Audio: Listen to Roger Currie’s commentary on Ron Burgundy’s visit to Roar of the Rings
I have never been a curler except for tossing a few jam pails when dinosaurs roamed the earth. In Winnipeg right now, they’re choosing the men’s and women’s teams who will compete on behalf of Canada for gold at the Winter Olympics in Russia.
The event is The Roar of the Rings, and it has been a huge hit. Thousands of locals have paid a not cheap price to watch the action at the MTS Centre which is normally the home of the Winnipeg Jets. While I don’t play the game, I do enjoy watching the likes of Jennifer Jones and Kevin Martin do their stuff on TSN. Curling is a perfect sport for television if ever there was one, but TSN made a very strange call on opening day.
They brought in Ron Burgundy, aka the Anchorman of Hollywood movie fame. Will Ferrell is the actor who plays Burgundy and wouldn’t you know it, the second Anchorman movie will hit theatres in Canada and the U.S. in a matter of days.
It was a shameless bit of hype for the movie, disguised as comic relief, and it really wasn’t all that funny. What was most disturbing in some ways was the way the mainstream media fell right in with it. The Ron Burgundy story led all the local newscasts in Winnipeg, and Will Ferrell was treated like some kind of royalty.
Truth be told, he was in Winnipeg for less than a day, and the limo was probably idling outside the arena while he did his thing. The folks at TSN are still reeling over the new hockey deal with Rogers which will see them lose most of their revenue from the NHL.
They do curling very well, and they don’t need cheap stunts like the Anchorman to get the job done. Too bad it didn’t happen in November. It could at least have been a fundraiser for cancer.
I’m Roger Currie
