Brett Hull Says Whatever Comes Into His Brain

Brett Hull is in his first year of providing analysis for NBC and their hockey coverage (I know what you're saying to yourself, "Hockey is on NBC?"). He is widely known for not holding his tongue when it comes to, well, anything. So when NBC hired him to provide hockey analysis, they knew what they'd be getting. That said, this also might be Hull's last year working for NBC if he keeps saying things like this...

From USA Today:

The sharpshooting Hull criticized his network's coverage Tuesday, saying he's not getting enough airtime with NHL on NBC studio colleagues Bill Clement and Ray Ferraro.

"You need to have some sort of pregame or postgame show so we can sit down and talk about the trade deadline — or the Buffalo-Ottawa (brawl)," Hull says. "I have a lot to say. But in 20 seconds, you have to be some sort of English lit professor to do it with any style or bravado."



Hull is also fed up with the NHL's new cable partner, Versus, and ex-partner ESPN. "People don't even know that we're on. That's a huge problem," he says about Versus. ESPN basically dropped coverage of hockey once it dropped the sport, he says. Hockey analyst Barry Melrose gets virtually no screen time, even though the NHL's trading deadline was Tuesday.

Says Hull: "We're at the mercy of Versus, NBC, ESPN, CBS. Unless two of them want to show hockey, the NHL is screwed."

But wait, there's more! From the Free-Press:

Brett Hull, during a recent interview with WFAN in New York: "I don't even think people know Versus is a station. Just what is a Versus? It's a ridiculously bad channel." (Wonder how NBC partner Bill Clement, who's also on Versus, likes that one?)

Of course, Hull is, in my opinion, pretty accurate in everything he is saying. The problem is that maybe he should be telling his bosses these things rather than having diarrhea of the mouth over the public airwaves. Also, while the things he points out may be true, they are probably not going to happen. Hockey is just not drawing enough to justify his suggestions. It's the age old question, "The chicken or the egg?" If you do what Hull wants, will hockey draw more interest? Or is hockey in the position it's in because it just flat-out can't draw more interest?

I'll say this though, between the awesome fights and Brett's rants, hockey is getting more play on this site than we had ever anticipated. Heck, we didn't even know hockey was on NBC until today. If this keeps up maybe one of these days we'll check our program guide to see if we even get Versus on our dish. We love "ridiculously bad channels."

(The Tip: Sports Media Watch)