A new contender for worst broadcaster of all time (Leah Hextall)

[VainGretzky]

She needs to throw in a few boom goes thy dynamite

 

[Mount Suribachi]

Most likely because they want a woman and well also because of nepotism since she's Ron Hextalls cousin. I would assume there are good female play-by-play voices out there somewhere but those don't have a famous name.

Are there though? I honestly think that women don't have the same strength in their speaking voice as men to be able to pull off pbp commentary. There are some female soccer commentators in the UK and they're just terrible, sound like pre-pubescent teenage boys every time they try to raise their voice or get excited. I have no idea if they're actually good commentators because I can't get past the nails on chalkboard of their voice straining to be heard. It requires a completely different vocal range to presenting in a studio.

I think it's the same thing when female politicians get accused of screeching, regardless of affiliation. Or when my wife shouts at the kids and her voice doesn't actually get any louder no matter how much effort she puts in.

 

[Buck Naked]

No comment on the announcing, but the Hulu closed captioning was beyond belief. The person had never seen a hockey game, mishearing most hockey phrases, and didn't know any hockey names. They were totally overwhelmed and just lunging at words, writing soup at the screen. I saw them write about players like "Angela," "Janine," and at one point the person repeatedly wrote "Rihanna" was doing this and that out there. Hakanpaa was Hawkey Pot.

This is possibly the funniest post since the guy who thought they used different colored ice to make the lines and stuff happen.

 

[serp]

Are there though? I honestly think that women don't have the same strength in their speaking voice as men to be able to pull off pbp commentary. There are some female soccer commentators in the UK and they're just terrible, sound like pre-pubescent teenage boys every time they try to raise their voice or get excited. I have no idea if they're actually good commentators because I can't get past the nails on chalkboard of their voice straining to be heard. It requires a completely different vocal range to presenting in a studio.

I think it's the same thing when female politicians get accused of screeching, regardless of affiliation. Or when my wife shouts at the kids and her voice doesn't actually get any louder no matter how much effort she puts in.

There are decent sounding women on radio , mostly non sports though. I'm sure there are women out there who would do a good job . Those just don't get the opportunities . It's often those who have famous names who get the jobs because it's easy to promote those .

 

[King1s]

Enjoy the diversity

 

[illpucks]

I watched the OT. Very relaxing actually. She's good.

 

[serp]

I watched the OT. Very relaxing actually. She's good.

Rewatching the condensed highlights i think most of the game was fine but in more stressful situations of the game she was really not good. Also the goal call in OT was really bad.

 

[NJ07102]

There are decent sounding women on radio , mostly non sports though. I'm sure there are women out there who would do a good job . Those just don't get the opportunities . It's often those who have famous names who get the jobs because it's easy to promote those .

They should let Megyn Kelly do the pbp. That would be awesome

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Yeah, this was absolutely terrible.

 

[serp]

They should let Megyn Kelly do the pbp. That would be awesome

Thats another "name" . For something like this you want someone who worked herself up through pbp calling minor league games or college games or something over years. Not sure a female version of that exists . The current Stars pbp guy worked for like a decade touring all over the country doing minor league hockey pbp including Alaska IRC .

 

[Mount Suribachi]

There are decent sounding women on radio , mostly non sports though. I'm sure there are women out there who would do a good job . Those just don't get the opportunities . It's often those who have famous names who get the jobs because it's easy to promote those .

That's my point though, sports pbp requires a strength of speaking voice that women don't physically possess - completely different to say a singing voice (which is why many Male vocalists from Bruce Dickinson to B-Real go and train with female opera singers, to learn how to project more power and protect their voices)

 

[serp]

That's my point though, sports pbp requires a strength of speaking voice that women don't physically possess - completely different to say a singing voice (which is why many Male vocalists from Bruce Dickinson to B-Real go and train with female opera singers, to learn how to project more power and protect their voices)

I don't think you can generalize that. Imho the women with voices who would most suitable for sports play by play don't seem to be that interested in going into that field of work .

