NBC Gives NHL Little Love

NBC is putting the NHL in the penalty box. Unwilling to sacrifice its weeknight programming, particularly Conan’s Tonight Show debut, the network has dictated that games 1 and 2 will be tonight and tomorrow, the first time games have been back-to-back since 1954. Then, it’ll kick games 3 and 4 over to little-watched Versus on cable. The network is treating the league like a "second-class citizen," writes Michael Zuidema in the Grand Rapids Press.

"Granted, hockey hasn't consistently pulled the strongest ratings numbers throughout the years, but it doesn't deserve to be treated like ... an afterthought," he says. "Not when you have a matchup pitting Hockeytown against hockey's poster boy, Sidney Crosby." Can you imagine this happening to the World Series or the Super Bowl? Let's give Lord Stanley a little more respect. (More NBC stories.)