Potvin29 said:
cw said:
Potvin29 said:
Also Bowen is just as much of a Leafs lackey as Hendrick.
I sense some distinction between the two.
A lot of the time, Bowen strikes me like he's a sincere fan of the team. He's a homer but like a fan, he's not adverse to making some criticisms. As a fan of the team, I can relate to that.
A lot of the time, Hendricks strikes me as a fan of MLSE management, asking leading softball questions to put the club in the best PR light. He may also be a Leafs fan but the club PR comes first and he stays clear of criticism. He tends to be a pedestal for the soapbox of putting the best spin on the club or it's players - even when controversy is going on. His questions can be rhetorical and he just gets someone else to spew the best PR answer.
I think Bowen is considerably more down to earth.
I think Hendrick's main gig is Leafs TV so he's an employee of the Leafs.
I think so as well. Or that's what he was before the merger.
It was quite a clever thing for MLSE. Before the 2005 lockout, the team was fairly decent but the media coverage was pretty nasty relative to their standings.
I think Hendricks addition diluted some of the media nastiness as did LeafsTV and the internet. Nearly every media scrum or press conference, he gets to ask his softball question or two that often stops it from snowballing into a consensus bash fest.
I can't say that I blame MLSE. I'd probably do it as well if I were them. But sometimes, when it happens in those scrums, it's a little sickening because it's so obvious what they're up to. He's masquerading like he's a member of the media when he really isn't. He's a MLSE employee with his thumb on the media scales.
