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

[Eggtimer]

Sadly, it’s obvious that most folks in this thread are threatened by a woman. Lol at the nepotism comments when all of hockey is an old boys club.

I didn’t love her broadcasting myself but it was no worse than the typical boring/biased/cheesy af males we’ve had for the past decades.

Why does it automatically go to this all the time .
I’m sorry but that is a huge assumption made by you that is unjustly made based off of no proof at all .
Here , I’ll make it simple for you .
Leah is a terrible terrible PxP announcer . Wouldn’t matter if the person was make / female / trans gender / any combination of gender yiu want to identify yourself as . I don’t care what race , age , religion , heritage , sexuality , skin colour , able bodied or not able bodied the person is.
If they suck , they suck . Hire the best individual for the job . Period . End of story . She is garbage . Surely to hell there are people out there better suited for the job and the job was given to her because she is female and that in itself is horseshit .

 

[Eggtimer]

Her voice isn’t really her fault, so maybe we shouldn’t be ragging her for it.

Maybe she shouldn’t have a job that is 100% judged by the sound of her voice then if her voice is not suited for hockey pxp? Not my fault I suck at hockey , but I really love it , played it fir 28 years , and am commited to it , how come I am not playing in the NHL ? Unfair !!! Boo frickity hoo.

 

[MuckOG]

Her voice isn’t really her fault, so maybe we shouldn’t be ragging her for it.

Of course her voice isn't her "fault"...but that's beside the point. Her voice isn't suited to PBP announcing. Maybe she can improve, but what I've heard so far is unlistenable.

 

[IamNotADancer]

Her voice isn’t really her fault, so maybe we shouldn’t be ragging her for it.

The voice is a PbP announcers instrument. Would you rather people criticize her looks?

Some jobs require certain prerequisites and in this case a pleasant voice is part of it. Of course "pleasant" is extremely objective but it appears there is somewhat of a consensus that her voice and demeanor simply is not what people want in a PbP announcer.

Not a single person has really criticized her hockey knowledge. Most, if not all of the criticism towards her centers around her voice and delivery.

I'm not hung up on mistakes (Anaheim Wild, the Wilds) because every announcer makes those. Hell even Sam Rosen, in my opinion one of the best at what he does, makes mistakes on a somewhat regular basis.

Leah Hextall does not have the "oomph" (yet) to be a full time announcer nor does she, in my opinion, have a voice that doesn't distract from what I am actually watching.

Think Bobcat Goldthwait or Gilbert Gottfried calling games... entertaining at first because of the novelty but imagine sitting through their voice for 2+ hours.

 

[Master P]

So you cavemen have a problem with high pitch voices?

Society is moving on with or without you.

Stunning and brave!

 

[TheOtherOne]

I'm all for women empowerment but it has to be off merit and not because she is a woman, which is clearly not what ESPN did with Leah Haxtall because she is a disaster. I can't believe there's no thread on just her yet, that Kings-Stars OT was legit great and she ruined it. Would rather listen to Jack Edwards mispronounce Kulikov's name on a loop clockwork orange style than listen to that. How can you introduce a casual when that's the broadcast they'll be listening to? Also the audio was comically off (this is not her fault). Total peewee production.

Between this and the girl in NHL 22 in the drop in menu who you just cannot shut off, they're losing consumers here lol...

What a dumpster fire of a post. It would have been really easy to say "this broadcaster sucks" without even making her gender a part of it. If you have to start the whole thing off with "I'm all for women's empowerment but..." then you're probably more sexist than you think you are. Anyway how many broadcasters have you even heard, that makes you qualified to call her the worst of all time?

 

[JustJokinenAround]

can't be as bad as beth mowins

 

[Minnewildsota]

What do you guys think of Jaime Hirsch? Just curious..

She's hot.

Might be able to do PBP but I haven't heard her for a while. I thought she mostly didn't intermissions and pre/postgame stuff?

 

[GOilers88]

So you cavemen have a problem with high pitch voices?

Society is moving on with or without you.

Society doesn't know it's own asshole from a hole in the ground anymore. "In-transition"" as it were.

 

[JohnnyBerts]

It seems like most of the broadcasters or people in media are there to satisfy quotas versus the best people for the job. I rarely watch something nowadays thinking wow that person is really good.

 

[AvroArrow]

If we do this can we also go way back in time and remove all the mediocre men who were ever hired for no good reason?

Sadly we don't have the technology for time machines but going forward we should definitely do this

 

[tarheelhockey]

Why does it automatically go to this all the time .

Because several people came right out and said it explicitly in posts which aren't necessarily visible any more.

The person you're responding to didn't make any assumptions, it was right there in the thread.

edit: to be fair, "most folks" was an overstatement

 

[7 others]

I like her. She addresses a different kind of audience. I think ESPN knows what they are doing, they are reaching for a broader audience.

A lot of old farts in here who can't deal with this, old white grumpy men complex. I expected this as soon as i heard her voice.

