Posts Tagged ‘Hockey Night in Canada’

Classy interview with Jeff Marek of CBC/HNIC

October 28th, 2009

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to CBC News and Hockey Night in Canada anchor, Jeff Marek. Jeff’s been with CBC for two years and is a staple on Saturday night broadcasts as part of the iDesk feature along with Scott Morrison. Maybe you already knew that, but did you know Marek is basically the Ron Burgundy of CBC?

It’s true. Having spent time with Marek at CBC’s headquarters hours before this past Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, I witnessed it first hand. Every employee at CBC has a friendly relationship with Marek as well as a few inside jokes. Marek can’t go anywhere for five minutes without questions, jokes, or microphone fittings coming his way. In fact, the only two differences between Marek and the real Burgundy are scotch before broadcasts and turtlenecks.

Below is the Classy interview with Jeff Marek. Enjoy!

Stayclassy.net's very own Burgundy at Hockey Night in Canada's iDesk. Extremely classy.

Stayclassy.net's very own Burgundy at Hockey Night in Canada's iDesk. Extremely classy.

Stayclassy.net: How did you first get involved with sports broadcasting?

Jeff Marek: I never planned to get into sports at all. I was actually studying to be an English Professor. While working at a cemetery, my first bury was Harold Ballard (former Toronto Maple Leafs owner) in 1990. By stroke of luck, I met George Stroumboulopoulos and he helped me get a job with Toronto’s Fan 590 radio station. From there, I found my way onto various radio shows covering wrestling, the Leafs (and other topics), and eventually got a job offer from the producers of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Stayclassy.net editor’s note: Stroumboulopoulos and Marek actually made a bet to who would first appear on Hockey Night in Canada. Despite Marek’s gig on HNIC’s iDesk, it was Stroumboulopoulos who won the bet.

SC: Do you have any specific career highlight(s) that stick out in your mind?

Marek: Two highlights immediately come to mind. First, the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Being able to call Judo, Table Tennis, Pentathlon, and other sports was a thrill. It was challenging, chaotic, and exciting all at once. Secondly, my first ever appearance and interview on HNIC. It was the Washington Capitals versus the Ottawa Senators and Ron Maclean introduced me doing an interview with Alex Ovechkin. Hearing my name mentioned by Ron Maclean after the HNIC intro music was surreal to say the least.

Stayclassy.net editor’s note: This was the game Ovechkin scored 4 goals against the Senators and threw his glove in the air.

SC: Is it true you play rec hockey on a team called The Ron Burgundys? And if so, how good is your team?

Marek: Yes. As far as skill… I’m good enough to be a bad player on a great team.

Stayclassy.net editor’s note: I don’t know what you mean.

SC: Have you ever read punctuation incorrectly from a teleprompter in your career?

Marek: I’ve never used a teleprompter for my work on CBC! That all changes with my role on CBC’s News Now (which debuts this week). We use teleprompters for those broadcasts and now that you mention it, I fear I may be terrible reading from one.

SC: You’ve got a bit of a history covering professional wrestling. Do you ever miss the personalities of wrestlers when covering the NHL?

Marek: Wrestling does a good job marketing individual athletes – something the NHL should do more of with some of their superstars. The NHL certainly has a variety of characters, too.

SC: Do you think the NHL might do better in some markets (which shall remain nameless) if players had their own entrance music, and came out of the crowd as a surprise after an extended injury?

Marek: I love that idea! You might be onto something here…

SC: What do you think Sex Panther (illegal in 9 countries) really smells like?

Marek: The bowels of the worst smelling part of a hockey bag. Not the skates or the jock – something far worse – the insides of hockey gloves. They are without a doubt the ultimate chick repellent.

A huge thanks to Jeff for hanging out with us and fielding our questions. We like that. It should be noted Marek hasn’t yet seen the movie Anchorman, despite answering the questions above. As a thanks for doing our interview and as unofficial ambassadors of the movie, we bought Jeff a copy. With any luck, Stayclassy.net will finally make sense to him… and if it doesn’t, all hope is lost.

