Madden gone in a BOOM!

Usually when a high-profile broadcaster announces his retirement, the assumption is that somebody asked him to close the door from the outside. That was the first thought for many when NBC stunned the TV world today with the announcement that John Madden had decided to hang up his signature ``boom!"

But, at the risk of not being as cynical as my job description mandates, I think this is a case of a guy knowing when to get out. At 73, Madden was at the top of his game. The Sunday night format had rejuvenated him after a few years of repeating the same-old, same-old and using the B-word far too often.

 “It’s kind of on my terms," Madden said. ``Everybody’s going to say, ‘Madden retires. What’s wrong?’ There’s nothing wrong with me.”

And apparently he wanted to keep it that way, avoiding the slow slide into mediocrity that too many announcers experience in their latter years.

Choosing Cris Collinsworth as his replacement is a good move. Though a bit chattier than he should be at times, Collinsworth is a sharp analyst with a sense of humour. Working with Al Michaels can only make him better.

OVECHKIN'S NOT-S0-STAR TURN

And now, for your viewing enjoyment, the Atlanta Thrashers do a classic low-bridge on Alex Ovechkin's acting exploits. Funny stuff from both the Atlanta guys and Ovechkin. Too bad the Thrashers don't play as well as they act.

NHL has a big year on the small screen

It was pretty much a given that TSN was going to score higher ratings during this NHL season, mainly because its new deal with the NHL gave it more Canadian content and, more importantly, more Toronto Maple Leafs content.

But it's doubtful anyone expected ratings to jump as much as they did -- 17 per cent over last season -- especially when the Leafs were pretty much out of the playoff hunt from opening night on. 

It's even more doubtful, though, that anyone expected CBC's ratings to increase after it lost some of its highly valued Leafs broadcasts to TSN. When the Leafs tanked, the assumption was that CBC would be lucky to avoid a big ratings drop.

But it did, with audiences rising 5 per cent for the early Hockey Night In Canada game and 4 per cent for the late game. CBC's decision to do more regional broadcasts may have been costly, but it paid off in the ratings.

It appears the other Canadian teams' fans picked up the slack after some of the considerable Leaf Nation lost interest. That is evident in the regional ratings, where Leaf broadcasts dropped 19 per cent on Rogers Sportsnet Ontario.

The regional ratings reflect the on-ice performance. Vancouver Canucks games were up 27 per cent on Sportsnet, Calgary Flames games rose 15 per cent and Edmonton Oilers audiences increased 9 per cent. Ottawa Senators ratings tumbled almost as much as the team did, dropping 33 per cent.

If you need proof of the interest in hockey here, take into account that TSN's one-hour broadcast of the NHL draft lottery Tuesday night. An average audience of 288,000 viewers tuned in to watch NHL suit Bill Daly pull ping-pong balls out of a bin.

Looking at a country where hockey isn't king, there's some good news.

Ratings are up in the U.S., or at least on Versus. The former guns-and-bikes channel is reporting a 21 per cent increase in audiences, though at an average of 329,000 viewers a game hockey is still pretty small potatoes south of the border. Still, an increase is not to be ignored in this day of audience fragmentation.

NBC's ratings are not available yet, but last Sunday's game would indicate things aren't improving. The Detroit-Chicago game drew a 0.6 rating, well below the Monster Truck Jam (0.9) and poker (1.0).

For numbers freaks, here we go:

National broadcasts

CBC, early games           Average: 1,232,000   Up 5%

CBC late game               Average: 738,000      Up 4%

HNIC pre-game show      Average: 450,000      Up 17%

TSN                              Average: 479,000      Up 17%

Sportsnet regional broadcasts

Canucks                     Average: 321,000       Up 27%

Maple Leafs                Average: 319,000      Down 19%

Oilers                         Average: 156,000       Up 9%

Flames                       Average: 139,000       Up 15%

Senators                     Average: 72,000        Down 33%

This just in: Golf beats hockey in Great White North

The 2009 Masters managed something that few sports events in this country can do: beat out Hockey Night In Canada.

According to BBM Nielsen Media Research overnight ratings, Sunday's final round, won by Angel Cabrera in a playoff, attracted an average audience of 1,039,000 viewers to Global. That's 12,000 more than CBC drew for its split prime-time broadcasts of the Toronto-Ottawa and Pittsburgh-Montreal games, even though the hockey game had no tinkling pianos.

Golf also beat out the world men's curling final, accomplishing a rare Canadian ice sport double sweep.

Global's Sunday audience represents a 6 per cent increase over last year. CBS scored an 8.3 rating, which was down 3 per cent from 2008.

