Ranking the Broadcasting Teams

[pens#1]

Pens related because the Pens have announcers and they are ranked deadlast, enjoy.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Travis-Y ... /134/46296

[mikey287]

Notes as I think of them or see them:

- Pittsburgh's guys are just plain tough to deal with...Errey is excitable and a touch over the top sometimes, but would be tolerable if he had even an average pbp guy...he doesn't come close unfortunately...brutal...

- Shouldn't have allowed Brickley and the Bruins to slide so far down on account of Jack Edwards. Brickley (a former Pen) is an upper echelon color guy in the league

- Cangialosi had huge shoes to fill when Doc left and didn't get even close..."opening face" and "wide of goal" are two brutal things that get repeated too often. Chico isn't as funny without him and Doc going back and forth with their schtick...

- Mike Haynes from Colorado is tough to listen to sometimes...most of the time...Peter McNab can't save him either...

- Kerr falls for the same thing that Cangialosi fell for except SC is way worse...the Flames needed Loubardias to keep them entertaining as that ship sinks ever so slowly...

- Howie Rose got slightly more tolerable...but Butch Goring remains one of the worst color guys in the game especially when you adjust for the fact that he played and coached, it's bad, maybe worse than Edzo with the same criteria...

- The Detroit announcers are almost as bad as Philadelphia's in terms of listen-ability...Mickey Redmond is the biggest homer in the league, Larry Murphy blows, Mickey Redmond makes me want to catapult him and Ken Daniels into the sun. If the Wings get a penalty called on them "the fix is in" if the Wings lose it's because last Thursday was cloudy - they got every excuse in the book...no wonder they have some of the worst fans - in terms of tolerability - in all of sports, dreadful people...

- lol @ Olczyk, he can kill any broadcast...

- Engblom was much better in the booth for the Jets than between the benches nationally, way better...

- Flyers announcers are dreadful homers, Clement gets worse every year, Coates makes Steigerwald look competent...

- Darren Pang sometimes gets in the way, especially locally, but he's too much fun (with a fair bit of knowledge) to pass up on, especially for the very meh Federko...like his playing career, very forgettable despite gawdy numbers, or in this case, air time...

- Sam Rosen has lost it, was once great, but now he's just a senile old man that doesn't know all of the players and has trouble keeping pace...which means Micheletti has to cut him off even more and make some useless point about how much he likes Brandon Dubinsky..."pard me, Sam" "excuse me, Sam" every 5 seconds...JD never stepped on Sam's toes like that and he had 10x the knowledge...

- Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda, I can't get enough of them...if Remenda was just slightly more versatile in his overall knowledge of the game (he has a "theme" for every game it seems and he tries to force it throughout the telecast, it doesn't add much...) this pair would be at or near the top...terrific to listen to...Hahn is a quick thinker and has good chemsitry with the highly flammable Remenda...

- Surprised to see Washington's, Ottawa's, and Nashville's duos ahead of San Jose...I wouldn't agree with that. Beninati gets a bad rap, but I'm ok with him...a little over the top, but he calls a fine game...

- Jim Fox sounds like he's constantly going to commercial every time he speaks, drives me nuts...but it is a high-quality pair...

- Good call with Dallas so high, Reaugh provides a wealth of information, vocabulary and giggles...Strangis calls a really strong game and works well with Razor...a real treat to listen to these guys and Razor isn't all flash, he's knowledgeable as well...

[CERV96]

I can agree with this.

[columbia]

Howie Rose is much better at doing Mets games.
Not a fan of his hockey stylings.

[mikey287]

Howie Rose I'd much better at doing Mets games.
Not a fan of his hockey stylings.

Agree, I like him better doing the Mets as well...hockey is improving, but it's nothing more than average or thereabouts...

[scals37]

I have no problem with them...

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Through my travels I can say that a lot of hockey play by play is pretty average or blah. The Pens guys are pretty bad though. Not just how they announce which is not good but they make a lot of mistakes too.

Sometimes Steigy sounds like a 10 year old defending his buddy on the playground (He punched him first! I saw it!).

[offsides]

Steigy is terrible and for the life of me, I can not figure out how he keeps his job. Wonder if Root will ever wake up..................probably not.

