"Dear CBC" a calm and rational e-mail sent from a western Leafs fan
The following is the text of an actual e-mail I sent off to the CBC during Saturday night's game against Montreal. Another in the long line of Saturday games this year I've been forced to watch on my laptop because the CBC believes the Atlanta Thrashers have a large, strong, and dedicated fanbase everywhere west of Ontario. To put it in context, I'd just gotten back from a trip to work that took ten hours longer than it should have because people higher up that make decisions seem to be making a habbit of making bad decisions these days so I wasn't in all that great a mood to begin with. I also got home just in time to see that the Leafs game wasn't on TV, fire up the computer, and see the Habs score what turned out to be the winning goal. So that didn't help matters.
Anyway, this is the e-mail I sent. I have yet to hear back from them and, frankly, I really doubt I will but it was a nice way to blow off steam. The only thing I regret is that I didn't mention how they should fire Glenn Healy for being a douche and terrible at his job. Next time, I guess.
Dear CBC: Fuck off with the goddamn Jets.
Seriously, no one cares about them. I know you and everybody else all went overboard celebrating “Canada's seventh team” when they relocated, but guess what? After the season started, everybody went back to not caring about them and went back to paying attention to their favourite team. It's almost as if nobody cared about the Atlanta Thrashers for the past ten years and that hasn't changed just because the name and the city have. Sure there might be people in Winnipeg that care about their new team, but that doesn't mean any of the rest of us in the west do. We've already got teams to cheer for and we're not going to simply switch our loyalty just because there's suddenly a team a bit closer. The people that do that are bandwagoners and should be shunned and ridiculed not rewarded with getting to watch “their team” on a weekly basis. Forcing all of us to watch Winnipeg games is like if you had forced everyone in Ontario and Quebec to watch Ottawa Senators games in the early 90s just because they were new and in that general area. Only this is worse because, unlike the Senators, these “Jets” aren't new at all, they're the goddamn Thrashers.
Looked at another way, do you remember when the real Jets were still in Winnipeg? It was a long time ago, but it's pretty much all anyone talks about when the Jets play anybody for the first time. Remember who you showed on Hockey Night In Canada for the whole country to see? Was it the Jets? No, you showed the Leafs game. And that was a Jets team that had Teamu Selanne. What do these Jets have, Nik Antropov? The two best parts of his trade away from Toronto was that a) he wasn't on the Leafs anymore, and b) that now we didn't have to watch him try to play hockey anymore. But seriously, even back in the “good ol' days” that these new Jets are supposed to make everybody remember, you didn't force us to watch them every Saturday, you showed the Leafs game like you're supposed to because that's what everyone wanted to see. Except maybe the people in Winnipeg but they're all dead inside anyway and maybe the few Montreal fans but they're both mentally deficient and have the French CBC channel to watch their games on.
So in conclusion, CBC: fuck off with the goddamn Jets and show the Leafs game like you're supposed to. If you really have to show the Jets on TV, do like you do with the Senators: show them in their specific city and nowhere else because, just like the Senators, no one outside their city cares.
PensionPlanPuppets.com is a fan community that allows members to post their own thoughts and opinions on the Toronto Maple Leafs and hockey in general. These views and thoughts may not be shared by the editor of PensionPlanPuppets.com.
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>:(
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It’s tough for me too but I was the one who decided to move from Nova Scotia to Eastern Quebec. Unless the Leafs are playing the Habs, it ain’t on my CBC feed. Even if the Habs don’t play on Saturday night, they spoon-feed all of Quebec with Ottawa games.
In early December, Quebec-based Leafs fans were shafted yet again when the Habs played a matinee in Los Angeles and were had to watch the Caps and the Sens instead of the Bruins/Leafs. Bullshit.
Lifelong Leafs Fan living in Habs Country.
RDS bought all French rights to Habs games, so French CBC can’t show them.
Resident teetotaler married to a habs fan. Who is also not a fan of most dogs.
French CBC? As in Radio-Canada? Or are you referring to the CBC Montreal affiliate? CBC (English) holds the rights to all Saturday night games for all 7 Canadian teams. RDS/TSN cannot broadcast any games on Saturday evenings.