I highly recommend you do the following:

  1. Add Jeff Marek on Twitter
  2. Tune in to CBC News Now (weekdays; 6am-9am. Jeff tackles sports on the broadcast)
  3. Thank Jeff for doing this interview by leaving a comment below

Stay classy, Jeff Marek.

Follow Burgundy on Twitter or become a fan of Stayclassy.net on Facebook.

8 comments »

Posted in Classy Interviews

Tags:

Stayclassy puts their money where their mouth is (Part 3)

July 3rd, 2009

Welcome to the thrilling conclusion of StayClassy’s ball hockey weekend.   To recap, we’ve lost our first two games, with the second game being a last-minute choke job.   So after watching Burgundy deke out Spartacat in the parking lot (it was a pretty good deke, too), the team set up camp by our cars and began the familiar process of recharging our electrolytes.

For lunch, we decided on pizza and beer, though the beer was not cold-certified.   Regardless, it sure did hit the spot.  The clouds had cleared and by this point, it was hotter than Alex Ovechkin’s 50th goal celebration.   Seriously, we all got absolutely baked in the sun.

With almost 5 hours between games, our team had some time to kill and we engaged in a number of high-brow conversations.  Here is the colesnotes of Saturday afternoon:

  • Burgundy’s mother apparently dates younger men…. Ew.  It should be noted that Burgundy and Fantana may or may not share the same mother
  • We saw a team from Vaughan that had its own bus.  They were a pretty intense team with an equally intense coach.  After beating a weaker team, some fat kid pulled a Crosby and wouldn’t shake hands because apparently kids from Vaughn are big trash-talkers.   It should be noted that the fat kid’s dad yelled at him for a while, on 2 separate occasions and the StayClassy team briefly joined in on the fun… I guess it’s safe to say there was no ice cream for this kid on Saturday night
  • While at the Pro Hockey Life store, we all noticed some kid buying a Maple Leafs jersey, so naturally, the StayClassy team boo’ed him.  When asked why he wanted to buy the jersey, the kid said it would match his goalie pads.   Stayclassy recommended that he should just buy new pads
  • Burgundy and Mantooth bought new sticks, but only Burgundy’s stick had “speed holes”.  We thought about trying out the speed machines to see how hard our shots were, but we decided not to because we didn’t want to break the machines

Our third and final game of the afternoon was against InStevado’s Shadow.   I’m guessing Stevado was the guy with the yellow stick blade, because he was the only guy on their team who could score.   StayClassy didn’t like this guy because he slashed and broke Mantooth’s new stick.   Thanks to the pre-game beers, StayClassy won the game 10-6, which was a solid win for us, despite a brutal penalty shot that was called against us late in the game.   Ken was a sniper all day and seemed to score from everywhere.   Fantana got robbed so many times by their goalie but scored a diving goal in the last minute of the game to redeem himself, though he somehow scrapped his finely-shaped buttocks in the process. Burgundy’s air holes/speed holes or whatever you want to call them seemed to help slightly.   Charlie came to cheer us on and to provide some additional coaching, but we were too tired to make conversation with him.   Mantooth had the comment of the day after watching a girl on InStevado’s Shadow take a hard shot to the chest.   She dropped her stick and clutched her breasts and Mantooth exclaimed, “That’s okay, you’ve still got another one!”  Both teams laughed pretty hard.

With the win in Game 3, StayClassy finished 11th in the qualifying round, and as a result, came back on Sunday morning to faceoff with the #5 seeded Ice Holes in the elimination round.   Fantana asked the Ice Holes if they wanted to just go straight to a shootout, believing it was StayClassy’s best chance to win.  We lost 11-3 and it wasn’t even close.   The gas tank was empty for the whole game and we shamefully hung Scott out to dry.  The worst example was when one of the Ice Hole players took three consecutive shots on goal (all saved), before passing to his wide-open teammate on the other side of the crease for an easy tap-in.  All in all, the Ice Holes were a pretty cheap team.  Even their own goalie told them to relax, several times.  They also shot the ball out of play several times, yet somehow dodged any penalties.   They even hit Spartacat in the head on one play.  I secretly think that Spartacat was thrilled to finally have an excuse to explain his hungover behaviour!   Charlie also brought some dilly bars for us, but they melted way before the game was over, just like our team did.

