommend reading his original blog entry.

2) Nice discussion/ideas. We have read about/advocated that idea in the past as a way of making televised hockey more entertaining to the folks (unlike those of us who blog) who don’t find hockey on TV entertaining enough. For years people have tried to use ways to increase viewers. Gimmicks like Fox’s comet/glowing puck were used to attract folks who didn’t usually watch hockey on TV. We’d love to see the inclusion of real time ’sounds of the game’. Right now the chatter/stuff that we are allowed to listen to is usually so bland/censored to make it meaningless. We agree the logistics/legal aspects would need to be worked out, but if it were possible to hear the uncensored remarks/trash talk among players/coaches/refs it would really make the televised NHL more interesting/exciting.

3) Chen ascribed to tape delaying the broadcast 15 minutes to allow censors to remove offending content such as racial slurs. In addition, to make all of the many potential sounds listenable (He states that having 20 different microphones at once feeding into your TV might make it difficult without first having someone sift through the incoming sounds to discriminate what would be interesting/relevant.) We understand the reasons he mentions but we disagree with Mike on that. We wouldn’t do a tape delay. Give us the real thing with all its warts. BTW, we doubt there’s much/many ‘racial’ slurs going around. There will be ‘colorful’ language of course, but there could be an optional feed that folk could get that give a warning, etc.

4) We could see an interactive option (extra$$ of course) how folks at home could listen to the microphone of their choice. Much like NASCAR does with in-car camera placements. Viewers can choose which driver they want to be a 'passenger with'. That way fans could choose what they want to listen to and get a real time feel for the game at home that wasn't possible before. We say, they should mic every player/official/coach. If this is an entertainment industry they should do everything possible to 'entertain' us. Sure, some might believe that it will alter how folks react, knowing they are being listened to, but we feel that in the heat of battle they will forget they are being heard by a few million people. Anything that increases excitement should increase interest which in turn should increase revenue. That alone should incentivize this for the NHL. The technology is there. Lets uncensor the NHL now!