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

[CalgarySnow]

Jesus, she makes Cassie Campbell Pascoe sound good and I’m not a fan of hers either.

 

[PattyLafontaine]

Do I think she’s good? No. Did she make a mistake? Yes. Does it matter? Not really.

I’m a Ducks fan and didn’t even notice what she said during the shootout. Who really cares. It’s not like she’s going to be doing high stakes playoff games. So what you gotta listen to her a few times in the regular season.

She probably makes less mistakes and takes her job more seriously then 95% of the people in the thread bashing her.

The reason why it is so important is that women get so little access as it is. The fact that the person getting this oppotunity is someone who is so incompetant at their job that it actually harms the potentnial for greater inclusion of women the sport.

PBP make mistakes but the entire role is to be able to provide narration for the view to keep them engage and promote the sport to genereate leads for new viewers.

Think about how ridiculous it must be for the women who have paid their dues and an actually have the aptitude to present good/great/excellent play by play announcing.

I'm sure they must be seething because Leah Hextall is literally several levels below what is acceptable at the NHL level.

The fact that there are people who claim sexism at every turn and refuse to allow for the fact that she is awful and lacks the vocal talent are sthe same people who would try to convince you that some manufactured lip syncer industry plant is a better singer than Adele/Mariah Carey/etc.

I have several friends in the announcing business and they are extremely successful; and they would never speak ill of other "talent, but it's patently obvious how they feel when you see their body language when listening to Leah Hextall.

People can somewhat tolerate nepotism if the person demonstates that they are to at least average/decent/semi-competant at their job. However, when you are so bad that the only way anyone could conceivably believe you got the position is through nepotism, you have no business in that job.

 

[PattyLafontaine]

As a big fan of Doris Burke, AJ, and of course the great Sherry Ross, she sucks. And even she admits she isn't qualified. I will say the amount of hate she's getting is over the top. Listening to her speech was awful, and there is no doubt she's getting that hate because she's a woman.

Sure, but those of us who are all for women having more access are irriated because not only is she bad but she also suggests that she's earned her position because a bunch of her relatives were in the NHL, which is a spolied entitled position to have,

 

[Bostonzamboni]

I guess I’m getting surround sound for Christmas

I guess I’m getting surround sound for Christmas

LOL.

 

[TT1]

 

[Hunter368]

I like her more as a hockey analysis then a P by P person. If used as a P by P person she needs the right supporting person for chemistry

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I like her more as a hockey analysis then a P by P person. If used as a P by P person she needs the right supporting person for chemistry

Yeah, another PbP person preferably.

 

[MuckOG]

Nepotism happens everywhere in hockey lol. They call it the good old boys club for a reason. But you don't see Jack Edwards getting death threats

Is there any evidence that she was, in fact, getting death threats?

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Not that I hear her a lot but why is she doing the play by play? She was barely getting by as a colour analyst.

 

[start winnin]

She's awful, like god awful, probably the worst play by play announcer to ever grace the NHL. Nobody deserves the verbal abuse that she's been receiving but please for the love of god, get her off the air, at least put her in between the bench or something.

 

[TheSituation]

Is there any evidence that she was, in fact, getting death threats?

She said it in her speech.

 

[Mike C]

Is there any evidence that she was, in fact, getting death threats?

She deleted them after showing them to her sister but rather than call the cops, she did a magazine article

OF COURSE she was getting death threats

Not that I hear her a lot but why is she doing the play by play? She was barely getting by as a colour analyst.

Why indeed Jim. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors to allow such things.....


.....or do we?

 

[Craig Button]

Omg that was horrible to listen to.

I feel like my ears and mind have been raped.

I need 500mg of Naproxen stat

 

[Eggtimer]

In news articles she is quoted as saying she is receiving terrible comments because she is a woman and people don’t want to hear a woman …. I have not seen much if that at all . I think she is misreading it. She is getting negative comments because …. She is terrible at her job !!
And if your terrible at your job ( like she is ) turn it is perfectly normal to get the responses she has . The threats etc are obviously way over the top and there is mo place for that or reason to ever ever do that . But saying a person sucks at their job .. in this case , is getting misinterpreted or assumed it’s just because she is a woman .
Maybe it’s just because she sucks ? Did she ever think of that ?

