Hockey Commentating - WTF?/Stanley Cup Playoffs 2007 Discussion

[NiX]

For the first time in a long time I'm having to watch a hockey game with two American teams. What the hell is wrong with your commentators? Seriously. They haven't called a play. A goal doesn't count, cause you can't really ignore those. Honestly, they just ramble on and on about inane crap. Why are they talking about Malkin, Crosby and Ovechkin? Old news. Talk about what's happening now. You know, that's not hard, the fucking playoffs are around the corner and I'm sure there's a lot going on that doesn't require them to talk about, well, nothing.

So, what is it? Do you people (sorry to generalize) just not like good commentating? Do you like to watch hockey and hear about baseball? :P

[Strazos]

I take it you are watching a national telecast? NBC?

Yeah, they're TERRIBLE. Be lucky you don't have to watch a Flyers vs Penguins game, because every third word out of their mouths seems to be Crosby.


At least where I am, the local guys do actual play-by-play. I'm just lucky enough that I can actually follow the play without the commentator. I feel sorry for the more casual fans.


EDIT: Also, Brett Hull as an analyst is painful to listen to.

[Merusk]

They call hockey games the same way they call Baseball, Football and every other televised sport.  The general consensus seems to be, "you see it on the screen, why should we tell you what's going on?  But since we can't have 'dead air' we'll bring up any kind of asinine stats, reports about personal lives, or tangential behaviors we can"

This is why if I watch sports on TV, it's done with the sound off.

[NiX]

Compared to Bob Cole and Harry Neale, this is disgusting. Sometimes having someone calling it makes it that much more intense. When the commentator raises their voice on a play they know is good, you get more excited. Like you're under the impression the commentator knows something is going to happen and you're waiting for it. But, when they talk about random crap, it's just awful.

And who the fuck says "paraphernalia" to describe goalie equipment? Do we wear spaghetti strainers on our heads or something? It's equipment, but when they shoot it AT the goalie. Just say he shot it AT the goalie. Not into his paraphernalia.

[Strazos]

Which game are you watching?

The Buffalo/Phil. game is terrible. They were talking some shit about what happened back between the teams in the 70s.

STFU and call the game. Maybe then more fans would actually KNOW about the game.

What I get from sports fans a lot, especially in Football, are ardent fans who don't know SHIT. They hardly even know the rules. You can learn this shit from good play-by-play.

Also, ++ on what Nix said. There seems to be a total disconnect between what is happening in the game, and what I hear these idiots talking about.


EDIT: And then these idiots go on, talking about how dumb Brian Propp was and how much they wanted to slash him, even when he scored his 1000th point...do they even realize that a huge chunk of their viewers at the moment are FLYERS fans? Or how about talking about when Hartford kept them out of the playoffs in the 92-93 season...What the fuck are they talking about? What does that have to do with anything?

[NiX]

Yeah, Phil/Buff game. I'm waiting on the Isles/Jersey game. I want to see the leafs out of the playoffs. They just don't deserve the spot after last nights game and the Isles have been playing their hearts out.

[Strazos]

This is pitiful. They just keep babbling over rushes, nice keep-ins and cross-ice passes. Maybe this would work for a slow sport like Baseball, or something with huge gaps in action like Football...but not Hockey.

[NiX]

They cut in and out so randomly and not to mention they're butchering any foreign name it's not funny. It's become a joke here that whenever a quebec player goes to an American team we expect to hear their name horribly butchered for a long time. There's just no reason for them not to put some explanation into what's going on. Like you said, Straz, a lot of people don't know what's going on with the sport. There are so many people who still don't know what icing is or what determines a hook/hold. To the naked eye all of those calls seem really odd, but even with very little explanation it at least makes some sense to the sport.

[Strazos]

It's so funny going to a game sometimes, and a penalty is called on the home team. Keep in mind that I usually get lower-level seats, so it's not so much that people are drunk.

