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

[AvsGuy]

First off, qualified and knowledgeable women absolutely do belong in the broadcast booth - there is nothing inherently masculine about hockey or about broadcasting, and I welcome fresh voices of all genders who add their own flair to the game

What bugs me about Leah Hextall is that she's pretty clearly only there because of name recognition - getting into hockey broadcasting because your cousin was a famous goalie is nepotism to the highest degree, especially when you're not particularly qualified or entertaining on the air

But all the men bitching about how women "don't belong in the broadcast booth" - give it a rest dudes

 

[Jetsfan79]

First off, qualified and knowledgeable women absolutely do belong in the broadcast booth - there is nothing inherently masculine about hockey or about broadcasting, and I welcome fresh voices of all genders who add their own flair to the game

What bugs me about Leah Hextall is that she's pretty clearly only there because of name recognition - getting into hockey broadcasting because your cousin was a famous goalie is nepotism to the highest degree, especially when you're not particularly qualified or entertaining on the air

But all the men bitching about how women "don't belong in the broadcast booth" - give it a rest dudes

I do not disagree with that premise. However, if her hire inspires more women to do that line of work and intern manifests more talented and more deserving women in that feild, wouldn't the ends justify the means?

 

[AvsGuy]

I do not disagree with that premise. However, if her hire inspires more women to do that line of work and intern manifests more talented and more deserving women in that feild, wouldn't the ends justify the means?

There'd be just as much inspiration from hiring a qualified woman - they cannot be in short supply in 2021

 

[Kevin27NYI]

Not to pile on but she is extremely bad. Coyotes pp down late third and she's talking with zero urgency

She's awful. My family was laughing listening, there was a two on one and you wouldn't know, no energy at all.

 

[DearDiary]

Oh, come on... now we're looking for gripes

Commentators do that all the time
Both the "He scores!" without an explicit name, and letting dead air sit after a goal, letting the crowd and celebration noise play before piping back up.

That is not what she was doing. Watch the Hawks/Coyotes footage and explain the timing used

 

[soccermendoza]

she's ok, just an annoying voice

 

[timorous me]

To each their own. To me, slamming a broadcaster is like panning a book for its cover. Or lodging a complaint in a restaurant for the garnish. Constructive or respectful criticism is fine ofcouse. Never been one for ad hominems or cheap shots

To me it's more slamming ESPN for hiring her for a pretty prominent national TV gig. I mean, at this rate she's lined up as one of their main announcers for playoff games. I feel bad because she's probably doing the best she can, but this is not the level for a position like this.

It feels to me like ESPN basically made this hire for all the wrong reasons, just like how this NHL deal (with no games on the actual network for two full months makes it feel like this whole thing is just a ploy to get more sign-ups for ESPN+. Meanwhile, the league gets less visibility for the huge majority of sports fans who don't actually subscribe to ESPN+.

 

[Sheppy]

I’m all for equality, but if you suck at it, you suck at it. Next.

 

[mikelvl]

Only way out of this is to transfer her back to the desk and replace her with another qualified woman. Which I would be fine with.

 

[Summer Rose]

Not to pile on but she is extremely bad. Coyotes pp down late third and she's talking with zero urgency

To be fair, the Coyotes power play had about as much urgency as her voice, so it was an accurate reflection of what was happening on the ice.

 

[93gilmour93]

I’m all for equality, but if you suck at it, you suck at it. Next.

This is exactly right. It’s not that she’s a woman calling a game but it’s a woman who sucks and sounds very annoying calling the game…..

 

[chaz4hockey]

Solution is to caption and listen to music while watching.

 

[Mach85]

There'd be just as much inspiration from hiring a qualified woman - they cannot be in short supply in 2021

You're right. Saying it's ok to keep someone in the job who clearly can't perform in order to provide inspiration is implying there's no better woman to hire instead. Which is pretty demeaning to women.

 

[bsu]

Absolutely horrendous.

 

[MBH]

This is just the ugly part of progress, honestly just give it time.

Think of it this way: right now there's a group of young girls and women listening to the women who are objectively bad and saying "well f***, I can do that. She's making us look bad, you know what? I'm gonna do that and blow it out of the f***ing water" and that's what we're waiting for.

You think women need a Jackie Robinson of hockey play-by-play? I don't buy it.

Put the best people on the job. That's what inspires people.

Should we have female NHLers just to inspire girls to play?
Of course not.
But the day one is good enough, of course.

 

[HTFN]

You think women need a Jackie Robinson of hockey play-by-play? I don't buy it.

Put the best people on the job. That's what inspires people.

Should we have female NHLers just to inspire girls to play?
Of course not.
But the day one is good enough, of course.

Think for like, one second, about the reference you're making. A man with a league-wide number retirement (except of course when they all collectively wear his number in remembrance) who is a noted inspiration to maybe literally tons of people.

 

[SoupNazi]

You think women need a Jackie Robinson of hockey play-by-play? I don't buy it.

Put the best people on the job. That's what inspires people.

Should we have female NHLers just to inspire girls to play?
Of course not.
But the day one is good enough, of course.

You're really comparing Leah Hextall to Jackie Robinson?

 

[centipede2233]

I’d like to see more women in management positions in the nhl like assistant GM and GM. There have been way too many incompetent GM’s past and present. Time to get some educated strong women in there, they won’t be push overs like dubas.

 

[Shark Finn]

Could someone post some examples?

 

[Dr Pepper]

Could someone post some examples?

This thread is 10 pages long, maybe start at the beginning and look for the vids There's plenty of evidence.

 

[MBH]

You're really comparing Leah Hextall to Jackie Robinson?

I'm exactly not doing that.
Surprised you could misread something so badly.

 

[SoupNazi]

I'm exactly not doing that.
Surprised you could misread something so badly.

You exactly are, and I'm not misreading it, but I'm not going to get into a back-and-forth with you.

 

[MBH]

Think for like, one second, about the reference you're making. A man with a league-wide number retirement (except of course when they all collectively wear his number in remembrance) who is a noted inspiration to maybe literally tons of people.

Stop.
Just stop with the BS for five seconds.
Look at the post I was responding to.

Their post talked about the need to inspire young girls to be NHL play-by-play announcers.
As if Leah Hextall was breaking barriers.

It's absurd. The idea that NHL play by play announcers would ever need a Jackie Robinson barrier breaker is absurd.

 

[MBH]

You exactly are, and I'm not misreading it, but I'm not going to get into a back-and-forth with you.

No. You're exactly wrong. Again.

 

[SoupNazi]

No. You're exactly wrong. Again.

No. But okay. Whatever you say. You definitely didn't say "Jackie Robinson of play-by-play" above. Why would you use that as a comparison?