From the Trading Floor observatory--The opening scenes

Dress for success; is this the key to a winning broadcast this year?



The first thing that jumps out as we settle in for these seven hours of the circles of hell known as the trading deadline, is that we should make sure that the coffee urn is always full, this may be a long, long morning.

As the big network shows get underway though it seems that fashion statements are going to be the most obvious thing to talk about in the early rounds.

If we are to judge our content by the way it looks, then all business is taking on casually informative as the opening hour gets underway.

Ties it seems are not only frowned upon in the new NHL, they’re also an optional fashion accessory at Sportsnet. As the first hour of the trading shows winds down, it would seem that like prisoners heading for lock up, the ties and loose clothing have been collected at the door.

Sartorial splendour is the order of the day at TSN though, as the talking heads are all decked out in some spiffy looking suits, complete with a wonderful collection of ties, some fine looking rags that would make Don Cherry a happy man.

The TSN’s crew resembles a gallery of George Clooney’s while the competitors all look like Gary Busey laying in wait for starlets on a red carpet.

Over at Sportsnet the panel looks as though they’ve already been up all night, slugging back gin and chasing down rumours, it’s a more casual look for the Rogers crew, with open collars and ties nowhere to be seen.

And it may be the early hour or the angle of the cameras but it certainly look as though one of the many panel’s assembled have been crammed into a rather tight spot. If things get heated, it won’t be much of a reach for Keith Primeau to reach across and slug co panelist Bill Clement.

We do a quick click over to the Score (timing is everything and our first two attempts land during some kind of wrestling commercial marathon), eventually we find the assembled cast of the Score, who like Sportsnet have decided to go without neckwear, though we suspect that may be more budgetary than any kind of sense of hip fashion trends.

Unemployed Former GM’s are finding the sun shines again, with Bill Watters and Don Mclean sharing their thoughts (sans ties by the way) over at Sportsnet while John Ferguson Jr. examines the so far less than rapidly developing events of the day at TSN.

The first hour is turning into a rehash of everything we’ve heard in the last three weeks. The TSN line up is the stronger of the bunch so far, the more recognizable names, the sheer number of the cast at least providing for a new face every few minutes to rehash the same old same old.

Though from TSN we learn that the carpets have apparently been cleaned in Montreal and that John Paddock may not have much of a shelf life left in Ottawa, though it would be nice if perhaps they could flesh that thought out a bit, providing more than just a throw away line in a morning of throw away lines.

Overall, it’s a triumph of visuals over substance in the first hour for TSN, as Fernando once said from his hideaway, they looked marvelous!