It was a fun weekend with many memorable highlights but after losing to the Ice Holes, we were actually quite relieved.  We were all very sore and sunburnt so an early end to our tournament wasn’t the worst thing that could’ve happened to us.  We decided to eat lunch at Moxie’s.  A few notes about Moxie’s:

  • If you see a hamburger with an egg on it on the menu, don’t order it.  It’s gross
  • If you ever go to the Moxie’s at the Kanata Centrum, be sure to ask about the guy who ate two consecutive chicken alfredo dishes for dinner.  I heard he ate alone and was very skinny
  • If you’re a dude staying in Vancouver’s gay district, don’t go to Moxie’s expecting waitresses… it’s all waiters
  • If your wife/girlfriend asks if you’ve ever been to Moxie’s before, the answer is always no.  Always

Look out next year for the StayClassy team in the Play On! Tournament.   We’ll be back and we’ll bring more subs with us next year.   Perhaps Baxter will join the team and maybe Tambland will make an appearance.   We may even have Ken/Corningstone back too.   We also plan to drink before every game next year, as that was the secret for this year’s sole victory.  Waterproof sunblock will also be valuable and we’ll try to enter the kids leagues too.

Your reporter in the field,

Fantana

Add SC.net on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

No comments »

Posted in Other

Tags:

Stayclassy puts their money where their mouth is (Part 2)

July 1st, 2009

After a disappointing result in Game 1, the StayClassy team faced a difficult decision – Should they go suit shopping or should they hit up BJ’s (Booster Juice)? Given the manliness of our team, we elected for BJ’s. As Mantooth pointed out in part 1 of this story, Burgundy, Fantana, Mantooth and Scott all got awesome Terminator Smoothies with power boosts. Meanwhile, after unsuccessfully championing for team wheat shots, Ken (a.k.a Corningstone) got a Pomegranate Punch Smoothie. Weak Ken…

Here were some of the topics we discussed during our post game meeting at BJ’s:

  • Next year, we’ll definitely have more subs
  • The Ron Burgundy School of Driving should be avoided at all costs
  • Our team decided to employ a dump ‘n chase strategy for the remainder of the tournament, with the chase part of the strategy being optional
  • After sharing a few laughs with another under-manned team (Hicks with Sticks), the team decided to go across the Centrum parking lot to Wal-Mart. We drove there.
  • While at Wal-Mart, several critical debates ensued, including one about which kind of Gatorade we should buy (G or G2). Suffice to say, G2 won because its label clearly indicated that it could recharge our electrolytes, whereas G could not. This was critical for our team and especially so for Ken, who would go on to consume a whopping 7 G2’s during the day.
  • Burgundy began creating excuses, saying things like, “I think I need a new stick” and “My stick sucks and that’s why I only scored one goal again that Pontiac team”. However, Burgundy did not purchase a new stick prior to game 2.

Game 2 – StayClassy v.s. The Minute Men

Our second game of the day was at noon and the overcast clouds were starting to clear. This wasn’t good news because that meant it was about to get much hotter. We were playing the Minute Men, which upon arrival to the rink, looked like a bunch of wimps. This delighted the StayClassy goonsquad.

With our new Jacques Martin defensive strategy worked out, all that was left was its execution. The game started and StayClassy quickly found themselves in the lead. As it turned out, The Minute Men weren’t very swift because they couldn’t figure out how we’d basically just ice the ball to a cherry-picking forward and score. After the first half, StayClassy were up 6-4, despite being outworked by a younger Minute Men team.