 

[Rama Llama Ding Dong]

In news articles she is quoted as saying she is receiving terrible comments because she is a woman and people don’t want to hear a woman …. I have not seen much if that at all . I think she is misreading it. She is getting negative comments because …. She is terrible at her job !!
And if your terrible at your job ( like she is ) turn it is perfectly normal to get the responses she has . The threats etc are obviously way over the top and there is mo place for that or reason to ever ever do that . But saying a person sucks at their job .. in this case , is getting misinterpreted or assumed it’s just because she is a woman .
Maybe it’s just because she sucks ? Did she ever think of that ?

That's the great thing about identity politics. She can dismiss all criticism, and chalk it up to the bigotry of others.

She's horrible at her job. The fact she's a woman has very little to do with it, outside of the fact she sounds feminine, and one could argue that a higher pitched voice is subjectively less pleasant to listen to.

She has no pace. Her calls have no flow. She mistakes players. Her goal calls seem to randomly range between zero intensity, and outright hysteria. There is not a SINGLE redeeming quality to her play by play.

This experiment needs to end. If you need to have a female play by play announcer, give someone else a shot. There is almost zero chance that she could be worse.

Ideally, just find someone that is good and don't worry about what they do or don't have between their legs.

 

[MuckOG]

She said it in her speech.

So, no evidence.

 

[12ozPapa]

That's the great thing about identity politics. She can dismiss all criticism, and chalk it up to the bigotry of others.

She's horrible at her job. The fact she's a woman has very little to do with it, outside of the fact she sounds feminine, and one could argue that a higher pitched voice is subjectively less pleasant to listen to.

She has no pace. Her calls have no flow. She mistakes players. Her goal calls seem to randomly range between zero intensity, and outright hysteria. There is not a SINGLE redeeming quality to her play by play.

This experiment needs to end. If you need to have a female play by play announcer, give someone else a shot. There is almost zero chance that she could be worse.

Ideally, just find someone that is good and don't worry about what they do or don't have between their legs.

Furthermore, she doesn’t even have a higher pitched voice really. It has ZERO to do with her being a woman. She sucks. She doesn’t know hockey and she owes daddy a thank you.

 

[Debrincat93]

Furthermore, she doesn’t even have a higher pitched voice really. It has ZERO to do with her being a woman. She sucks. She doesn’t know hockey and she owes daddy a thank you.

the woman argument is piss poor. im sick of that nonsense. we judge you based on how well you do.
She's brutal.
IMO Botterill isnt very good, either. Awkard.
Cassie Campbell-pascal, i thought, always gave good insight. solid work on HNIC/CBC.SN.

it has nothing to do with being a woman, man, dog, cat. whatever it is now a days.

Do you have pace? do you have a voice for PBP? do you bring something to the table thats unique, because lets face it, its a job that requires you to be unique. Do you come prepared? because there's many games last year with the wings and others where her stats were inaccurate or just bland (like no shit, my 6mo old knows that).

ESPN when they do their "yearly reviews" thinks this is legitimately good for hockey? yep, good work. probably why ESPN is and was a joke for years.

 

[Chips]

Furthermore, she doesn’t even have a higher pitched voice really. It has ZERO to do with her being a woman. She sucks. She doesn’t know hockey and she owes daddy a thank you.

she definitely has a higher pitched voice lol. But it’s higher than many women in sports broadcasting including AJ and Campbell, and both of those other two are louder as well.

Her voice is high, but also quiet and she just has a often mellow delivery that’s less than ideal for hockey. Switching from her game to the archived bruins-rangers game was night and day in every sense

 

[Hotep Numminen]

there are people literally in this thread saying it's because she's a woman

i agree she's bad though.

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

Is there any evidence that she was, in fact, getting death threats?

https://awfulannouncing.com/nhl/leah-hextall-vile-sexist-messages-nhl-season-espn.html#:~:text=It%20wouldn't%20be%20very,call%20a%20hockey%20game%20again.

so what's your theory exactly? she's doing this for attention?

 

[The Grim Reaper]

23 pages of moaning over something inconsequential.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

23 pages of moaning over something inconsequential.

And?
Welcome to HF boards

 

[Pancakes]

23 pages of moaning over something inconsequential.

Hard agree. She's not great, but people need to get the f over it lol. I mean my goodness, there's a ton of male PBP commentators that are pretty god awful too and we don't have threads about them.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

23 pages of moaning over something inconsequential.

Yeah, time to talk about the *real* important stuff. Any ideas?