The penalty is called, and lots of people get all up-in-arms over it. I know that getting a penalty sucks, damnit, etc...but don't keep bitching that it's not a penalty....when it was clearly a penalty.

[Johny Cee]

Nix is Canadian, right?

You've been spoiled by watching the Canadian networks coverage.  I don't particularly like televised hockey,  and I'd watch some games on CBC.  It's just worlds different in quality.  That's not to mention the Don Cherry/Ron McClain back and forth in between periods,  which is pretty amusing.

American hockey coverage is pure shit.  I enjoy watching hockey,  between having a good Div III team here and assorted events in Lake Placid, but the televized stuff is awful.

[NiX]

I know we're spoiled, but it's playoff time, they should at least pick it up. The quality of some of your coverage is just atrocious. Every camera in the Air Canada Center is HD and you can tell. Watching some games where I see dark patches on the ice, I'm just shocked some teams put up with it, but I guess we might just love hockey that much more.

[Strazos]

I've never seen this dark patch stuff, but I know that Comcast uses HD for the Flyers.

[Mandrel]

I've found it varies quite a bit, depending on the city you're in.  The local guys are exponentially better than the national ones though.  I grew up in Buffalo, so had the local coverage and as well as Hockey Night in Canada.  I've also spent 8 years in Denver, and a year in Raleigh.

The best commentators overall seem to come from the Radio coverage actually.  The radio announcer in Denver is great, as is my favorite, Rick Jeanerette who started on the radio in Buffalo, and is now on both TV and Radio.

Hockey really dropped the ball when they lost their contract with ESPN.  They had a competent team in Bill Clement, Gary Thorne, Barry Melrose and Darren Pang to cover the games.  They actually took some time to cover some of the basics of hockey for newer fans, while still adding color and flavor.  I hope they can negotiate better national coverage for next year.

[Strazos]

They still have 3 of those 4 guys (I forget if they have Melrose).

I've never liked them much. Thorne isn't too terrible, but Pang is just abysmal.

[Paelos]

Listen to the commentary in a good baseball game. There's lots of time in between plays, good color comments about the statistics, and generally you get a good idea of streaks and various facts that make baseball what it is. The announcers understand how to do it, they aren't rushed, and they don't feel they have to pack in every millisecond with constant chattering lunacy.

Announcers don't understand how to broadcast hockey in America, simply put. They try to use the baseball ideals of good announcing, but then juice them up to try and match the speed of the game. So, instead of getting solid play-by-play and in-depth analysis, you get cracked out quick color commentary that focuses completely on the only players they have in-depth stats for provided by the booth team.

The strike honestly killed hockey for a good long while for me. I was a huge fan and loved watching them every year. Now, I find that baseball has started and I could honestly care less because the NHL has shitty announcers on a shitty off-network channel. Even ESPN hardly covers them as more than a novelty.

[naum]

If you think the guys on NBC are bad, then the HD-NET team is a level of dreadfulness reserved for a level of infinite suckage… …the color commentator is awful but nowhere near as noteworthy as the shrieking play-by-play guy that is literally clueless, mispronounces names, and launches into excited screams over a puck careening off the boards…

[sigil]

Welcome to the world of "the league pays for the broadcasting"

When the league has to fork over money to get the product on a broadcast network, the network has no responsibility to do anything other than the most basic attempts to cover the game. All commentators for that are hired by the league, they run the production truck as well. the product you get is of a lower quality as a result.

I've lived with this for years with MLS on ESPN. Now, MLS gets rights fees from ESPN and everyone else who shows the games nationally. There's now advertising for the games and they're all in HD with all the bells and whistles. It's fucking sweet.

Well, except for Dave O'Brien, but he's better than he was.

[Hoax]

I think I should start this same thread about hockey referee'ing, you know how they favor the fuck out of anyone versus West Coast American teams...   

Also Ryan Smith is bullshit, looking forward to watching the Isles get absolutely smashT in the playoffs.