[wondermoose]

For how interactive the Pens are with fans, it really amazes me that they keep bringing Steigy back. I'm down with Bob because he usually calls it like he sees it, even if it means taking a stab at a Penguin.

The one hint that you would think the Pens would take is that whenever there's a nationally televised Penguins moment, they use Lange's call.

[MRandall25]

Another thing to touch on about Errey:

It definitely seemed like (from my end) the stupid comments were subdued when he was in the booth with Mike Lange.

[Froggy]

I think Darren Pang is about as bad as it gets when he does blues games. Just a total sniveling whiney homer of the highest degree

[IMFC]

Laughlin sucks.

This guy must have a poster of Beninati on the ceiling over his bed and dreams of him riding on the back of his vespa to rank them that high.

[Sarcastic]

Even if you don't like Steigy/Errey, there are much worse duos out there, so whoever wrote that list isn't any kind of authority to me. I'll even add that Mike Emrick has been getting on my nerves more than any other announcer.

[Sarcastic]

Laughlin sucks.

Alright. Laughlin is the one guy worse than Emrick to me.

[tfrizz]

Totally agree with the Carolina & Florida guys high up on the list. Always enjoy hearing them do a game, they're about as unbiased as it gets.


IMO Dean Brown & Denis Potvin (Ottawa) are way too far up the list. It's pretty painful catching one of their broadcasts.

[skullman80]

Even if you don't like Steigy/Errey, there are much worse duos out there, so whoever wrote that list isn't any kind of authority to me. I'll even add that Mike Emrick has been getting on my nerves more than any other announcer.

Nah.. Steigerwald is pretty much the worst their is in the league. He is absolutely god awful. Errey is tolerable.

[no name]

Unless your a scout or something, who has ever sat down to listen to all the announcers in the league. I like Errey, Steigy isn't that bad i guess, but when you are used to listening to Lange its really hard to go over to steigy. That guy we had for one year was pretty good. I just didn't like the fact he had no ties to Pittsburgh. Sounded like he was announcing for 2 teams he was indifferent to. I like a little "homer" attitude from my announcers. Atleast guys who know something about the home team.

[Hawkeynut]

I have no trouble with Steigerwald, I don't watch hockey for the announcers. I also have no trouble with the "homer" approach. We are watching a home telecast, it is to be expected.

Much adieu about nothing really.

[count2infinity]

I don't like Steigerwald, but I don't hate him. It's at least watchable as long as you're a pens fan. I know a lot of non pens fans that hate him and refuse to listen to him (then again, I know some pens fans that do the same).

[RisslingsMissingTeeth]

I am Beninati biased as I got to meet him once, as in literally stand around talking with him with no one around, and he had to be one of the nicest, most down to earth people around. Laughlin with his "dasher" comments every 5 seconds though makes me want to pound his face in. Ugh, the way he used to "Pivonka" was grating.

Also, I love the Nashville announcers. I watched a lot of their games on Center Ice last year and they are comforting and fair.

[columbia]

If I weren't a Penguins fan, I'd take Beninati over Steigy any day.
Steigy's strong point is his knowledge of the history of the team. That's important, but man is he bad at doing play by play.

[meow]

If you ever watch Errey on NHL Network, he is totally different then when he is doing a Pens game. He's calm, speaks slower and it is easier to take him seriously. He has a wealth of player-perspective knowledge, but he has a hard time getting it out intelligently. Steigy on the other hand, he makes me cringe at least once a game.

[steelhammer]

Steigy and Errey have moved into the 'they are so bad that they are good' territory for me. Not sure when that happened exactly, but I much prefer them to any Doc Emmorick broadcast.

That not withstanding, what's wrong with the announcers being homers? The are, in this case, Penguins broadcasters, not NHL broadcasters. The fans tuning in are mostly Pens' fans. I wish they were even less objective.

[columbia]

I wish they were even less objective.

I've give you two points for originality, on that comment.

[shmenguin]

I think Darren Pang is about as bad as it gets when he does blues games. Just a total sniveling whiney homer of the highest degree

yeah, pang turned into a total turd this year. though it doesn't help that his team was probably the dirtiest group of players i saw (except for us in the playoffs ).