The funniest bit about Jack Edwards threads is that there's always a pretty large % of fans of other teams who simply assume that Edwards is the Bruins color commentator and therefore it's okay for him to be talking like a fan.
In reality of course he's the play-by-play guy. The guy who's supposed to be the 'straight man', the Ron MacLean act to the color guy's Don Cherry act. The guy whose primary job is to describe what's happening on the ice in a matter of fact way.
Does anyone outside Boston even know who the Bruins' actual color guy is? I think it's Andy Brickley, but no-one actually cares. Next to Jack Edwards that dude doesn't look so colorful at all. I think what Boston actually needs to do is, drop that dude, replace him with Edwards and hire a standard PBP guy who sticks to that job. As a PBP man Edwards is an embarrassment, as a color guy he'd still be pretty damn partisan, but it'd be more in line with what you expect.
The problem is of course that the color guy is also supposed to provide inside knowledge and analysis of the game. Brickley is a former professional hockey player, Edwards is a career media guy who is no more qualified to talk about hockey than anyone on this forum. If we're honest though, does your average drunken Bruins fan watching their games really expect Brinkley to provide some top notch analysis? I doubt it. I suspect Edwards would do just fine in that role, though it is somewhat terrifying to think what Edwards would consider an acceptable level of partisanship and seriousness for the color commentator role given how he approaches the play-by-play position. If we're currently seeing a restrained Jack Edwards, how would a Jack Edwards with carte blanche look?