Things were looking good, but our energy was running low. We attributed the lead to our brilliant strategy and to the G2. However, things took a turn for the worse in the second half. As our energy levels dropped, The Minute Men’s increased. Soon, our defensive strategy mutated into an even lazier strategy of standing in front of the net and blocking passes out front. We barely chased them in the corners or behind the net.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

The earlier reference to Jacques Martin was truly appropriate and was very fitting given that we were playing in the ScotiaBank parking lot. Still not following? We choked. Yeah, that’s right, we choked. Our two-goal lead vanished and they scored a number of garbage goals that deflected off of our own team.

Highlights of the game included Scott making some great saves, especially in the second half when the forwards were too tired to do anything. Mantooth had a few good elbows out there and kept us laughing by declaring “News team assemble!” Burgundy and Ken each scored two goals, while Fantana had a hattrick. In fact, on his third goal of the game, he screamed “Hattrick!” to the crowd but nobody appeared to understand what he said. The TSN Turning Point of the game was a 2-on-0 for StayClassy early in the second half that saw Burgundy make a perfect pass to Fantana. Fantana got too cute and was poke-checked by the goaltender… ouch! So to recap, a 2-on-0 didn’t even generate a shot on goal.

The Minute Men won the game 11-9 and Burgundy banged his stick several times. Overall, it was a tight game and The Minute Men weren’t more skilled than StayClassy, with the exception of the guy with the red blade… he wasn’t bad and probably scored 5 or 6 goals on us alone. What a heart-breaker and the loss brought StayClassy’s record to 0-2. We thought this was supposed to be a beginner’s league? What gives?

Stay tuned for the post-game meeting, which would see some dramatic transformations to our strategy, as well as the from game 3.

Your reporter in the field,

Fantana

Add SC.net on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

1 comment »

Posted in Other

Tags:

Stayclassy puts their money where their mouth is (Part 1)

June 30th, 2009

That’s right, internet, you read the headline correctly. This weekend, The Channel 4 News team decided to ditch the keyboards and twitter accounts, and do what no news team has done before… lace up the shoes and strap on their shin guards – we played in CBC’s Play On! 4-on-4 Road Hockey Tournament.

Team Stayclassy.net was in Ottawas PlayOn tournament

Team Stayclassy.net was in Ottawa's PlayOn tournament

Game 1 – StayClassy v.s. Pontiac Lightning

Our first game was at 8:40am and while this was way too early for a Saturday, it wasn’t very hot outside and made for pretty good street hockey conditions. We saw we were playing a team called the Pontiac Lightning, which we all hoped would mimic real life and tank the game. As we strode up to the fenced-in rink, Fantana noted the mean-looking bandanas some of their team was wearing. And I don’t mean the sissy ones that Kelly Hrudey wore, I’m talking real, biker bandanas. Upon reflection, this was probably a sign of things to come. We should’ve stocked up on tridents and brass knuckles for this one.

The games are played with two 15 minute halves and a quick two minute breather in between. We started the game and within a few minutes, several things are apparent:

  • StayClassy’s team did not have enough substitutes
  • Mantooth took first dibs on the gift bags and took all the good stuff
  • StayClassy’s team weren’t in the best of shape
  • Pontiac turned out to be a pretty good team (they actually ran – who does that?)
  • StayClassy’s electrolytes needed replenishing, badly
  • The team’s theme song would be “Afternoon Delight”

It was a pretty tight opening half and we were tied 1-1. At the half, the whole StayClassy team was pretty drained. That two minute half-time break was nowhere near long enough. As a side note, you know it’s a bad sign when all three players on the rink start walking over to the bench for a change, but there’s only one sub… not good. Anyway, the second half got much tougher and a series of broken plays turned into a 5-1 lead for Pontiac.

They ended up winning by a final score of 6-3, but it should be noted that StayClassy had goals scored from Burgundy, Fantana and a guy named Ken (leading candidate to become Corningstone). Also, Mantooth was on the team and played a solid and cheap game. Mantooth blocked a really hard shot and this left an awesome welt on the back of his left thigh. If he busts that out to any ladies, he may very well get some afternoon delight. Our goaltender, Scott, took team MVP honours because in the 2nd half, he made a number of awesome saves, especially since StayClassy’s defence was more like e-ffence – Where’s the D?

