The Crazy Canucks Podcast

For those that know me, my day job keeps me busy, hence the lack of action around the TCC world this season. That being said, the radio stations do allow me to have some very neat opportunities, this one taking me to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

The TEAM 1040 morning show went on location for a week, and when that happens, they like to send an engineer to go along and make the broadcast work from that end. With Rebecca coming along for the ride, I thought I’d share a little bit of what it’s like when you’re trying to keep track of the Canucks while running around in the land of Jack Sparrow and rum.

And when I say rum, I mean a lot of rum.

But when you’re in the tropics, what do you do when you want to see some hockey? An even tougher challenge? How do you find the Canucks on TV when you’re four hours ahead of west coast time?

Even though you’re staying at a first class resort, it can still be tough to find a good hockey game on TV in a country that is more known for the world class baseball players it produces. While in the room we were staying at, it always seemed like I could find at least two soccer games being broadcast. I don’t know where they were being played or when, but if you can watch futbol with spanish play by play, it’s always a treat.

Luckily there happened to be a Tony Roma’s very near to the resort, so many Canucks fans ventured over there the first night to catch the PPV that their satellite pulled in. I can’t be sure if they paid for it, but the staff payed for letting us in the front door to begin with, even if we couldn’t read the menus because apparently we all looked like we spoke and/or read Russian?

When there is plenty of beer to be had, diehard Canucks fans like this will not leave until the game is over, even if it does start at 11PM. We left somewhere in the 2nd period to get some shut eye before the first broadcast in the morning, but this was after the second time they dimmed the lights in a total “time to go home” maneuver. The rest of the group stuck around and just kept buying rounds instead.

Sadly, we had to leave the rest of the late night games to the other diehards while trying to get in some relaxation time in between my duties for the station.

Probably the best story to come out of the trip was when a couple of guys went back to Tony Roma’s for another game and the struggle of getting the staff to find it. When finding a channel with a grass field, horses, and men swinging long mallets at a small, white ball on a playing field, the staffer looked at them, pointed at the TV, and simply asked, “hockey?”

Give the guy credit for trying, but no mi amigo. Esta no bueno, and I’m not sure if they even did end up watching the game.

When it comes down to it, persistance is key. Speaking the language helps a little, but sometimes you can’t break that barrier of cultural gaps. And at that point, it’s probably better just to go enjoy the beach and catch the highlights later. Well, that is if ESPN Deportes shows NHL highlights…