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

[Jormungandr]

I hope Leah Hextall becomes the voice of the EA NHL video game series.

 

[Stony Curtis]

 

[M88K]

I hope Leah Hextall becomes the voice of the EA NHL video game series.

Yeah but you can mute commentary and still have game audio. We can't mute her and still have game audio on espn

 

[Ezekial]

Just hadn’t read the term cringe or cringeworthy in years. I was just f***ing with you, nothing more. Enjoy the games tonight!

Cringe is a very popular word amongst the youths of today.

 

[The Marquis]

She looked great, I’ll say that…. And I like her being between the benches. I also think we’re going to see more female focused topics in broadcasts everywhere. Shit about the player wives, dogs, favorite coffee etc during the broadcasts to appeal to that demo. Hockey social media is already over 50% that for some teams, it’s going to start bleeding into the television broadcasts more and more.

Also kid focused discussion, like the stuff mentioned above, but for the kiddos. Hockey was so rigid for so long, and despite that, that demo has grown. Man I smelled up this stall I’m posting from, holy smokes. Anyway, I think all of us old school fans need to be more accepting of the changes… because they are happening whether it’s for us or not and at least the hockey is still happening and largely the same (better in some ways, worse in others, of course, but that’s not what this conversation is about. It’s about Leah Hextall and the impact she is having on the sport for better or worse.

 

[The Marquis]

Cringe is a very popular word amongst the youths of today.

You are suss.

 

[Stony Curtis]

there's so many bad broadcasts, i'd honesetly just like to be able to mute them and listen to the on ice sounds its way more interesting without some homer yelling over the play

ESPN cannot do this, and for LH's good. Can you imagine what would happen if they offered that, and then the next day it came out that 99.98% of viewers chose the "no pbp" option? Which would essentially be the "no LH" option?

 

[Church Hill]

She looked great, I’ll say that….

How DARE you

 

[norrisnick]

ESPN cannot do this, and for LH's good. Can you imagine what would happen if they offered that, and then the next day it came out that 99.98% of viewers chose the "no pbp" option? Which would essentially be the "no LH" option?

I would turn that shit off for everyone. And so would a lot of people. You're out of your mind if you think people would only mute Hextall.

 

[HockeyGuy1964]

Great, another potential 250 page thread full of misogynistic BS.

 

[ottawa]

At least she isn't calling the games so we just have to put up with her for the intermissions only, and ESPN still gets to check their diversity box.

Win/win for everyone tbh

Great, another potential 250 page thread full of misogynistic BS.

People can turn this into a gender battle all they want, the truth is she's just f***ing awful.

ESPN should pay a f*** ton for someone like Jennifer Hedger if they want to female representation that badly, she is knowledgeable, great on the air and liked by pretty much everyone.

 

[The Marquis]

How DARE you

Funny thing. I absolutely got “number rated” at a work conference this week. Higher than I expected too. I wonder if they knew I could hear them. Nice compliments too. I could use more of that, to be honest.

 

[JadedLeaf]

We need to have a game with no commentary. Just the angry rumblings of fans and refs telling the players to f*** off

Why do I remember that actually happening a decade or two ago? Did I dream that or was there games with no play by play for a tiny bit?

 

[jkrdevil]

Why do I remember that actually happening a decade or two ago? Did I dream that or was there games with no play by play for a tiny bit?

NBC did it with an NFL game in the early 80’s. I think there were some CBC telecast (either nhl or cfl) without announcers because of a strike in 00’s.

It doesn’t really work. You basically has keep laser focus on the game as a home viewer (which is far more difficult than if you are at a game).

 

[jkrdevil]

Btw, she is calling Stars/Preds tonight

 

[Lt Dan]

Except she's still calling games this year as well, starting with tomorrow night's Stars-Preds game.

 

[Legend123]

This whole “wooosh” thing is turning into the new “literally” in terms of chronic misuse by a young generation.

Someone simply disagreeing with a point is not something going over someone’s head/“wooosh”.

Twitter, YouTube comment sections, and HF boards is not “literally” everyone and everywhere. Oh look, there’s that one.

Clearly social media banter is your world. But it isn’t the actual world. Hopefully time will teach you that.

Wooooosh

Still haven't come across a group of people who like her commenting. She squeaks alot and her hockey knowledge is very limited

 

[Rob Brown]

Great, another potential 250 page thread full of misogynistic BS.

Criticizing someone for their job performance isn't misogynistic. She was just bad at calling games last year, and that's not because she's a woman. She just wasn't good at it, and clearly ESPN agrees if she is no longer calling games.

 

[M88K]

Btw, she is calling Stars/Preds tonight

Come on we had Bowness as coach for 2 years. We've suffered enough.

Please let there be a last minute scheduling change. Grab a random fan.

 

[Lt Dan]

Great, another potential 250 page thread full of misogynistic BS.

LOL

Please show me the complaints about Cassie Campbell, Hillary Knight, Linda Cohn ,and Katie Strang. They aren't here because we aren't women haters like your asinine claims.

Leah can't follow the game, doesn't understand the rules of the game and has her job because of her last name. She is clearly not qualified to do her job.


This is from memory the 4th or 5th time that Boucher has had to correct her

Stop calling us names and trying to make us look like bigots because you have some off affection for someone who is clearly not qualified to do their job.

It's even more funny that, being in Canada, YOU DON'T EVEN SEE ESPN BROADCASTS, yet you are in here calling us bigots because we rightfully complain about a clearly unqualified person at a network that is supposedly trying to grow the game.

One more point, every female hockey fan I know also dislikes her work and thinks that she is unqualified. Are they women haters too?

 

[AvroArrow]

Somehow Leah hextall is on the air again for games as ESPN has her at ice level for the knights kings game tonight.

I cannot believe how awful she still is after a summer to reflect on the damage she did to the eardrums of audiences last playoffs.

Why/how did ESPN make the decision to keep exposing fans to her random "contributions" to these broadcasts??

Because if we criticize her for being bad at her job we are misogynists, and has absolutely nothing to do with the poor quality of her work

 

[Lt Dan]

Funny thing. I absolutely got “number rated” at a work conference this week. Higher than I expected too. I wonder if they knew I could hear them. Nice compliments too. I could use more of that, to be honest.

8.5/10 post

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Still haven't come across a group of people who like her commenting. She squeaks alot and her hockey knowledge is very limited

Considering your cited example of “everyone” are groups from social media, I’m not surprised you haven’t come across anyone. Everything you see in those domains is determined by algorithms largely meant to re-enforce and mimick your own views.

I think she’s fine as a rinkside reporter and I’ve had discussions with plenty of people who agree. I’m not sure what you mean by “groups of people”. You can see people in this very thread who don’t think she’s bad.

 

[Atoyot]

I enjoy her but I almost never actually pay attention to announcers. She has kind of a Hildy Johnson cadence.

 

[norrisnick]

Because if we criticize her for being bad at her job we are misogynists, and has absolutely nothing to do with the poor quality of her work

Something tells me it doesn't take dozens and dozens of pages in multiple threads to levee simple criticisms of job performance.