A quick team meeting after the game determined several things:

  • Not having enough subs was going to be a prevailing theme throughout the weekend
  • Fantana has a better vernacular than Burgundy but this Corningstone guy might take the cake
  • StayClassy’s electrolytes still needed replenishing, badly
  • A visit to BJ’s (Booster Juice) was necessary
  • We needed a better strategy

So we ditched our sweaty gear and high-tailed it to BJ’s for some wheat shots and boosts. Stay tuned for the post-game meeting, as well as the action from games 2 and 3.

Your reporter in the field,

Fantana

Add SC.net on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

4 comments »

Posted in Other

Tags:

NHL skills competition … classy style

January 24th, 2009

Tambland and Burgundy here. Watching the skills competition, and putting down our own skills to offer our thoughts on tonight’s action.

6:50- Apparently you can get a Alex Ovechkin haircut in Washington for $14….the picture they showed wasn’t too flattering….
6:59- Just heard Sheldon Souray say he could beat Zdeno Chara in the hardest shot competition. His bionic wrist must be making a superb comeback.
7:01- The new Hockey Night in Canada theme just played. It’s growing on us. We were just talking about adopting it as our new news theme.
7:02- Mike Milbury did not hit Kelly Hrudey with a shoe….or hit Pierre McGuire for disagreeing with him…I guess the spirit of the All-Star Game reached all the way to the broadcast booth. Note: Al Strachan is nowhere to be seen.
7:04- An Ottawa Senators fan just made it on the Jumbotron at the Bell Centre….The boos were noticeably absent….I guess they’re still not aware of the fact that we’ll be beating them in the first round this year.
7:05- Ummmm, who is this band……and why is the organ spinning…..if they put the Stanley Cup upside down after this, Ron might have to kick Baxter off a bridge….and nobody wants that.
7:06- Marc Savard just looked at Marty St. Louis and told him he was going to be to crushed….I guess they forgot they were on the same team.
7:07- Isn’t it “Olay Olay Olay Olay…” not “Oway Oway Oway Oway.” Again, a massive fail.
7:08- We’ve discussed it and decided we won’t criticize the entire competition. After all, Mantooth hasn’t had anything to do with this disaster so far. Although we wouldn’t be surprised if he was somewhere behind the scenes.
7:11- Sheldon Souray just skated out and wasn’t booed. I guess they forgot about that Jason Spezza goal a few years ago…..we haven’t!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy0pXTnx85Q&hl=en&fs=1]

I wondered if Marc Streit will get booed……
7:12- Marc Streit not booed. Weird….
7:14- Vincent Lecavalier just got a standing ovation…..Ecklund just posted a ‘Rumour Update’ claiming Vincent talks have stalled…..Montreal fans don’t seem to care…..Actually, nobody does. He should be captain of the Eastern Conference team. Vincent, not Ecklund.
7:22- Why aren’t Martin St. Louis and Patrick Marleau in the fastest skater????? Burgundy is calling Mason Raymond, but Tambland is calling Andrew Cogliano….we’ll see…..
7:23- Two things….the clock isn’t working…..Second thing: the reporting on this is brutal….Jim Hughson just said, and we quote, “He’s making a right turn.” Don’t improvise Jim; only read off the teleprompter.
7:24- We just heard again that the digital clock isn’t working….thanks CBC….You’re no Channel 4 News Team.
7:26- Mason Raymond just stumbled…..Cogliano should have it all wrapped up…..For the first time ever, Burgundy looks stupid. For the second time ever, Tambland was right.
7:32- Is it just us, or is the reporting pretty bad on these things. (The following is not verbatim).
Scott Oake- “You really skated fast out there. What’s your secret?”
Cogliano- “Um, just keeping your head down and going.” Worst. Interview. Ever.

