Craig Simpson

[647Hockey]

What makes Sportsnet think he is suitable to provide colour commentary for the playoffs? He doesn’t bring much insight and he’s hardly been impartial.

the Sportsnet bias is insufferable, should have left them behind with the Leafs, they should have used the Oilers crew, at the very least Louie DeBrusk and Jack Michaels have a modicum of appreciation and professionalism to call a fair game for other teams beside their own

I prefer watching TNT broadcasts hoping they carry the right game to watch. And with the finals, they carry it as its the only series left. Way better play by play and intermissions analysis. Intermission analysis also has cool replays and drawing board stuff too where the panel discusses replays. And since he panel is all ex-players you get experienced chat. Sportsnet has guys like Ron McLean or Eliotte Friedman who arent even players. And the rest (Botteril, Hurdey and Kevin Bieksa are all ultra homers).

Sportsnet is the worst of them all. Chris Cuthbert actually is decent. He's probably the least biased play by play guy on Canadian hockey telecasts. But the side commentator guys are always the worst. Simpson, Galley, Debrusk Jim Ralph doing sidekick commentating to Bowan in Leaf radio games etc...

You'd think it'd be the other around where the main play by play guy is ultra homer and the sidekick chimes in with impartial stats and tips about both teams. But it's actually the other way around where the sidekick is ultra homer..... always skewed to hyping up players, bad reffing calls, etc...

Watch Jays games as Shulman and Buck Martinez drool over Jays. It's nauseating. When a Jays guy gets a bad call for a strike, they go ape shit. When a Jays pitcher gets a lucky strikeout on a favourable called strike they shut their mouths or "looks like xxx got a bit of a break".

Just earlier today in post game, Luke Gazdik goes on one of his endless Oilers rants. it took Ken Reid to interject about Panthers and Bobrovsky which put Gazdik on the spot and he had to then talk about him. If he didnt ask about Bobby, Gazdik would had spoke about Oilers for 20 minute straight even though Panthers crushed them.

If Canadian team wins: All talk about Canadian team
If Canadian loses: All talk about Canadian team

For you guys who only watch Sportsnet or TSN, find some US feeds like ESPN or TNT and you'll notice the coverage so much more balanced even though it's an American channel. But if you prefer the focus of the telecast to be on the Canadian team, then stick with TSN/Sportsnet.

 

[Hotsam Batcho]

Craig Simpsons face looks like a urinal. Everytime I see I wanna take a piss.

 

[Ray Mercer]

Jack Michaels should be calling these games. His enthusiasm is off the charts. He's the best play by play guy in the business right now. You can't help but jump out of your seat when he calls Edmonton goals.

 

[David Suzuki]

Why does that matter? If I'm watching Sportsnet, I want the guys to root for the Canadian team, to be fanboys of them. Impartial sports networks are boring as hell.


That isn't to say Simpson is good though.

Sportsnet is a national broadcast there are plenty of people in Canada not cheering for the Oilers.

But even bigger than that, they are the main broadcaster of the spot in the world, they should be as unbiased as they possibly can be. We used to call that being professional.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Simpson gets so excited as soon as the Oilers do anything.

 

[Son of Nogatco]

sometimes in my theater room I watch with the center channel turned down/off.

Good call, gonna have to try that sometime.

I love when ESPN does college football simulcasts with the overhead camera and no commentary — just the sounds of the game, the crowd, and the bands. Maybe someday we’ll got a hockey equivalent.

 

[hfman]

Cuthbert and Simpson are a terrible duo, people have loved Cuthbert for a long time, but i never liked him.

however, biases aren't really a thing here, its a Canadian national broadcast for Canadians. It's not going to be unbiased.

They would be acting the same way if any of the other 6 Canadian teams made the finals

I was all for Cuthbert as well when Cole retired and thought that Chris was the perfect replacement.

And was even happier when Hughson was given the boot and Cuthbert took the #1 spot.

But now years later, Cuthbert sounds way too soft and his calls are no longer exciting. Not sure that he was always this way or he's just losing his step. But there's no more excitement with him calling the games anymore. But Rogers loves his soft, gentle sound which fits in perfectly to erode the "toxic male masculine" style that we've all loved for our entire lives.

All of a sudden it seems like having Hughson back would boost the excitement again but we all know that Rogers considers his style as too male-dominated and we can't have that in a male-dominated sport now can we