You now have to deal with it by venting on this board. Question is: Will it be enough?

 

[Eggtimer]

I like her. She addresses a different kind of audience. I think ESPN knows what they are doing, they are reaching for a broader audience.

A lot of old farts in here who can't deal with this, old white grumpy men complex. I expected this as soon as i heard her voice.

You now have to deal with it by venting on this board. Question is: Will it be enough?

Why would you expect this? Maybe because her voice sounds like she should be PxP the antique roadshow instead of a hockey game ? Because that’s what should happen.

 

[7 others]

Why would you expect this? Maybe because her voice sounds like she should be PxP the antique roadshow instead of a hockey game ? Because that’s what should happen.

Maybe give your ears a little time to adapt? New things are scary, especially if you are older (like me). How about trying this real cool thing, it's very new and fresh. It's called: being open minded

 

[7 others]

I just think she will catch a lot of unsuspecting women who else wouldn't start watching this game.

 

[MuckOG]

I like her. She addresses a different kind of audience. I think ESPN knows what they are doing, they are reaching for a broader audience.

A lot of old farts in here who can't deal with this, old white grumpy men complex. I expected this as soon as i heard her voice.

You now have to deal with it by venting on this board. Question is: Will it be enough?

It was only a matter of time before somebody had to go down this road. Any criticism of a woman by a man is now out of bounds because it MUST be assumed that they are ONLY criticizing her BECAUSE she's a woman, not because of her performance. What an extremely patronizing viewpoint to have.

 

[7 others]

It was only a matter of time before somebody had to go down this road. Any criticism of a woman by a man is now out of bounds because it MUST be assumed that they are ONLY criticizing her BECAUSE she's a woman, not because of her performance. What an extremely patronizing viewpoint to have.

you call ME patronizing? How about the other 99% of stuck in the past neanderthals in this thread?

 

[Lions67]

I know this lady personally. ( She may or may not remember me all that well though. I used to hang out with her and Carmella Giuseppe and Mike Beauregard back when they all worked at CKY in Winnipeg in the late 80’s, early 90’s.)
I can tell you for certain that she worked her ass off to get where she is right now. No nepotism here at all.
This is really her “rookie season” doing pbp. Once she settles her nerves she will be fantastic.
She is already better than Cassie Campbell.

 

[MuckOG]

you call ME patronizing? How about the other 99% of stuck in the past neanderthals in this thread?

Yes. Because you seem to be implying that because Hextall is a woman, it's out of bounds to have a negative opinion of her. And its "only" white males who would have that opinion, as if all women or people of other races would automatically like her simply because she's a woman, not because of her competence as a PBP announcer.

That is PATRONIZING

 

[SoupNazi]

I know this lady personally. ( She may or may not remember me all that well though. I used to hang out with her and Carmella Giuseppe and Mike Beauregard back when they all worked at CKY in Winnipeg in the late 80’s, early 90’s.)
I can tell you for certain that she worked her ass off to get where she is right now. No nepotism here at all.
This is really her “rookie season” doing pbp. Once she settles her nerves she will be fantastic.
She is already better than Cassie Campbell.

Leah Hextall is 41. How old was she when she worked at CKY in the "late 80's?"

 

[CrazyMonkey1208]

So you cavemen have a problem with high pitch voices?

Society is moving on with or without you.

I read your post in Mike Tyson's voice, it made it hilarious

I'll take Rick Jeannette for another 50 years as PbP guy, please. No better voice than RJ's. He could make watching paint dry exciting

 

[tapi]

It's always the same thing when they force women unto the commenting booth: they are annoying and know nothing about the game. Better to switch to another channel in those cases, and the ladies should stick to ringette and other sports they are better suited for or at least female competitions.

 

[FissionFire]

Listening to her, I’d say my big gripe is her vocal range is too narrow currently. Hopefully it’s just nerves and will settle with time. Too often she just settles into a very small range where her volume may go up, but her tone stays the same which sort of creates a monotone lull that numbs the brain. Part of it is out of her control, higher pitched sounds tend to be harder to differentiate minor variances in that lower bass sounds, plus we are accustomed to a far lower range of tones and have adapted to them. She will be fine in time, but really needs to be more dramatic about her vocal tone shifts to make it easier to hear and notice and avoid the “numb” effect.

 

[Rob Brown]

I like her. She addresses a different kind of audience. I think ESPN knows what they are doing, they are reaching for a broader audience.

A lot of old farts in here who can't deal with this, old white grumpy men complex. I expected this as soon as i heard her voice.

You now have to deal with it by venting on this board. Question is: Will it be enough?

I'm not old or grumpy and I don't think she's good.

People are also allowed to disagree with you and critique her - that's part of the deal with being on TV, and it has nothing to do with being a woman. I certainly agree with society progressing and evolving so that everyone has a fair shot, but with that the door for criticism and feedback opens up.