Honestly I dont even notice the commentary, because our commentary sucks balls for all sports.  I'm guessing you've never heard Kornheiser (sp?) on MNF.

[Bunk]

Kornholer, lol.

Its a sad day when someone is wishing for Team Alzheimer's (Cole/Neale) to do their play by play. I've always been fortunate on the west coast to generally have great hockey broadcasting - Jim Robson for years, and now Jim Hughson, who is one of the best in the business period. Even in rare cases where we get stuck with Cole (who can't remember player's names from play to play), I can always hit mute and put on the radio broadcast, which is also top notch here.

I've watched a little of NBC's coverage, and I will say its better than the national coverage was a few years back, but not by much. Basically, you better hope you have regional play by play - guys who actually know the home team well - or you're fucked.

I shall now take a brief moment of silence for all the Leaf fans out there... *snicker*

Tommorrow marks the last day of trimming my goatee. Life is good.

[WayAbvPar]

Cole and Neale are definitely slipping, but the sounds of their voices still mean HNIC for me. Hughson does the local Canucks games, and I really like his work. Drew Remenda is a dolt, however. I would like to see John Garrett get more national CBC work with Hughson; he isn't nearly as sanctimonious as Remenda or Greg Millen, and he as a decent sense of humor.

[naum]

bring back don cherry bi-yotch

[Nebu]

I'm trying to summon the announcing hierarchy in the US.  Something like Football --> Baseball --> Basketball --> Golf --> Everything from NASCAR to Synchronized swimming --> Hockey.

There aren't that many Americans watching Hockey... hence the paucity of good announcers.

[Bunk]

Cole and Neale are definitely slipping, but the sounds of their voices still mean HNIC for me. Hughson does the local Canucks games, and I really like his work. Drew Remenda is a dolt, however. I would like to see John Garrett get more national CBC work with Hughson; he isn't nearly as sanctimonious as Remenda or Greg Millen, and he as a decent sense of humor.

Yes, Garrett is the best of the three by a long shot. He does all of the Sportsnet broadcasts, which account for about 60% of our games. I am really afraid though that with Toronto and Montreal out, we are going to get the "A Team" of Cole and Neale on HNIC.

[WindupAtheist]

If I catch a boxing match on HBO, I usually end up trying to yell at the commentators through my TV.  That being said, I wouldn't replace them.  Yelling at the commentators has become part of the experience.

[HaemishM]

Announcers don't understand how to broadcast hockey in America, simply put.

QFT.

Say what you will about the ESPN coverage, but it was MILES better than Versus has done. I keep forgetting that NBC does hockey on Saturdays and it sounds like I'm lucky. You think it's bad where you are? The ONLY hockey I can get is Versus and NBC, with the occasional Thrashers came on Turner South. And none of those fuckers are worth a damn at hockey commentary. I get better soccer coverage of Euro and South American games than I can get of hockey games taking place 2 states over.

Damn you hockey strike. ESPN had its flaws, but it was better than Versus.

[naum]

Say what you will about the ESPN coverage, but it was MILES better than Versus has done. I keep forgetting that NBC does hockey on Saturdays and it sounds like I'm lucky. You think it's bad where you are? The ONLY hockey I can get is Versus and NBC, with the occasional Thrashers came on Turner South. And none of those fuckers are worth a damn at hockey commentary. I get better soccer coverage of Euro and South American games than I can get of hockey games taking place 2 states over.

Damn you hockey strike. ESPN had its flaws, but it was better than Versus.

Thank God for NHL Center Ice and HD-Net. HD-Net carries a couple games a week… …I suppose without NHL Center Ice, I would be relegated to Coyotes broadcasts, Versuses and the HD-Net broadcasts, which wouldn't be a total minus, except for the stupid unbalanced schedule in the NHL where division games x8 means no games/few games against many teams.

And yes, Versus has been that bad… …on the sole Coyotes broadcast they ran promos on Ed Jovanovski when he was out for the season… …seems like they were oblivious to mid-season developments…

[Strazos]

the stupid unbalanced schedule in the NHL where division games x8 means no games/few games against many teams.

