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Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Sportsnet ripped for bizarre Stanley Cup promo using AI to turn announcers in babies
'The NHL is the hardest league to play in ... and they promote it with this garbage.' Get the latest from Rob Longley straight to your inbox Sportsnet used AI to create 'baby' versions of their analysts before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Pictured is Elliotte Friedman. Sportsnet/Twitter Perhaps the Sportsnet braintrust ran out of material to pump up a much-anticipated Stanley Cup final. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Or perhaps they were sticking with the idea that lame attempts at humour were both in keeping with some of the jocularity the crew is known for and somehow endearing to a national audience awaiting the best-of-seven repeat showdown between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers. But whatever Sportsnet was thinking in using a bizarre artificial intelligence social media post seemed like a spectacularly bad idea. Unless, of course, the idea was to go the parody route to mock their own on-air talent, which seems to be the end result. If you missed it, on Wednesday afternoon, some seven hours before the emotional and much-hyped puck drop in Edmonton for the series opener, Sportsnet dropped a social media bomb on X. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. And by 'bomb' we mean an intended promo piece that did the opposite and bombed. 'Oh Baby, the Stanley Cup Final sequel is here,' the post proclaimed, followed by a baby emoji and a trophy emoji. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. What followed, was a 66-second clip with the voices of Ron MacLean, Elliotte Friedman, Kevin Bieksa and Kelly Hrudey over AI-created characters that were — you guessed it — babies. While it may have caused the odd chuckle, an attempt at irreverence was instead immature at best. In particular, there were a couple examples of the commentators tripping over there words and another where Friedman was, shall we say, all chocked up. Mercifully, the bit didn't run in its entire on the broadcast, though a brief clip of it aired during one of the intermissions with what seems to be a sheepish reaction from some of the participants. AI-generated babies mocking your own talent? What could go wrong? Not surprisingly, the segment drew widespread criticism from fans and social media users, including former ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann who rather succinctly made his point. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Just stop with this crap,' Olbermann posted on X. Just stop with this crap — Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) June 4, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Other users were just as harsh in their criticism of the clip and of Sportsnet. 'This stuff is just so stupid. I'm so sick and tired of everybody thinking let's take all the trends and use them,' another user on X replied. 'Create your own trend instead. And stop using AI for this kind of stuff. Post real content.' 'Stop the AI bulls*** please. Your normal hosts are bad enough,' a third user wrote. 'This is pathetic. Nobody asked for this. They can do 100 different broadcasts and this is what it boils down to?' one user on Reddit wrote. 'The NHL is the hardest league to play in … and they promote it with this garbage.' Read More Columnists NHL Columnists Columnists Toronto & GTA
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Here's what could add some life into Sportsnet's dull Hockey Night In Canada show
Kevin Bieksa is at his best when he has a point to make, a host to set him up and the oxygen to expand on his point. Get the latest from Rob Longley straight to your inbox From left, Ron MacLean, Jennifer Botterill, Kelly Hrudey and Kevin Bieksa on the Sportsnet broadcast for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 4, 2025. What would save Hockey Night in Canada from the often predictable, sometimes dull product it has on too many nights? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account For one thing, an incredibly entertaining game, as was the case in the Edmonton Oilers overtime win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday that eventually brought out the best in most among the bulky 10 on-air voices the Sportsnet broadcast foisted upon viewers. But if the network really wants the show to restore some of its former shine, how about more Kevin Bieksa and less background noise? You can fill studio desks with as many bodies as you want — as the current crowded iteration can be — but if intermission airtime is going to be appointment viewing rather than a snack and beverage break for the audience, it needs to be personality driven. Think Charles Barkley and his award-winning performances on NBA's TNT broadcasts. Though not exactly the same role, think Peyton Manning on ESPN's ManningCast. And in the hockey realm, perhaps, think Don Cherry at his peak popularity. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With his wit and sharp analysis, Bieksa has the personality to carry the intermissions. But the former Vancouver Canucks defenceman needs the forum and the producing to do so and he needs host Ron MacLean to focus and bring the best out of him. Nothing against any of the competing voices, but with five analysts and two hosts all jostling for precious seconds of air time in the first intermission, much of the resulting commentary seemed quick and forced. Bieksa's at his best when he has a point to make, a host to set him up, and the oxygen to expand on his point. Instead, the stilted formula has MacLean introduce a topic and have each of Bieksa, Kelly Hrudey and Jennifer Botterill weigh in with a point. