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

[winnipegger]

You do have to wonder how she gets the privilege of learning how to do a job at the very top of the heirarchy. This is like some corrupt business owner putting his shitty dumb children into important positions in the company. Just pure nepotism. Nobody gave Gord Miller his status, he f***ing earned it by being great at calling hockey games.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

A thread on a male commentator doesn't have the handful of people that defend them solely because they're male, which in turn leads to responses (such as this response pointing it out) and makes the threads longer than they should be.

If she was a man the thread would be normal length with near 100% agreement that she's the worst commentator and it's not really even close and to the people who actually watch games (instead of 5 second clips or even 9 minute clips, but watch the full games) there's zero argument of who is the worst pbp announcer doing NHL games this season. She's the worst. Period.

Most people, without an agenda, see that and say that and the thread would be normal length. People with some weird agenda and/or feel the need to protect because she's female and to them it means she can't be treated equally -the true sexists are the ones who defend her just because she's a she as if she is lesser and has to be judged differently from a man- are the ones making the thread longer than it needs to be.

Plus, of course it gets back to the top when people hear her for the first time when she's calling a game their team is playing in. So that's part of it, also.

Yeah this is false. All you have to do is go through the threads to see that.

She's not great. She's also not the worst of all time. And there are plenty of terrible male announcers who simply don't get their own thread here.

You make all these baseless assumptions to preemptively dismiss any opinion that is different than yours. Like anyone who doesn't think she's the worst of all time has an agenda, which makes it seem like you're the one with an agenda. I've watched a few games now called by Hextall. I prefer Ken Daniels, but she didn't ruin the game for me or anything.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I didn't think she was super terrible or anything, I've certainly heard worse.

The thing that sticks out to me is her cadence, she calls the game like an auctioneer. If she changed that up some I think it would make a big difference.

The games I've heard, her and Weekes had zero rapport. They couldn't get into a rhythm while calling a game. And honestly the game against the Wings their entire broadcast team seemed weirdly mellow except maybe for Buccigross.

 

[Zen Arcade]

The games I've heard, her and Weekes had zero rapport. They couldn't get into a rhythm while calling a game. And honestly the game against the Wings their entire broadcast team seemed weirdly mellow except maybe for Buccigross.

I mean, if I'm choosing between bland and obnoxious I'm taking bland every time.

At least I can tune bland out.

 

[zar]

Yeah and was probably great at the time.

No, I always disliked him. If my post history goes back that far, you could probably see that.

What's your problem anyways? So, I don't like some colour commentators and play-by-play people? Why are you taking such a personal offence to MY opinion of a TV personality? This seems really weird to me.

I understand defending your team, players on your team, etc... but taking such a personal offence to an opinion on a colour commentator or play-by-play personality.

 

[DearDiary]

I find this thread frustrating because it forces me to agree with a lot of people with whom I probably agree on very little politically.

People who say that this is just an example of 'wokeness being more important than ability' really fail to recognize the obstacles to comfortable existence that women and people of colour experience just about everyday. From being hit on inappropriately, to having racists mean mug you while you're trying to buy milk. Trying to level the playing field a little bit isn't 'wokeness', it's human empathy.

With that said, I can't get over how bad Leah Hextall is. She is terrible at every part of announcing.

Look, I have been a hockey nerd with encylopedic hockey knowledge since I was 10 years old. Not once did I think I could be a play-by-play announcer. I don't have the voice for it. It requires, ideally, a unique voice, a capacity to speak without 'ums' and 'ah's for 3 hours, really astute observational skills, deep hockey knowledge, an innate sense of the energy of the game (when to be excited, etc) and I could go on and on.

Leah has none of those things. The games are full of dead air, big things will happen and she won't say anything, she doesn't seem to know a lot of the player's names, she has no sense of occasion, and her voice oscillates between dull and shrill.

When people say 'give her a chance to learn', it's like maybe she shouldn't be 'learning' at the highest level.

Honestly, rooting for her is like rooting for some unskilled wealthy kid who gets their own show because their parents own the tv studio.

It's cool that there is a movement towards getting more women in hockey media, but that wasn't being cultivated before. So let's be intentional about cultivating it instead of pretending that making the decision is the same as having had the infrastructure for the last decade.

Let her, and others, cut their teeth in junior, college, and the minors. You know, like a real hockey announcer.

 

[Zippity]

If a hockey commentator can talk about squirting when a million people are watching. (No idea how many). Then I should be as well in a hockey forum.

Did you see that player squirt by Poink?

Edit: I don't know if you mean suspendable on the forum or by a player. Both r funny.

How about the 2 that talked about Slurpees in Winnipeg for over 5 minutes

 

[PaulD]

You do have to wonder how she gets the privilege of learning how to do a job at the very top of the heirarchy. This is like some corrupt business owner putting his shitty dumb children into important positions in the company. Just pure nepotism. Nobody gave Gord Miller his status, he f***ing earned it by being great at calling hockey games.

Yep

 

[PaulD]

No, I always disliked him. If my post history goes back that far, you could probably see that.

