As the game ended, though, the teenager embarked on a plan. Instead, they found reasonably-priced tickets for the bronze-medal game. She wanted to see the gold-medal game at the world junior championship earlier this year, but her parents were not going to spend the $1,000 needed to get inside the building. It was from a father in Halifax, writing to tell a story about his hockey-loving 14-year-old daughter. Friedman called the listener, who then reached out with a direct message on Twitter: “I just talked to someone who I think was you for 20 minutes, can I just check that is really you?”ĭelic described another note that did not really fit into any category. There have been times, Friedman said, when he has either returned the email directly or called the listener to chat in person on the phone. It has been in its current form for the better part of a decade.Ģ0 Questions with Jeff Marek: On burying Harold Ballard, mixing sports with politics, and a creepy dollĭelic sorts through the criticism that lands in “The Thought Line,” and passes some of it along. Those ideas congealed into a notebook-type column at the CBC, and also at National Post, which held a content-sharing agreement with the public broadcaster for a brief period around 2010. A producer suggested Friedman begin writing as a means to house tidbits that would otherwise live only in his notebook. Inevitably, through the developments within the game that night, not all of the nuggets would make it to air. Friedman was working as a sideline reporter with “Hockey Night in Canada,” and would present a list of nuggets and ideas to the production team before the show went to air. The concept that became “32 Thoughts” was hatched more than a decade ago. “Because you don’t know who you’re talking to, right?” “Those are the ones that really hit you,” said Marek. The mother wrote in to say her young son was hockey-obsessed, and that they listened to the podcast during many of the endless drives to practices and games and tournaments during the season. It was from a family going through a divorce. Marek chuckled: “I just like the title ‘The Cup of Hope.’”Īnother message was more personal. 1 pick in the draft, along with various financial incentives. One of his personal favourites was a listener who proposed the NHL adopt what they called “The Cup of Hope,” which would be a tournament for the teams that did not qualify for the playoffs. They can be silly, he said, but they can also be poignant or thought-provoking. The voices and messages that appear on “32 Thoughts” have already been vetted, he said, but that does not diminish their value. We’ve probably been over-poured by that damned bartender and we’re going to let someone know our opinions.’ “They’re driving home and, ‘We’re going to call the local radio station and we’ve got something to say, dammit. “The clubs had just let out,” said Marek. “The only thing that I kind of don’t like about it - that I did like about taking calls - is the element of surprise,” said Marek. (There are two shows a week during the regular season, but production is being bumped up to three through the rest of the NHL playoffs.) In a crowded landscape - with legacy brands (“OverDrive,” at TSN) and independents (“The Steve Dangle Podcast”) - it routinely ranks among top sports podcasts in Canada, according to data from Chartable.ĭelic said the episode featuring the listener feedback, which appears on Monday, usually has both the most engagement and the highest completion rate. As sports talk moves into the digital space, the segment is an evolution of an ancient terrestrial radio practice: The listener call-in.Ī Sportsnet spokesperson said “32 Thoughts” averages 331,000 downloads a week, which translates to about 1.3 million downloads a month. (Why not, as one email went, have players use a wooden stick for a game?)ĭelic, who works with hosts Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek, sifts through the email and voicemail sent to what they call “The Thought Line,” then filters the most interesting toward a recurring segment that has become a staple of the show. Listeners often ask about the salary cap and rules around the game, but they have also discussed their PhD theses and offered ideas on how to make the game more entertaining. There are notes from Europe and Australia and the Philippines. During the busy periods of the season - the NHL trade deadline, the all-star break and playoffs - he said the show can receive up to 400 emails and 60 voicemails a week. As overseer of “32 Thoughts,” the Sportsnet hockey podcast, producer Amil Delic is also curator of an eclectic mix of listener feedback.
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