NBC does better once it gets to Ottawa

After all the justified teasing NBC received over its shameful Ottawa-Buffalo coverage, the network made Ottawa look sharp Saturday night.

There were beautiful shots of the river, nice displays of rabid Senators fans, and even a map of where Ottawa actually is. We noted that NBC is rarely in Canada's capital, and so even I could justify a map. Very nicely done.

The anthems were gorgeous. I noticed during last year's Stanley Cup in Edmonton that Western Canada tends to sing the whole anthem in English while most of Eastern Canada (especially around Quebec) sings the bilingual version.

So I'm sure some NBC viewers may have wondered where the subtitles were in the middle of the anthem. Ottawa rests on the Ontario/Quebec border with Hull, QC, being part of the Ottawa metropolitan area. So it is a very bilingual area.

The bilingual anthem caught me by surprise when I was in Montreal, singing it during an Expos game. I kept singing it in English because I could not have even tried it in French, unless I had the words written out. Even then, my accent would have been tres mal.

I could never imagine a scenario in the U.S. where the anthem would be loud as it was when the singer pointed the microphone away from himself, and you could still hear the crowd really well. I noticed this last year in Edmonton, too.

And hopefully, there won't be any bad blood between the two countries as they was with the San Jose incident when the Sharks fans booed the Canadian anthem.

Plus, Monday night, NBC said we will get to see Don Cherry on its airwaves during one of the intermissions. Set your recording device for that one. And if you've never seen Cherry do his stuff, you are in for a treat.