Pre-Game Talk: Round 2 - Canes vs Bolts
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The Faulker 27
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Boom Boom Apathy
I am the Professor. Deal with it!
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Better yet, severely “E. coli” undercooked.
Roboturner913
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Outside of the obvious, what exactly is the problem people seem to have with AJ Whatsherface? Like, I don't think she's God's gift to broadcasting or something but she's perfectly fine, considering the occupation of NHL color commentators seems to be populated by halfwits and creepers who vomit nonstop corny-ass hamfisted garbage
Roboturner913
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Think I said this before, but I think a fair amount of Dougie's penalties are based on his reputation for lollygagging. If he's coasting and he has his stick anywhere near an opponent's feet, and that player falls, he's not getting the benefit of the doubt. Ref's going to assume he was lazy with his stick because he was lazy on his skates. And I mean, I get it. Refs can't always be in the perfect spot, they have to rely on visual cues. Unfortunate but it's reality.
Roboturner913
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Lame boring ass restaurant appropriate for a lame boring ass team, these pukes don't have the guts to show their ugly turdbreath faces at a Cook-Out or Waffle House like real men
Lempo
Recovering Future Considerations Truther
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I haven't seen her at work so I can't comment on that, but generally I wouldn't think it a high personal praise if someone is considered to be right at home with and not sticking out from this kind of group.
Roboturner913
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That's kinda the point though, she's not an outlandish annoying trainwreck on the air. Which is more than you can say for people like Jack Edwards or Pierre McGuire (and yes, even Tripp Tracy, who I would more than likely hate if I wasn't immersed in his shtick from watching all his games)
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
The only thing I can see (outside of the obvious, as noted) is that she doesn’t have a traditional sportscaster-style delivery. She talks like a normal person having a normal conversation, and we’re used to getting blasted with high volume chatter. It’s the difference between listening to an audiobook and getting harangued by a carny.
Personally I think she brings a lot of legitimate insight to the game. She points out technical details that even committed hockey fans are unlikely to notice, and that’s not common in national broadcasts. I’ve learned from listening to her, which is more than I can say for the majority of color guys. We do not need to be told at 90 decibels that the game is going to hinge on which team wants it more, or that so-and-so is a real heart and soul player. It’s more interesting to know that Aho opened up his hips as he picked up that loose puck, which gave him the stability and heads-up awareness to make the right pass.
The best description I’ve seen of the USA broadcast was when someone said it’s like baseball-style commentary at a hockey pace. In that context, if Mlezcko just chattered and became white noise to ignore, she’d get roasted even harder. As it is, she’s giving us stuff to think about and that’s not working either because people don’t think she sounds “right”. It makes you wonder what people really want, except again for the obvious.
bleedgreen
Registered User
I think I have a choice of our broadcast and the National one with her and I haven’t even blinked about choosing the National one. She’s been great, and while the other guy isn’t the most educated on the Canes he’s miles over Big Rig.
She’s a breath of fresh air as she’s talking about actual hockey and she’s not....well.....Tripp. When the guys hop over the boards to change on a face off she isn’t giving credit to the coaching staff for the conditioning the guys are showing skating all the way to the face off dot. Or talking about how the cerebral way a guy puts a stick in a passing lane is an extension of how amazing a quality human being he is off the ice.
She’s a breath of fresh air as she’s talking about actual hockey and she’s not....well.....Tripp. When the guys hop over the boards to change on a face off she isn’t giving credit to the coaching staff for the conditioning the guys are showing skating all the way to the face off dot. Or talking about how the cerebral way a guy puts a stick in a passing lane is an extension of how amazing a quality human being he is off the ice.
Lempo
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So are you saying that instead of giving us information of the on-ice happenstances we the audience have long since been accustomed to play-by-play being there merely to create the "correct" hockey atmosphere with the usual high-octane droning?
And the actual and few tactical notions are to be given only in the between-the-periods commentary with slow motion and computer graphics?
And the actual and few tactical notions are to be given only in the between-the-periods commentary with slow motion and computer graphics?
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
When you say it like that, it sounds like we’ve been conditioned to desire a substandard product.
Lempo
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Full disclosure: this is a long time complaint in my whereabouts, where the big audience is assumed to crave for the funny stuff and antics of our long time international games pbp guy, leaving the supposed serious hockey followers fuming about the poor quality play-by-play.