Here are the top-rated sports programs of the weekend:

1.  Masters final round, Sunday, Global: 1,039,000

2. Hockey Night In Canada early game, Saturday, CBC: 1,027,000

3. World men's curling final, Sunday, TSN: 807,000

4. World men's curling playoff, Friday, TSN: 711,000

5. Masters third round, Saturday, Global: 645,000

6. Calgary at Edmonton, Saturday, CBC: 613,000

7. Masters second round, Friday, TSN: 549,000

8. Women's world hockey final, Sunday, TSN: 313,000

9. . Blue Jays at Indians, Sunday, Sportsnet: 291,000

10. Blue Jays at Indians, Saturday, Sportsnet: 279,000

If you missed the Masters, here's how it ended. You can barely make out the British commentary, but amazingly obviously you don't miss a thing other than the superlatives.

MEA CULPA

A misunderstanding and an appalling lack of hockey historical knowledge led me to report that TSN was the first network other than CBC to carry a Stanley Cup playoff game. In fact, CTV and Global carried games in the `80s. Of course, RDS has been broadcasting Stanley Cup games in French for several years.

NCAA scores for The Score online

Taking a look at the television ratings for the NCAA March Madness basketball orgy, one might assume it wasn't an overwhelming hit for The Score. Overall, the games averaged 60,000 viewers, which would put it behind poker and bowling and maybe even darts.

Even simulcasting on Sun TV in Ontario didn't produce overwhelming numbers: 118,000 viewers for the Sweet Sixteen and on. Again, ratings were in the poker category.

But these days, TV ratings don't tell the whole story. While the TV numbers, though 22 per cent better than last year, are under-whelming, the online numbers are staggering.

The Score got 1.4 million page views on its website for NCAA video and features. More incredible, Score's mobile iPhone application got 1.2 million page views.

There's an interesting story behind the latter, too. According to Score executive v-p David Errington, about half of the 400,000 to 500,000 people who downloaded the mobile app were Americans. So why were they doing a little cross-border shopping when CBS was offering a similar product?

There's a bit of luck behind that. Apparently when you go to the app online store and search for ``scores" guess what name comes up first. You got it, The Score.

``We just beat everybody else to the punch," Errington says. ``It's a great app that gives you all the scores, odds, video, blogs, stats. Everything you possibly need to know is in that app."

The app was a good profit-maker and is inspiring The Score to do more. The app offered video highlights of NCAA games and The Score is in the process of finalizing plans to add video of other sports.

As for being able to watch a live game on your phone, that's probably not far off.

``When we go back to renew our deal, that will be on the table," Errington says.

Sportsnet, Setanta split UEFA soccer

The UEFA Champions League package formerly held by TSN will be shared by Rogers Sportsnet and Setanta Sports starting next season. The two Rogers properties announced yesterday that they had completed a deal that runs through the 2012 competition.

TSN had aired the Euro package for years, thanks to its relationship with ESPN. But Fox recently outbid ESPN for UEFA rights, which means TSN no longer got the games as part of its ESPN package. Soccer fans should get better coverage from Sportsnet, mainly because it’s more likely to put tape-delayed games in prime time. (Hey, it’s a lot easier to pre-empt poker than basketball.) It most likely will offer more games, too. Sportsnet will air more than half the 146 games, which is good news for those not willing to pay the $14.99 a month for Setanta.

AROUND THE DIAL

Sportsnet has hired Joe Ferraro to host a new weekly mixed martial arts show called MMA Connected. It will make its debut April 20. Ferraro will be Sportsnet's MMA analyst, a full-time positon.  ... Here's good news for baseball fans: Fox and MLB are looking at starting World Series games earlier. That means those under the age of 12 and over the age of 55 might actually get to see the ninth inning. ...  More good news: Thursday's Jays-Tigers game won't be carried by Sportsnet or TSN, but will be on the digital Rogers Extra Innings Preview channel (399) at 12:30. The April 30 game is also scheduled for the Rogers channel. ... For the second straight year, the National Hockey League will air its draft lottery April 14 live on TSN and Versus. Be still our hearts. ... Television's loss: TSN hockey prognosticator Maggie the Monkey (actually, Maggie the Crab-Eating Macaque) will retire after this year's Stanley Cup. The simian that out-performed many forecasters in her six-year career by spinning a wheel, won't be replaced. And how could she be?

Master plan for Masters coverage

It's pretty hard to criticize coverage of the Masters, assuming you can ignore the dreaded tinkling piano, the overwrought commentary, the reverent tones of the announcers, the verbal genuflecting to all things golf ...

Okay, there's a lot to criticize. But even complaining about that stuff seems petty when you're handed an event that's almost commercial-free and somehow manages year after year to produce some memorable last-hole dramatics.

If there is a constant complaint from golf nuts,  it's the fact that the most-anticipated golf event on the calendar doesn't get full coverage. While it would be nice to see more, the price would probably be more commercials, so I'm not going to get worked up about that one.

Besides, there's a lot more coverage than ever now. TSN has plenty of live online coverage this year with Amen Corner (holes 11, 12 and 13) and the 15th and 16th holes for all four rounds. This is the stuff that happens before TV gets into the act. TSN also has the par-three contest Wednesday at 3 p.m.

