Fact: We are unabashed fans of both Mel Brooks's iconic comedy "Young Frankenstein" and Tim Burton's classic "Ed Wood," two movies that greatly benefitted from being filmed in atmospheric black and white.
Fact: One of the planks of the Puck Daddy platform is to encourage out-of-the-box thinking from those who broadcast hockey games on television; shattering the mold of typical coverage, even if it means taking fans out of their comfort zone. But not showing their 'V'.
Fact: According to Consumer Electronics Association, a total of 29.8 million out of the more than 34.5 million digital televisions expected to be sold in the United States this year are "forecast to be HD."
Fact: According to Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, the Colorado Avalanche are going to broadcast a portion of their game against the Montreal Canadiens this Friday night in black and white:
Your TV set will be working fine, when you see the second period of Friday's Avs-Canadiens game on the House Channel. To commemorate the Canadiens' 100th year (and to get a little free pub like this), Stan Kroenke will instruct his minions to have a black-and-white picture for the full second period.
It's only one period of one game, but the bitter Avs fans on Dater's blog aren't exactly enamored with the idea, wondering if ownership "will be replacing all newspaper and internet coverage of the Avalanche with the marvels of carrier pigeon and Pony Express communications platforms."
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Honestly, it's an intriguing stunt ... as long as the Avs don't half-ass it. We want to hear classic, staccato announcing that leaves out modern lingo in favor of terms like "cut of his jib" and "how's about a knuckle sandwich in this donnybrook?" (So, basically, Mike Lange.) We want live advertisements for cigarettes and hair tonic. We want players getting compared to black-and-white era forbearers. ("What a howitzer by Ryan Smyth, the kind you'd expect to see from Moose Vasko of the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks!")
(Because, you see, the game is in black and white and the Blackhawks ... never mind.)
So, with that ...
Pass or Fail: The Colorado Avalanche's black and white telecast on Friday night.
