Monday Morning Halfback: Saturday Night Hockey’s lineup, and Guerrero finally hits one out of Rogers Centre

OPINION Monday Morning Halfback: Saturday Night Hockey’s lineup, and Guerrero finally hits one out of Rogers Centre CATHAL KELLY AND SIMON HOUPT PUBLISHED 28 MINUTES AGO Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a moment with fans in Toronto on Sunday after he hit a home run at Rogers Centre for the first time this season. NATHAN DENETTE/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Simon Houpt reports on the business of sports for the Globe; Cathal Kelly is the Globe’s national sports columnist. S.H.: Hey, Cathal – Jamie’s off today so he asked if I could be the one to play second banana to you this week. But you’ve been on holiday, too. I’ve always wondered – what does a vacation look like for someone like you? Do you log out of TSN and Sportsnet and, like, fire up a 12-part podcast series on Venetian Baroque operas? C.K.: Co-banana. We’re all co-bananas here. Baroque opera? No, I’m more of a commedia dell’arte guy. Given the choice between a book and a game, I’ll take the book. That said, this stuff seeps in at the edges, even when you’re trying to avoid it. I couldn’t help but get sucked in by the bit of a bait and switch at what used to be called Hockey Night in Canada. For a minute there, it felt like the whole hockey broadcast ecosystem was about to be exploded. You wrote a lovely piece about it. But then Sportsnet came out with its new line-up – which is the old line-up, plus Colby Armstrong. What do you, a long-time media watcher, make of the whole business? And do you think Sportsnet has improved what most people agreed was a bit of a dreary product? S.H.: Why do I feel like you’re baiting me into pointing out that, sure, the new lineup is the same lineup plus Armstrong … but, um, minus the only woman hockey analyst who regularly appeared on Sportsnet broadcasts? I thought Jennifer Botterill was great. I realize (because I unfortunately read the comment boards sometimes) that not everyone was a fan, but if that’s the metric that network executives are using then Ron MacLean (who, again, I like) should have been gone years ago. At the very least, dumping Botterill overboard is a bad, bad look, and it’s definitely not going to help grow the game – which is supposedly what the NHL and Sportsnet are trying to do. Open this photo in gallery: Gavin McKenna, centre, will live with…