The broadcast schedule for this year's Impact games has come out, and it's exactly the same as last year:
Both press releases talk about how the Impact has become more mainstream in Montreal and has attracted a lot of fans, especially thanks to its CONCACAF Champions League run this year.
But the news is still disappointing to me. None of the broadcasters has increased its commitment, and none of them will be broadcasting regular-season away games (besides the one on RadCan). Choosing only to broadcast home games during the regular season no doubt saves a lot of money, but it sounds pretty half-assed.
So for another season, Impact fans who want to catch away games will be forced to fork over money watch it online for free at USLLive.com
They were up 4-1 after 135 minutes. Club Santos Laguna needed four goals in 45 minutes. Hard, but not impossible. The CBC analyst said it was probably not going to happen.
It was 4-2 with 20 minutes to go. Three goals in 20 minutes is extremely unlikely, but miracles do happen.
It was 4-3 with only a few minutes of added time left before the whistle. This game was over with a goal to spare (under the tie-breaking rules, they would have lost had it ended 4-4). The guy on Radio-Canada talked about people getting tickets for the next game at the Olympic Stadium, about how great it is that a Montreal-based soccer team would enter the CONCACAF Champions League final four.
And then, the meltdown. Choke. Of. The. Century. Humiliation.
I'm still proud of my team. They beat out Vancouver and Toronto FC to become the Canadian champion, and then slowly rose through to reach the quarterfinals, beating everyone's expectations. I don't regret buying my blue T-shirt at last week's game, and I'll cheer for the team during the upcoming USL season.
But what an awful way to end that run.
At least I know my disappointment is small compared to the heartbreak of the players who let it happen.
Please folks, let's not let this happen again.
The Montreal Impact (you know, one of our other sports teams) has signed deals with Radio-Canada and The Team 990 to air games this season.
The Team 990 will air all 15 Impact home games throughout the season and all playoff games, with CTV regular Brian Wilde doing the play-by-play. He'll be joined by former Impact player Grant Needham and The Team's Noel Butler, who will also host a weekly, one-hour soccer show beginning in May. The same is the case for the 2009 season. The station is the team's only English broadcaster.
Radio-Canada will air 10 games (9 home games and one away game) on TV, online and on Sirius satellite radio. Play-by-play will be done by Claude Quenneville, with Guillaume Dumas on analysis and Marie-José Turcotte, Marc Durand and Andrea Di Pietrantonio hosting. Radio-Canada is the team's only television broadcaster, and "could" also air the playoffs.
The Impact's home opener, which will be covered by both stations, is May 19, playing host to the Vancouver Whitecaps. The first game of the season is Saturday at Vancouver.
Home games are also on CKAC and all games available at USLlive.com (if you're willing to pay for it)
Luis Aguilar, a Californian who was traded to the Montreal Impact this summer, is moonlighting as a content provider and marketer for badly-designed Web 2.0 startup Spongefish.com. The website seems to be Facebook meets WikiHow, but without the things that make those two sites so great.
Aguilar's "lessons" are text entries sprinkled with photos and amateur video. Particularly interesting are his video on experiences in Montreal cooking a pizza (I've never understood "put the pizza directly on the oven rack" frozen pizza box instructions either) and his discussion of what it takes to get into professional soccer.
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