TSN is promising glitch-free broadband this year. When it was first tried here in 2007, the company doing the streaming was overwhelmed by the response, meaning frequent crashes and major challenges in logging on.

Despite those problems, 450,000 watched some of the online coverage over the tournament's four days.

TSN has the weekday TV coverage to itself while Global will simulcast the weekend stuff with CBS.

If you can't get enough coverage, Scoregolf.com this week launched the country's first Internet-based golf report, SG Daily. Running Wednesday through Sunday, t will provide daily updates and interviews.

Jays off to hot start on TV

Those Toronto Blue Jays can still get hearts pumping across Canada, even if they are favoured to finish last in the AL East this season. Because of hockey commitments, Sportsnet showed Monday's season opener against Detroit in Ontario and Pacific regions only. Despite that, the game was watched by an average audience of 440,000 viewers -- 18,000 more than the audience for last season's opener on TSN national. It drew 259,000 in Ontario, more than last Friday's Leafs-Flyers game.

Sportsnet did a solid job on its baseball preview show, but the feature on the two pitchers from India stood out for sheer entertainment value. Produce Paul Sidhu got the two young pitchers, who won tryouts in an Indian reality show, to say some pretty provocative things.

Pay particular attention to their impressions of America and Americans.

CBC may be hanging hopes on Canucks

The absence of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Stanley Cup playoffs always makes people wonder how the CBC is going to survive, given that many among the legions of Leaf fans abandon hockey once their team has been eliminated.

The answer is the Vancouver Canucks, who bring with them a pretty loyal audience as witnessed by last weekend's TV ratings. According to BBM Nielsen Media Research overnight figures, Saturday's Canucks-Oilers game on CBC drew an average audience of 1,039,000. That was the largest late-game audience for CBC this season and was only 170,000 short of the prime-time regional broadcasts.

The next day, the Canucks game against lowly Colorado drew 490,000 to TSN.

The Toronto Blue Jays have to take some comfort in the fact that a meaningless spring training game on Saturday drew 166,000 viewer to TSN. That was better than the Toronto FC home opener later that day (140,000 on CBC) and the Raptors (105,000 on CBC Saturday and 115,000 on TSN Sunday.

Here are the top-rated sports events of the weekend:

1. Hockey Night In Canada early games, Saturday, CBC: 1,209,000

2. Canucks at Oilers, Saturday, CBC: 1,039,000

3. Avalanche at Canucks, Sunday, TSN: 490,000

4. Men's world curling, Canada vs. France, Sunday, TSN: 364,000

5. NASCAR Texas 500, Sunday, TSN: 355,000*

6. Men's world curling, Canada vs. Japan, Saturday, TSN: 343,000

7. Leafs at Flyers, Friday, Sportsnet: 339,000**

8. Hockey Night In Canada pre-game show, Saturday, CBC: 282,000

9. Jays vs. Marlins exhibition, Saturday, TSN: 166,000

10. Michigan State vs. Connecticut basketball, Saturday, Sun/Score: 154,000

* Viewers for U.S. channel not included

** Ontario region only

TELLING THE TOOTH

If you think North American announcers can cross the line from time to time, get a load of what a BBC yakker did to this unfortunate Grand National winner:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1167902/BBC-presenter-Clare-Balding-humiliates-Grand-National-winning-jockey-jibe-crooked-teeth.html

Why March Madness continues to sell here

Based on the raw numbers, it would be a tad hyperbolic to call March Madness a television success in Canada.

The Score's second weekend of NCAA basketball averaged 93,000 viewers, a figure that includes all those who watch The Score in Canada plus those who watched games on Sun TV and CBS in Ontario. That's less than the average Raptors game, though more than a Saturday morning English soccer match.

But the raw numbers don't tell the whole story, which is why The Score is more than happy with the ratings and why advertisers like the NCAA's most-hyped event. It's not the quantity of the audience as much as the quality.

Of the 93,000 who watched last weekend, 28 per cent were in the much-valued 18-34 age group. That's a good number.

While Score ratings are up 15 per cent, ratings in that hard-to-reach age group have almost tripled.

DOES BUFFALO WANT THE ARGOS?

And for your entertainment, another take on the Bills In Toronto situation: http://www.realfootball365.com/articles/bills/13796

Primeau plans to donate brain to science

Former NHLer Keith Primeau shares his concerns about his concussion history on Rogers Sportsnet tonight (6:30 p.m.), telling reporter Arash Madani that he wants his brain donated to science after his death.

According to Hockeycentral senior producer Bob Torrens, Primeau expresses his concerns about his future and the future of his family.

``He talks about whether he'll be around for his four kids' milestones, their graduations, their weddings," says Torrens. ``What he worries about is how quickly things could deteriorate."

Primeau talks about the culture of pro sports and how players don't think about the future, often putting their bodies -- and brains -- in peril.

Hockeycentral will follow up on the concussion issue with a look at the world of pro wrestling tomorrow night at 6:30.