ESPN+ Sucks!

[tny760]

There’s plenty of terrible male PBP announcers. Curious why no one ever says what you did about them.

faust literally gets it every single game..

 

[SmytheKing]

faust literally gets it every single game..

They say they don’t care what gender he is and suggest he’s just being hired because he’s a man? I’ve never heard that but I suppose I could have missed it.

 

[tny760]

They say they don’t care what gender he is and suggest he’s just being hired because he’s a man? I’ve never heard that but I suppose I could have missed it.

what a ridiculously disingenuous argument

he's been accused of using this position as a stepping stone into national work, he's consistently called out as not being a hockey fan at all..

 

[The Moose is Loose]

There’s plenty of terrible male PBP announcers. Curious why no one ever says what you did about them.

The game has been pretty boring with very little flow and a million face offs. Complaining about her excitement level seems like people waiting to complain about a woman.

She’s also 1000x better than Hayward and Ahlers.

People complain about male PBP announcers all the time, what are you talking about? Every complaint about PBP announcers historically has been about a man.

Seems like you just want to make the criticism about her gender rather than the fact she’s not a good announcer. It’s a tougher job than people realize and when someone isn’t natural/fluid it’s immediately noticeable

 

[SuperJoe]

There’s plenty of terrible male PBP announcers. Curious why no one ever says what you did about them.

The game has been pretty boring with very little flow and a million face offs. Complaining about her excitement level seems like people waiting to complain about a woman.

She’s also 1000x better than Hayward and Ahlers.

If you truly enjoyed her call the game good for you I guess, for me it's on mute.

 

[tny760]

Seems like you just want to make the criticism about her gender rather than the fact she’s not a good announcer.

not out of character for him

 

[Fenway]

ESPN+ has Torts in the studio so...........

 

[I3LI3]

alright head me out, the more I listened to this over and over, the more she sounds like Ash Ketchum lmao. I can’t unhear it now.

 

[NeelyWasAWarrior]

Because 1, they aren't as bad. 2, it doesn't sound like a 9 year old boy is calling the game... I'd imagine most people just find high voices hard to listen to, it's subjective of course, but it's grating.

Exactly. Back in the day, movie producers would spend endless days casting actors that met certain criteria for certain characters. The voice, the look, believability and so on. Now they just hire willy nilly which is partly why movies today are so bad.

Same thing with ESPN. They hire their broadcasters willy nilly. PBP quality is secondary. look at steve levy. He has a terrible pbp voice and has no business being the pbp guy for MNF. I would say the same about female announcers. Their boyish/childish voice doesn't match the grit, grind and violence of a men's game. It's very out of place. I certainly wouldn't hire a man to do voiceover of a female character in a disney movie.

everything now has a just do it mentality with everything else be damned. artistically and vocally it doesn't always work.

 

[heynowbababooey]

alright head me out, the more I listened to this over and over, the more she sounds like Ash Ketchum lmao. I can’t unhear it now.

This was easily the worst commentary I've ever heard in my life. The game was nearly unwatchable because of it.

 

[542365]

ESPN+ is vastly superior to NHL.tv AND it's much cheaper.

 

[Fenway]

This was easily the worst commentary I've ever heard in my life. The game was nearly unwatchable because of it.

I know Leah personally and have been rooting for her but tonight was rough. I know she works very hard on preparing and she is an EXCELLENT reporter but she doesn't have the pipes.

NBC considered Mary Carillo for NHL play by play - she had the pipes



The best play-by-play person I have heard in my lifetime was the late Bob Wilson who did Bruins radio from the mid-'60s into the '90s and he fell into the job because he had a great set of pipes.

There are very few audio archives of him calling games as WBZ Boston erased the tapes



Wilson walked away during the 1994-95 lockout when he was laid off by WRKO-AM Boston and retired.

But he came back for the last regular-season game at Boston Garden and Steve Levy on ESPN2 gave him the mike without warning - it took Bob about a minute to feel comfortable.

 

[timorous me]

Exactly. Back in the day, movie producers would spend endless days casting actors that met certain criteria for certain characters. The voice, the look, believability and so on. Now they just hire willy nilly which is partly why movies today are so bad.

