As the NHL’s Winter Classic approaches, HBO’s sports series 24/7 focuses in on the this year’s participants: the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia flyers. With all of the attention the HBO series has garnered this year many within the NHL community have began to speculate as to which teams might be the focus of HBO’s cameras next year. A Bruins insider recently asked some of the key players in Boston’s locker room how they would feel about being a part of HBO’s 24/7:
Tim Thomas has watched the HBO show, and said he wouldn’t be quite as open with his interviews as Philadelphia goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has been while waxing philosophic about the Universe, hunting tigers and his Siberian Husky dog’s uncanny resemblance to a beautiful blonde woman.
“I’d rather hide what a nut I am rather than advertise it to the whole world like [Bryzgalov]. I would absolutely hate that. Having cameras around all the time . . . I don’t care what you say that’s going to change the way you act,” said a resolute Thomas. “You’re either going to play for the camera or end up being quieter than you normally are because of the camera. I’d have a hard time being real with the camera around all of the time.”
Similarly Andrew Ference would gladly play in another Winter Classic in front of his family and friends, but wants nothing to do with the intrusive cameras. The B’s defenseman — and one of the outspoken voices in the dressing room – understands the platform it could provide him for his environmental efforts, but thinks it would significantly alter the behavior inside the B’s room.
The longstanding nucleus has achieved something of a perfect vibe inside the B’s room while building themselves into a championship squad, and that change once they pressed the record button.
“I watch it and I think it’s a cool show. They do a good job. They wouldn’t be able to air a lot of the stuff [in the B’s dressing room]. They just wouldn’t,” said Ference. “You’ve been around guys for five or six years, and you have inside jokes and things you’ve said to the other guys in confidence.
“All of the sudden you have a microphone and a camera there, and it’s not so confidential anymore. It’s like having a reality show covering your life all the time. Would you talk to your wife the same way that you do now? You turn into an actor. Nobody is real there. You can’t be truly who you would be without the cameras.”
I’m sure every NHL fan is wondering whether or not his or her home team will be the feature of HBO’s 24/7 in the 2012/13 season. Check your local listings and be sure to ctch the Winter Classic on HBO’s 24/7.