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Roboturner913
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To overuse a word, it seems like "the obvious" is obviously the problem those people have with her.
It's bizarre how deep this stuff runs with some. Like, I remember my great-uncle, by all other accounts a relatively enlightened person, ranting and raving years ago about how that new Star Trek show had a woman captain, and how he would never trust a woman to be in charge of anything and how it was all just for publicity. This is a person who taught college English and raised four (four!!!) daughters. If nothing else, you'd think he'd want his own children to grow up in a world where they had better opportunities, but I guess not. I was unsurprised to recently learn that none of those kids have much to do with him; the two younger girls (probably late 20s early 30s by now) are basically estranged from him.
some people just suck
It's bizarre how deep this stuff runs with some. Like, I remember my great-uncle, by all other accounts a relatively enlightened person, ranting and raving years ago about how that new Star Trek show had a woman captain, and how he would never trust a woman to be in charge of anything and how it was all just for publicity. This is a person who taught college English and raised four (four!!!) daughters. If nothing else, you'd think he'd want his own children to grow up in a world where they had better opportunities, but I guess not. I was unsurprised to recently learn that none of those kids have much to do with him; the two younger girls (probably late 20s early 30s by now) are basically estranged from him.
some people just suck
Lempo
Recovering Future Considerations Truther
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I don't know, maybe the actual problem for those people is the perceived in-your-face they see in that. If you make a specific point in your marketing of the person being a woman, then you kind of open up the door for the criticism that you chose a woman for the sake of your point-making. If you only imply of the point made, then it gets ugly and political.
Disclaimer: I don't know if in these cases there were any such marketing.
Lempo
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Tangentially, this reminds me of the time when certain someones suggested that Sara would get stats info from Dom Luszczyszyn, and it was taken as those one guys were suggesting the woman should go to a man for to get good proper intelligence, when the actual thought behind the thought was that a reporter for whom the stats are not a forte could get said intel from a stats expert.
It's kind of funny though if proper intel by A. J. Mleczko is not welcome because she's not a hype man which is the expectation in that role.
But on the positive side, the internet didn't fail me and this time my search found that someone has made the expected meme:
It's kind of funny though if proper intel by A. J. Mleczko is not welcome because she's not a hype man which is the expectation in that role.
But on the positive side, the internet didn't fail me and this time my search found that someone has made the expected meme:
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For me, I don't have problem with what she's saying, but her technical delivery needs some coaching and improvement. I know that will come with time. It seems to be that she's not the best at picking up her cues to make her comments and doesn't have her timing down so then she's rushing to get everything she wants to say in which makes her look like she doesn't know what she is saying. It also sounds like she has no connection with the main announcer, like they are two random people talking about the game. She will get better with time. I just don't know if the national level is the place to get it.
Lempo
Recovering Future Considerations Truther
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But then again, finding out who has the natural talent to excel in the job is part of the fun with having well-known former players as an expert commentator.
I don't think it's very plausible or even wise to expect a person of this profile to start from lower leagues and build up a commentator career from there.
She has a future. I don't notice these issues as much as you did, but this says to me her future may be in a studio for ESPN and TNT if that timing doesn't come with time vs in the booth.
Either way, I agree she's been good. The worst I can say about her is there are times I don't notice her at all. Which is something I cannot say about McGuire or Edwards, or even Tripp.
I'd like to see her paired with a guy of Doc or John's capabilities; a more cerebral play-by-play caller would probably give her knowledge of the game and non-standard (lack of macho bullshit) commentary the spotlight it deserves. Pairing her with run of the mill play-by-play guys does her skills an injustice.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
So… regardless how the marketing is done, either way she’s going to get criticized as undeserving of her job because of her gender?
Seems like that puts a finger on the problem. This argument had to happen, no matter what, because at the end of the day there are “some people” just waiting for a woman to show up so they can berate her for not belonging.
hblueridgegal
We'll bounce back
Last summer, she did well in studio during the bubble playoffs...was insightful and her conversational delivery was on point with the others presenting. Much more so than some of the folks they’ve had on as of late.
A non #2 overall pick would have been benched/ice time cut if he’d taken so many penalties. The good outweighs the bad, obviously, but it’s a glaring hole in Svech’s game. And if someone has the stats to show it’s getting worse (or better!) then that’d be great to see.