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Despite the limitations in Game 1, Bieksa was able to stand out as the broadcast sprawled into Thursday and nearly to a second overtime session. In the intermission prior to OT, he correctly touted Leon Draisatl to net the game winner, based on the way that he was playing and a lighter workload in ice time. In the post-game show, his analysis of how a sequence of four quick passes between Corey Perry, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid freed up room in front of the Panthers net where he buried the winner behind goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Even with his limitations, as it stands now, Bieksa is the closest thing Sportsnet's hockey coverage has to a star. He took to the craft quickly and has steadily improved. Like he was on the ice, the former defenceman isn't afraid to poke the bear on the panel, even if it occasionally gets lost in puns and inside jokes that are too often the verbal currency of MacLean. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For our money, Bieksa and TSN's Jeff O'Neill stand above the rest in their craft and not by a small margin. Both are insightful. Both are able to inject personality into their analysis. They may not be Barkley level of entertainer, but at least they bring an element of it to their craft. However, if Bieksa is going to flourish into the go-to voice any broadcast needs to captivate viewers, he'll need to be allowed to do so. Kevin Bieksa on the Sportsnet broadcast for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 4, 2025. GAME ON Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman may be known most for the 'insider' content he brings, but he brought the sharpest analysis to the first period goaltender interference challenge the Oilers made on a Sam Bennett collision with their goalie, Stewart Skinner. 'It was a huge call in the first period of Stanley Cup Final Game 1 … you know the league doesn't want to take goals off the board,' Friedman said of the denied challenge, a pivotal early play. 'Both goalies are going to tell their players if you feel contact, go back towards the crease because that's OK.' … While clearly a fan of the physical game, Bieksa cautioned that the series won't necessarily be settled by whoever punishes the most. 'It's not just about who plays harder, but who plays smarter,' Bieksa said, noting the Oilers ability to score off the rush and free up space at they did on the game winner … One of our bigger beefs with the Hockey Night show is its annoying tendency to get too cute. That opening, with each member of the panel reading a movie's name off a cue card, was a long-winded and confusing way to get to the point that the Final was a sequel of last year's matchup. 'I wasn't clever enough to piece all that together,' co-host David Amber told MacLean after the dragging bit mercifully concluded. Amber wouldn't have been alone on that island … Having the studio crew on site for championship round games is standard operating procedure in all the sports, but it can be awkward/annoying when panels have to yell to be heard. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The indignation of Oilers supporters when their familiar crew Jack Michaels and analyst Louie Debrusk were lifted for Sportsnet's top dogs of Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson for the Western Conference final was both familiar and comical. Did anyone really think that Sportsnet wasn't going to put its top crew on the biggest series once the Leafs were eliminated? Did anyone really think that the network was trying to foist more Toronto on Western Canada? No and no are the correct answers. Such as fandom and attachment to home-team broadcast crews, Michaels and Debrusk were never going to work beyond the second round once the Leafs were ousted. Whether those complaints, as outlined by Postmedia's David Staples, were a factor or not, Oilers fans did get one of their men for the final, with Edmonton's own Gene Principe justly getting the rink reporter assignment for the Final. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As for the noise around Michaels-DeBrusk giving way to Cuthbert-Simpson, it was mindful of the old Battle of Ontario playoff days when Sens fans would lose their minds that Bob Cole was calling the action and the perceived slight it was to their team. In Game 1 of the Final, Cuthbert was what he always is — the pre-eminent play-by-play voice in this country ('He started it. He finished it. Leon Draisatl wins Game 1 for Edmonton'). And I thought that Simpson, the former Oiler, was as sharp as he's been all season with terrific instant analysis after each of the game's goals. rlongley@ Columnists Sunshine Girls NHL Sunshine Girls Celebrity
National Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- National Post
What is Bowden Francis' future with the Toronto Blue Jays?
Article content WATCH BELOW: On the latest episode of Long Ball, Postmedia's Rob Wong chats with Toronto Sun Blue Jays writer Rob Longley about Bowden Francis' struggles this season, what other options the Blue Jays have for the starting rotation and Addison Barger's recent hot streak at the plate.
Edmonton Journal
2 days ago
- Sport
- Edmonton Journal
What is Bowden Francis' future with the Toronto Blue Jays?
WATCH BELOW: On the latest episode of Long Ball, Postmedia's Rob Wong chats with Toronto Sun Blue Jays writer Rob Longley about Bowden Francis' struggles this season, what other options the Blue Jays have for the starting rotation and Addison Barger's recent hot streak at the plate.