The current version of hiring women seems to be. Shit we need to fire a female. Hey i know former female player X or former player Y sister , wife , cousin etc. Let's hire her. Thats not a recipe for success because it leads to below average quality broadcasts and people complaining and some idiots complaining in lets call it less than ideal ways.

 

[wolfgaze]

No comment on the announcing, but the Hulu closed captioning was beyond belief. The person had never seen a hockey game, mishearing most hockey phrases, and didn't know any hockey names. They were totally overwhelmed and just lunging at words, writing soup at the screen. I saw them write about players like "Angela," "Janine," and at one point the person repeatedly wrote "Rihanna" was doing this and that out there. Hakanpaa was Hawkey Pot.

.... ....

 

[hirawl]

I think she's quite alright once you get used to the voice. I like to see how she does after a few months.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

Yeah she’s horrible. She sounds like a curling broadcaster or some other type of boring sports.

 

[Ajaton Azer]

I think that she was narrating the process when I watched the highlights on nhl.com. She certainly has more feminine voice than most of her male counterparts, but other than that I found nothing strange with her calls.

 

[Zamuz]

the funny thing about today's world is that before criticizing a woman you gotta put a disclaimer that you are not being sexist.

yeah, she is horrible and makes games unwatchable

 

[Reality Czech]

That might be true, but she's still one of the greatest female commentators of all time!

 

[Garl]

I don't think you can generalize that. Imho the women with voices who would most suitable for sports play by play don't seem to be that interested in going into that field of work .

The current version of hiring women seems to be. Shit we need to fire a female. Hey i know former female player X or former player Y sister , wife , cousin etc. Let's hire her. Thats not a recipe for success because it leads to below average quality broadcasts and people complaining and some idiots complaining in lets call it less than ideal ways.

Women dont sing like Pavarotti, because those who can are not interested in singing

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I had mentioned this in the GDT when the Ducks played the Wild.

I was so excited to see what ESPN+ would be like in terms of quality. While that was great, the PBP actually made me turn the game off because she made it seem so boring.

I’m not new to the idea of female PBP announcers. When my dad watches European soccer matches, it’s usually done with a woman involved

 

[Dr Pepper]

I didn't think she was too bad, and it was a refreshing switch from the usual Chris Cuthbert or Gord Miller.

That said, she had to be corrected on more than one occasion, like on Vilardi's go ahead goal she kept saying it was Kaliyev who scored. Colour commentator even had to correct her and say it was actually Vilardi, but then she was like, "Kaliyev's first, gives LA the 2-1 lead!"

Just prior to that, Dallas had a chance 4 on 4 that she was all hyped about it being a "shorthanded chance", which the colour commentator again had to correct her.

I mean mistakes will be made, and overall I still didn't think she was THAT bad. Could probably work on her OT goal call though.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I watched a women's hockey game when she was doing commentary and she was pretty bland and just sounded like an amateur attempting to call a game.

Between her and Randorf (one of the worst all time) I have no idea how these people are getting such sought after jobs when they are terrible at them. Like, give Leah some CHL games to call to get better.

I like Randorf, but I can never NOT hear Canada WJC and Spengler Cup teams when I listen to him.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

She just sounds bored and indifferent

 

[Legionnaire]

As I said in our GDT. "In what world is she the most qualified candidate?"

 

[ijuka]

She's not great at all. The goal calls are atrocious, and whenever she screams and gets "excited", which sounds like it's completely faked by the way, she becomes pretty much unintelligible. The minimum requirement for any commentator is that they can speak clearly.

As someone else said, she sounds like an amateur trying her hand at casting. For example, if I myself started commentating, with no experience or training at all. Some might be natural, but she quite clearly is not. She also is not fast enough and constantly falls behind the play.


I'm not sure I'd say that she's the worst I've ever heard(Finnish Mika Saukkonen earns that title), but it's clear to me that she only got this job because she's a woman, in the name of diversity signaling. This is what I'd call "reverse discrimination", or overcompensation in the name of diversity signaling. If there's a man who did not get the job over her despite being more qualified due to his sex, he was the subject of sexism. And I think that that's just as big of an issue. Equal opportunity for everyone, please.