What's your problem anyways? So, I don't like some colour commentators and play-by-play people? Why are you taking such a personal offence to MY opinion of a TV personality? This seems really weird to me.

I understand defending your team, players on your team, etc... but taking such a personal offence to a colour commentator or play-by-play personality.

I hear ya pal.

Its the "fake rage" thing.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Is she just on colour commentary tonight?

Seen a few highlights and she's taken a back seat it seems.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Is she just on colour commentary tonight?

Seen a few highlights and she's taken a back seat it seems.

From the game I listened to.

It seemed she was doing commentary during play and the guy was talking during the breaks / pauses stuff.

That's what I saw yesterday anyways.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Not only is this a bad product for the consumer, it's also terrible for her. It's really humiliating to be bad at your job in front of millions of people. Being comfortable and confident in front of millions of people is no joke. It takes real talent to succeed. That's why people generally aren't just handed these positions without, you know, earning it with thousands of hours of practice.

There have been many others learn on the job over the years. Not everyone gets a straightforward apprenticeship.

 

[Legionnaire]

There have been many others learn on the job over the years. Not everyone gets a straightforward apprenticeship.

What you are really saying is that she wasn't qualified in the first place so she never should have gotten the job.
.
It's not some podunk team in the middle of nowhere where she can hone her skills. No! It's the NHL The highest level there is. Fans deserve the most qualified candidate and not one who was hired based on gender.

 

[PanniniClaus]

What you are really saying is that she wasn't qualified in the first place so she never should have gotten the job.
.
It's not some podunk team in the middle of nowhere where she can hone her skills. No! It's the NHL The highest level there is. Fans deserve the most qualified candidate and not one who was hired based on gender.

So they way i see it is that big networks have a variety of paths people come through. Often and employee shows promise on the desk or on projects and are looking for the next step in their careers.... Yes diversity and inclusion plays a part as all large companies are committed to it. They had to have seen potential and they are giving her a chance.

 

[Legionnaire]

Diversity and inclusion for the sake of diversity and inclusion is discrimination.

 

[Rob Brown]

So they way i see it is that big networks have a variety of paths people come through. Often and employee shows promise on the desk or on projects and are looking for the next step in their careers.... Yes diversity and inclusion plays a part as all large companies are committed to it. They had to have seen potential and they are giving her a chance.

I don't think people are against giving her a chance, but having her call national games immediately is proving to be pretty shortsighted based on her performance thus far.

Not that Twitter is a great example, but I've noticed the official NHL account tweet several goals the next day, and the comments are literally all about how bad the commentating is. That isn't a good sign. If she was doing 'okay' there would be a healthy mix of comments about the goal itself, but no.

 

[goonybird]

You can call doc and Cangialosi shrill, the small market guys boring, or older guys senile

but you can't call someone with next to no professional play by play experience underwhelming. Got it

 

[holy]

You do have to wonder how she gets the privilege of learning how to do a job at the very top of the heirarchy. This is like some corrupt business owner putting his shitty dumb children into important positions in the company. Just pure nepotism. Nobody gave Gord Miller his status, he f***ing earned it by being great at calling hockey games.

Gord Miller, now there’s a voice you can set your watch to.

 

[PromisedLand]

Nepotism at play I'd say.

I forget who but its either Rangers or Canes or maybe someone else? They have a female pbp person she is great!

 

[Chuck Testa]

Gord Miller, now there’s a voice you can set your watch to.

Gord Miller is great at calling the game.

 

[King1s]

I thought that the Singh guy was bad but I actually just mute the tv when this woman is on air.

I can't bear her annoying voice and stupidity.

How tf she has a job.

 

[CDJ]

She used to host a show on NESN a little awhile back. Thought she was fine back then


She’s certainly not great but I don’t really understand the consternation. She ain’t 26 pages bad. She’s pretty new at it, I expect her to get better with familiarity. If it seriously impacts your joy of the game I suggest turning on any football game that had Dan Fouts doing the color work. THATS pain.

 

[Chuck Testa]

She used to host a show on NESN a little awhile back. Thought she was fine back then


She’s certainly not great but I don’t really understand the consternation. She ain’t 26 pages bad. She’s pretty new at it, I expect her to get better with familiarity. If it seriously impacts your joy of the game I suggest turning on any football game that had Dan Fouts doing the color work. THATS pain.

She's better off being eased in to it starting out just so that she'll be able to get used to it. I wouldn't have her anywhere near a leading role this early because that is just setting her up for failure and could set her back so far that she'll never be given the opportunity to take that next step.

Or it just might not be her cup of tea and that's fine too. Me personally I know that I wouldn't be a good color commentator because I tend to sit focused on the games too much and there would be a lot of long pauses with nothing being said. Like I said it wouldn't be the end of the world for her if she just wasn't cut out for that particular role I'm sure she could work in some other capacity within the NHL.

 

[Satans Hockey]

She keeps calling Tatar, Novak. This commentary crew for this game is the drizzling shits.

 

[goonybird]

She keeps calling Hischier Zacha. That is brutal