As a footnote, Radio-Canada (SRC) hasn’t had broadcast rights to NHL games since pre-lockout, IIRC.
There are rare occasions when RDS will show a Leafs game but in Quebec, the majority of non-Canadiens/non-Senators games are on RIS which is kind of like RDS-2. Unfortunately for me, this channel is part of a specialty cable package which includes (via my digital cable provider) about 5 other sports channels which I would never watch with the exception of MAYBE the Score. So my wife trumps me in that she has her Oprah Winfrey Network shit and I have to settle for CBC.ca streaming like SlickWill.
Lifelong Leafs Fan living in Habs Country.
.
Well, RDS shows every Canadiens games, including Saturday nights.
Now, RIS is dead: long live RDS Info Sports… which seems to only focus on delivering sports highlights, analysis and colour commentary, so RDS and RDS2 carry Canadiens, Senators and other random NHL games (with select teams and match-ups that seem to focus on the Pens, Lightning and Caps).
Enough with Quebec French TV. Just to say that with a particular Satellite TV provider, though expensive, there are dedicated channels for Atlantic CBC, Montreal CBC, Ottawa CBC, Toronto CBC, Winnipeg CBC… you get the idea. There can be as many as four games available on ch. 206, 208, 210 and 226 at the very same time without having to go online. Only downside: they’re not all available in HD.
by The Nacho Fan on Jan 25, 2012 3:03 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, I forgot about that. RDS does carry the Canadiens games on Saturday nights… must be the French-language loophole only in that CBC and the NHL have a very strict broadcasting agreement.
Actually, I did have that Bell package the first year following the lockout when I lived in Nova Scotia. I was able to flip between the Toronto and Montreal games effortlessly and even the Senators games if I needed a nap.
Lifelong Leafs Fan living in Habs Country.
Also meant to add that RIS has been surprising me of late—they’ve shown at least 4 Leafs games this season which were either on SN or LeafsTV (otherwise, unavailable in my area). But you’re right. They are primarily a 24/7 highlights channel with “alternative” sports mixed in.
Lifelong Leafs Fan living in Habs Country.
@Jean
Don’t know if your provider gives you the free preview to the rebranded RDS Info, but Bell does until Feb. 29, and they will show Oilers Leafs next Monday, a game that will be on SN (while they also air Wednesday’s game, I bet the home and home with Pittsburgh is aired all across Canada on TSN).
by The Nacho Fan on Jan 30, 2012 2:10 PM EST up reply actions
Good rant, but you realize it will probably never be read because you swore right. They almost definitely have filters that just ignore all emails with swear words in it.
Also are you able to watch the game on the CBC stream online?
About time that people finally realized how awesome Gunnar is...
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My new goal: To get the nickname Hebrew Hammer for Mike Brown to take off.
I really don’t care that much if they read it or not since my ranting is likely to result in absolutely no change to their broadcasting plans anyway, it was just fun to rant.
And yes, I was/am able to watch the game through the CBC stream, I just don’t have my laptop hooked up to my TV so the difference is watching it on a laptop sized screen or on a TV sized screen. First World Problems
Where do you live that you are forced to watch Jets games? Manitoba? I’d say it makes sense for them to show Jets games in Manitoba, considering Winnipeg is in Manitoba.
I will stand beside him with an axe! @theninjagreg
That I’d understand and, like I said in the last paragraph, they should treat them like the Senators and just show them in a location specific veiwing area and let the rest of us have the Leafs game.
I’m in Saskatchewan, by the way.
I find it odd that in Alberta we get the Leafs game. I feel bad for Saskatchewan now.
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Yay Alberta! Boo Saskatchewan!
I will stand beside him with an axe! @theninjagreg
by theninjagreg on Jan 24, 2012 6:55 PM EST up reply actions
Embrace the hate!
leaf fan stuck in ottawa, a localized black hole that will suck everything in that area to oblivion.
by stucky on Jan 24, 2012 11:21 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
(o)(o)

The First Certified Grabbo Lover
by SkinnyFish on Jan 25, 2012 11:12 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

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