Toronto Sun
4 days ago
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
What happens over next 12 games will reveal more about wildly inconsistent Blue Jays
With better opposition on the way, Toronto will be put to the test over this coming stretch. Get the latest from Rob Longley straight to your inbox Addison Barger (left) of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates his home run with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 and Jonatan Clase #8 against the Athletics. Getty Images Baseball will drive you crazy and, of greater relevance here, what the Toronto Blue Jays have done through the first two-plus months of the 2025 season will expedite the process. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account How crazy? Let's go from one Monday to the next for the ultimate snapshot of insanity around a team so wildly inconsistent that there never truly is a dull moment. A week ago, it was doom and gloom after getting swept over three games in Tampa, a performance that was about to get almost worse as part of a six-game trip in which the Jays would score a meagre total of six combined runs. This week, on a much-welcomed off day, the Jays now are riding a five-game winning streak — the longest meaningful one since late in the 2023 season. (They had a five-gamer last August, but by then had sold off at the trade deadline and were well on their way to the AL East basement). Not only that, and most impressively, in a four-game brooming of the woeful Athletics over the weekend, the Jays scored a whopping 49 runs, wowing and rejuvenating large Rogers Centre crowds. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Somewhere in the middle of those two dramatic, small-sample size extremes lies the truth of what this team is, of course. But for the first time all season, the positivity around a Jays team looking to reveal a new identity feels real. What matters is what happens next, of course, and that begins with a real test against the visiting Phillies, who are in town for a three-game series at the Rogers Centre starting on Tuesday. Who knows what is sustainable with this team, one which repeatedly fluctuates from three games below .500 to three games above, but the last week accomplished a number of things. Besides that winning streak — and a victory on Tuesday would extend it to six, which hasn't happened for the Jays since late April of 2023 — the Jays have set themselves up to erase the price paid for their inconsistencies earlier in the season. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Heading into play Monday, the Jays were just a half game out of a wild-card spot. A week ago, they were fourth in the AL East and now sit second, suddenly (surprisingly?) just 5.5 games behind the Yankees for the division lead. Baseball Reference projections calculate that the Jays odds to make the post-season have jumped 24.7% in the past week, up to 41%. That's what an explosion of offence will do for a team that suddenly has a run differential that is down to minus-5, the lowest it has been since early in the season. Again, thank the awful A's for the bump, but the Jays seized upon the opportunity of pounding on a weakling for a run that, if this season ends in success, will be seen as the launching point. Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. So, is it at all sustainable? The Jays still have flaws, so we'll let them play the 103 remaining games on the schedule before we make any proclamations. But, in no particular order, there are some positives to build on: Bam Bam Barger. The Jays always have known Addison Barger has a strong arm and can wield a big bat, but what we saw against the A's sure felt special. Not only did he hit three home runs, each were hit with such violence that they were jaw-dropping in nature. It certainly entertained the possibility of Barger becoming the elusive bonus power bat the team has needed and the type of game-changing power that can alter the direction of a season. Off-season additions. It probably isn't talked about enough, but the Jays are in a position of contention despite having five of their key new guys currently on the injured list. Second baseman Andres Gimenez likely will be activated this week, but has been out for 23 games; starter Max Scherzer has missed 55;, relievers Yimi Garcia (10) and Nick Sandlin (37) have been missing from the bullpen and Anthony Santander officially has been out for three, but sidelined for a handful more. Of those absences, the possibility of healthy and fruitful returns of Scherzer and Santander could change everything for this team. One was signed to be an elite, veteran presence in the rotation, the other to mash home runs as an igniter to the offence. Those two possibilities alone are something to dream on. The standings. As often-mentioned, the Jays are beneficiaries from the muddled American League where few teams have separated themselves. It has allowed them to stay in touch, even when things were going poorly. A win on Tuesday would take them four games above .500, a place they haven't been since April 13. It truly is remarkable how the narrative around a team can shift so dramatically in a week and few sports allow it the way baseball does. It helps sustain — and at times infuriate — a fan base over the course of 162 games. Perhaps the Jays have turned a corner, perhaps they are truly a team destined to straddle .500 for the distance. And, perhaps, with their next 12 games against opponents that currently have better records than them, we're about to get a better idea of the team's true identity. Olympics Toronto Maple Leafs News Sunshine Girls Celebrity