7:34- Patrick Kane just scored with the butt end of his stick…..CBC almost said “He just scored with his knob…”
7:37- St. Louis had the best moves so far, but the camera angle has to change. If they really want this to be like the slam dunk contest, have a camera man at the net….it’s no more dangerous than being in a pen with Grizzly Bears….
7:38- Getzlaf is losing hair….but he shouldn’t be in this anymore.
7:39- Best part of the competition so far: when they played Foo Fighters.
7:41- This goalie is too good…
7:42- CBC just reminded us that its up to us to pick a winner. I pick the music guy
7:43- Ovie’s hat, flag, two sticks and glasses just stole the show.
Ovie- “I did lots of good things….so it was kind of not good move but I try….” Second. Best. Interview. Ever.

7:44- The 21-year-old, Junior Double-A Viper goalie seems remarkably comfortable on screen. Ahem, Ottawa Senators….

COMMERCIAL BREAK

7:52- Rookie vs. Sophmore game
7:53- First goals go to the rookies….
Luc Robitaille- “If we could take a lead, we’ll go down and play the trap….” Here’s hoping he’s not serious.
7:55- Coaches should be mic’d more often. Does anybody else wish we could hear what they’re saying all the time.
7:56- CBC- “There’s so much open ice, so there’s no great defence.” Yep. Think that’s the point.
7:58- Taking a break right now. Not much to say. Don’t want to offend these guys. They are the future after all.
8:03- One of the players just asked Luc if he liked the backcheck. It’s 3 on 3. How much backchecking can you really do???
8:04- There’s was actually a bodycheck, and then Staal scored. Time to step it up Luc says. How hilarious would a huge hip check be right now?
8:12- Mark Messier says he needs to learn how to text message. Bet he can’t text just once.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5xC9E7sIck&hl=en&fs=1]

8:30- That interview with Crosby taught nothing…..Apparently Dany Heatley is dangerous in the slot.
8:34- Ovie and Evgeni Malkin were just caught smiling on the same screen. What do you suppose they were saying? I remember once Veronica and Ron were smiling on the same screen, but Ron definitely threatened to punch her in the baby maker.
Ovie- “I’m gonna punch you in the baby maker…”
Gino- “Like you allegedly punched my agent?” Too soon?

8:40- Scott Oake and Tim Thomas just had an awkward moment.
Tim- “That’s not going to do it…”
Scott- “Um, 4 for 4. That’s going to be hard to beat there Tim.”
Tim’s thought- “Thanks for the math Scott.”
Tim’s words- “Oh. I didn’t see the fourth shot.”
Jim Hughson- “You guys are awful at play by play.”

8:44- Time for a shoot off: Malkin vs. Heatley. It’s like the playoffs all over again. Both Burgundy and Tambland pick Heater.
8:45- Damn….it really is like the playoffs all over again.
8:50- Um, don’t know what to say about this quote.
Jim Hughson- “He’s raising money for Chara….Charity…..Chara’s Charity.”
8:51- Chara scares us. He’s like a cross between a bear, a mountain lion, and the Green Giant.
8:52- We’re done blogging. New quote of the night, courtesy of Sheldon Souray, all within 30 seconds of each other:

“Keeping it low is not easy for me to do….”- Pretty good. Has some innuendo to it.
“I like a really sticky shaft….”- Alright, better.
“I’ll rub the sticky again….”- And there’s the winner!

9:01- That child must have been freaking out next to Chara. Does nobody remember that interview with Raj Binder a few years ago? Go to 2:20 of the video below….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL_8LPHyRcA&hl=en&fs=1]

9:28- Marc Savard misses … Shane Doan wins the shootout.
9:29- Tim Thomas- “He earned [the blocker side].” Psssssh. Good thing Doan won, or there would have been suspensions.

That’s it for Stay Classy’s coverage of the Allstar game’s skills competition.

You stay classy, internet.
Follow us on Twitter or Facebook

3 comments »

Posted in NHL Humour

Tags: