Like most red-blooded American males, I think that a great way to spend a Sunday is watching 7 hours of commercial-free football on NFL Redzone. When I heard that ESPN would be doing a special event in which they did the hockey-equivalent of Rezone on the rare occasion of all 32 teams playing on the same night, I was in.
That night is tonight. Admittedly, I’m not fully locked into the program, as I’m watching both the Bruins game and Game 7 of the Phillies vs. D-Backs series, but I’ve been tuning in from time to time. My initial reaction: I like it.
Redzone is better, but that’s to be expected. I believe it’s John Buccigross and Kevin Weekes hosting the program, and they’re performing admirably. At times it seems they’re trying too hard on things like forcing hockey lingo, but I get it. They want the program to be accessible and fun with it being the first time this has happened, and want people to be drawn in. Plus, there was no chance of them coming close to Scott Hanson’s experienced, elite Redzone hosting abilities anyway. Frozen Frenzy is getting better and better as the hosts settle in and the games get going, however.
One great thing about Rezone is how fun and easy it makes to keep track of your fantasy matchups and bets on Sundays. Football is easily the best sport for fantasy and among the best for gambling. That being said, I actually do play fantasy hockey, and I like betting on the sport (although I have no action tonight, so perhaps that would make the program better; I’d imagine anytime goalscorer bettors are loving it), but it just doesn’t feel as cool as the football version. It could also be that Redzone is on Sundays, whereas this is on a random Tuesday night.
But enough of comparing Frozen Frenzy to its more established counterpart.
It’s a lot of fun. Seeing into every game and watching a barrage of goals is just a good time. As a big hockey fan, this is a great way to spend my Tuesday. I know I might not have sounded very enthusiastic earlier in this blog, but I really am enjoying it, and it’s always good to see hockey getting premium ESPN airtime. Hopefully those who aren’t into hockey now can see what they’re missing.
I hope our beloved readers tuned in to check it out. If so, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments or tweet us @A2ZSportsTakes. I’d love it if ESPN makes an effort to make this a semi-regular thing, even if not every team is playing. It’s already good and will only get better.