As a fan of an east coast team, I am heavily in favor of the current setup. And not because we get to see Crosby or Ovechkin so much; most of the Flyers' games are at about the same time, 7pm or 7:30pm. Mountain/Pacific timezone games SUCK.

And also...not related to anything said by people here, but wtf is with the whining from people not getting to "see" Crosby etc out west? I usually go to games to see the home team. I think the owners out west are just inventing problems now.

[WayAbvPar]

Announcers don't understand how to broadcast hockey in America, simply put.

QFT.

Say what you will about the ESPN coverage, but it was MILES better than Versus has done. I keep forgetting that NBC does hockey on Saturdays and it sounds like I'm lucky. You think it's bad where you are? The ONLY hockey I can get is Versus and NBC, with the occasional Thrashers came on Turner South. And none of those fuckers are worth a damn at hockey commentary. I get better soccer coverage of Euro and South American games than I can get of hockey games taking place 2 states over.

Damn you hockey strike. ESPN had its flaws, but it was better than Versus.

Center Ice, n00bler. WELL worth the $159 or whatever it is.

[naum]

As a fan of an east coast team, I am heavily in favor of the current setup. And not because we get to see Crosby or Ovechkin so much; most of the Flyers' games are at about the same time, 7pm or 7:30pm. Mountain/Pacific timezone games SUCK.

And also...not related to anything said by people here, but wtf is with the whining from people not getting to "see" Crosby etc out west? I usually go to games to see the home team. I think the owners out west are just inventing problems now.

I want to see ALL the teams and ALL the stars. I am first and foremost, a hockey fan,  and then second, a fan of a particular team. Sorry, but 8x games v. Los Angeles, 8x v. Dallas,  and even 8x v. Anaheim is too much.

[Strazos]

And that's a valid point to bring up...


In 2+ years. 

[murdoc]

3 years ago if I was told that neither Washington or Pittsburgh would not be playing ANY games here, I wouldn't have cared at all. That's what makes me laugh, since it such a BIG DEAL for those two teams to visit every NHL city now.




edit: forgot the NOT

[Strazos]

Sometimes I wish we only had to see Crosby 4 times a year, or less. That little punk is so annoying to watch now, especially since most of the games are on NBC or Versus, and all they do is roll a montage of Crosby vs PHL clips.

Of course, they leave out the parts where he dives and/or cries like a little girl whenever someone touches him. I much prefer watching Ovechkin.

[naum]

Sometimes I wish we only had to see Crosby 4 times a year, or less. That little punk is so annoying to watch now, especially since most of the games are on NBC or Versus, and all they do is roll a montage of Crosby vs PHL clips.

Spoken like a true Flyers fan! :)

[NiX]

He has a point. Crosby is good, I'll give him that, but he's not a fucking trick machine every time he comes to town. He came to Toronto twice and both times NADA. Not to mention he, as Straz mentioned, went all pansy when someone would touch him. Welcome to the NHL bucko, don't like being touched? Go play Polo or Golf. He likes being the poster boy for hockey with his off the boards self passes and between the legs puck lift, but he won't put up with what hockeys been like since it started? Fuck off. Cut the "Don't touch him" contract/rules shit. I want to see Zidano Chara or Phaneuf take off his upper body.

[Mandrel]

That's another thing that kills me about hockey.  They had their "poster boy" Crosby on National TV last week, and had freaking Georges Laraque as the skater they had "miked- up".  A guy that averages less than 9 minutes on the ice to be the person you profile for the game?  Silly.

Oh, and found a decent YouTube clip of Jeanerette, if any of you have never heard him, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEfbyrKnKc0.  Definitely not his "best" but a good sampling.

Oh, and the guy in Denver is Mike Haynes.  I guess he's shifted to TV now as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18zsScCM1kY

That's one of my favorite calls of all time- "How you like them apples Gilmour?"