Same thing with ESPN. They hire their broadcasters willy nilly. PBP quality is secondary. look at steve levy. He has a terrible pbp voice and has no business being the pbp guy for MNF. I would say the same about female announcers. Their boyish/childish voice doesn't match the grit, grind and violence of a men's game. It's very out of place. I certainly wouldn't hire a man to do voiceover of a female character in a disney movie.

everything now has a just do it mentality with everything else be damned. artistically and vocally it doesn't always work.

ESPN is weird. They tend to like to just use their existing talent in different roles, particularly between play-by-play and studio hosts, thinking that everyone is interchangeable or capable of doing these different jobs. That's how we've got McDonough and Buccigross as two of the main play-by-play guys now (I've liked McD on other sports, and Buccigross, like Steve Levy, strikes me as much better as a studio host).

This can fly better, I think, with some other sports, but hockey is a different beast. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I wish they took whatever they spent to hire Messier and gave that to make Gord Miller their #1 play-by-play guy. It's a sport where the person calling the game makes a massive difference, but they don't care or don't get that. Like Kenny Albert may sound like he has marbles in his mouth (quoting my wife) but he can call a game well enough.

The irony is that Leah Hextall is the one outside play-by-play hire they did make. It really does make one wonder what the suits are thinking at the network and if they see the NHL as much more than just a means to prop up their streaming service.

 

[timorous me]

ESPN+ is vastly superior to NHL.tv AND it's much cheaper.

I'd be curious to know what you think is superior. I know some had issues with the stream at times on NHL.tv, but that's something I saw very little of over the past decade. Beyond that, I struggle to see anything to feel good about when making the comparison, though I have primarily used it on the Roku and I know NHL.tv wasn't as good on other platforms (I didn't use it on the iPad often, for instance, because watching replays gave away the time of game marker which feels like a spoiler of sorts to me, though now I haven't found any ESPN platform where they don't have that).

 

[Fenway]

This can fly better, I think, with some other sports, but hockey is a different beast. Maybe I'm a weirdo, but I wish they took whatever they spent to hire Messier and gave that to make Gord Miller their #1 play-by-play guy. It's a sport where the person calling the game makes a massive difference, but they don't care or don't get that. Like Kenny Albert may sound like he has marbles in his mouth (quoting my wife) but he can call a game well enough.

The irony is that Leah Hextall is the one outside play-by-play hire they did make. It really does make one wonder what the suits are thinking at the network and if they see the NHL as much more than just a means to prop up their streaming service.

Gord Miller made it clear he wanted to make sure he kept his World Juniors gig on TSN.

ESPN owns a part of TSN ( I believe it is 30% which is the maximum allowed by the Canadian government )

 

[I3LI3]

yeaaaah…

 

[heynowbababooey]

I know Leah personally and have been rooting for her but tonight was rough. I know she works very hard on preparing and she is an EXCELLENT reporter but she doesn't have the pipes.

NBC considered Mary Carillo for NHL play by play - she had the pipes



The best play-by-play person I have heard in my lifetime was the late Bob Wilson who did Bruins radio from the mid-'60s into the '90s and he fell into the job because he had a great set of pipes.

There are very few audio archives of him calling games as WBZ Boston erased the tapes



Wilson walked away during the 1994-95 lockout when he was laid off by WRKO-AM Boston and retired.

But he came back for the last regular-season game at Boston Garden and Steve Levy on ESPN2 gave him the mike without warning - it took Bob about a minute to feel comfortable.

Yeah, she's terrible.

 

[Hall of Faber]

Just watched the Wild opener reply. As someone who can’t watch live games much I’m thrilled to have to service for 5 bucks a month! Took 80 minutes to watch the whole game. Everything was smooth. Live games will suck with the blackout commercials.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Hextal is garbage as a play by play person . Game is muted for me. It’s cringe worthy. There has to be a better play by play person out there than her.

When Jeanneret finally retires or dies in his commentating chair from refusal to retire, perhaps she can take over his job. They seem to love a nasal shrieking voice as a commentator in Buffalo and they're used to it.

 

[Leonardo87]

Cally and Torts were very good. Had some nostalgia there. Cally talking about Brian Boyle’s goal and return to the NHL was very cool, and of course Torts goes to the kicking goal, lol. Classic Torts.

Play by play and color were ok, Boucher was very monotone, and that 2nd Wild goal call was cringeworthy but I think I was more upset with the Ducks blowing the game with 7 seconds left.

 

[Prettyisland]

When Jeanneret finally retires or dies in his commentating chair from refusal to retire, perhaps she can take over his job. They seem to love a nasal shrieking voice as a commentator in Buffalo and they're used to it.

I am not a buffalo fan and I found this post blasphemous and offensive lol

 

[jkrdevil]

I know Leah personally and have been rooting for her but tonight was rough. I know she works very hard on preparing and she is an EXCELLENT reporter but she doesn't have the pipes.

NBC considered Mary Carillo for NHL play by play - she had the pipes



The best play-by-play person I have heard in my lifetime was the late Bob Wilson who did Bruins radio from the mid-'60s into the '90s and he fell into the job because he had a great set of pipes.

There are very few audio archives of him calling games as WBZ Boston erased the tapes

Wilson walked away during the 1994-95 lockout when he was laid off by WRKO-AM Boston and retired.

But he came back for the last regular-season game at Boston Garden and Steve Levy on ESPN2 gave him the mike without warning - it took Bob about a minute to feel comfortable.

This isn’t Leah’s fault. She is being in an awful situation. ESPN should have hired her to do studio initially and have her do college hockey / KHL play by play to give her the reps necessary to build her up. That’s what a competent company does for people who they see potential in but don’t have the experience yet.

ESPN makes dumbfounding decisions that puts their talent in awful situations. They had Emily Kaplan between benches on Tuesday. She is a reporter not an analyst and as a result she brought nothing. She should be in the Bob Mackenzie / Elliotte spot on the intermission show, but instead they reduced her to a sideline reporter chiming in with the “I talked to so and so before the game garbage.”

As someone else in the thread said they don’t care. They got their 75 games to prop up espn+ and they killed off one of their biggest competitors for rights.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

There are very few audio archives of him calling games as WBZ Boston erased the tapes

How does something like this happen? Why would tapes be erased? Also, are old archives ever converted to digital for storage?

 

[ElysiumAB]

I'd be curious to know what you think is superior. I know some had issues with the stream at times on NHL.tv, but that's something I saw very little of over the past decade. Beyond that, I struggle to see anything to feel good about when making the comparison, though I have primarily used it on the Roku and I know NHL.tv wasn't as good on other platforms (I didn't use it on the iPad often, for instance, because watching replays gave away the time of game marker which feels like a spoiler of sorts to me, though now I haven't found any ESPN platform where they don't have that).

I'm not the person you asked, but I'll tell you two things immediately that are HUGE improvements for me.

I generally watch through the NHL app on PS4, the NHL app used to get hung up buffering a few times a game and you'd return to the room with the same 3 seconds of audio just looping incessantly... super annoying. No issues so far through the ESPN app.

The BIGGEST, by far improvement for me... no NHL Network commercials. Hear me out. So, maybe it's because I'm in the states and watch a lot of Canada games, but the commercial breaks on NHL.tv were always the same 2-3 terrible NHL Network commercials for literally every commercial break, FOR MONTHS. Currently, ESPN is some regular ads and anything that isn't an ad is SILENCE.

I know that might not sound like a big deal, but I swear the commercials alone make this so much easier to watch.

 

[Dolemite]

I'm not the person you asked, but I'll tell you two things immediately that are HUGE improvements for me.

I generally watch through the NHL app on PS4, the NHL app used to get hung up buffering a few times a game and you'd return to the room with the same 3 seconds of audio just looping incessantly... super annoying. No issues so far through the ESPN app.

The BIGGEST, by far improvement for me... no NHL Network commercials. Hear me out. So, maybe it's because I'm in the states and watch a lot of Canada games, but the commercial breaks on NHL.tv were always the same 2-3 terrible NHL Network commercials for literally every commercial break, FOR MONTHS. Currently, ESPN is some regular ads and anything that isn't an ad is SILENCE.

I know that might not sound like a big deal, but I swear the commercials alone make this so much easier to watch.

The new show 'The Point' is the show that US NHL fans have been thirsting for since forever. They're knocking it out of the park right now with every show.