Jump to content

Buccigross on RJ & JL


nfreeman

Recommended Posts

from his mailbag today:

 

Dear Bucci,

 

As someone who routinely watches seven NHL games at once, I'm sure you have your opinions on the TV broadcasting tandems in the league. Who are your top five best hockey commentators (both play-by-play and color) around the NHL?

 

...

 

[answer:] I base this on the strength, listen-ability, and likeability of the play-by-play man and the color man.

 

1) Dallas Stars

2) Detroit

3) Buffalo

4) Vancouver

5) 26 tied for fifth.

 

 

 

You may or may not like Bucci (I do), but still pretty nice to see our guys get that kind of praise on espn.com. I don't think I've heard either the dallas or detroit guys. I generally like all of the canadian announcers.

 

All we need is something to get RJ excited about tonight...

 

go Sabres.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's funny because I also watch a ton of Center Ice and the Dallas and Detroit guys do not stand out to me one way or the other ... which maybe is a good thing. I LOVE the Vancouver guys too, definitely my second-favorite behind our guys.

 

haha yeah same here. I usually don't even watch Detriot on center ice unless they play on TSN.

 

Speaking of Dallas, earlier this season i watched their game on center ice, and they were on a 5v3 penalty kill. Instead of showing regular cameras, they had the "Turco cam"... for the entire 5v3 which was like almost 2 minutes long. Basicially, no matter where the puck was, the camera was on Marty Turco. Kinda like viewing from center ice, but you couldn't see the other team set up and make passes, just Turco moving and making saves. It was the most bootleg PP i've ever seen in my life. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last night was a classic call. The interuption to Rob Ray's on the ice commentary to announce Gaustads goal was great, and then when the fans were doing the wave, that commentary about excersizing had me laughing. These guys are treasures.

I caught that. Hilarious. There is nothing more fun to listen to than smart guys who really know the game having fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've lived in Detroit and I currently live near Dallas. I hate the Stars, but I have to admit that Ralph Strangis (play by play) and Daryl Reaugh (color) are easy on the ears. Strangis delivers a straight-up play call; he describes the action well, and even though he's more businesslike than RJ, the rise and fall of the action can be heard in his tone. Razor (yeah, they call Reaugh that as well) knows the game, knows the players, and is just goofy enough to come across as a likeable fan of the game.

 

Detroit has a good tandem as well, although it was better when it was Dave Strater and Micky Redmond full time. Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond do most of the games these days, although Mickey doesn't travel much and Larry Murphy often does the color commentary on the road. Daniels is just okay to me. He's a good announcer, but I just can't warm up to the guy; he's not a personality like RJ. Micky, though, is a great old school hockey guy. There are a lot of Mickey-isms. Just like RJ likes to use phrases like, "where Momma hides the cookies", Mickey Redmond uses a lot of colorful phrases like "BC two-hander" to describe a particularly nasty slash, or talking about "going out for a few ginger ales" when referring to hockey players drinking heavily. The guy's a treasure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was watching the game last night and came away with a different perspective. Maybe beacuse I have had to listen to RJ for soooo long without actually seeing the game I had formed a different perception. But now I have CI and get to watch and hear at the same time. RJ exxagerates the play very frequently by changing the intonation in his voice. How often on the radio have you heard him say shottttt and you think it was a quality chance when in fact the slap shot was wide of the mark? He is presupposing that every shot on goal is actually gonna make it there.

 

<RANT ON> Showing radio announcers doing the wave is a waste of air and tape. God I hate the wave and every fan that can find no other way to enjoy themselves at a game than to watch people stand up and sit down. I hate it at Sabres games and I really hate it at Bills games.

I also don't like his ice cream commercials on WGR55. I don't begrudge the man making some extra coin, but those commercials annoy me to know end. They are really low budget. <RANT OFF> This will surely get the ire of a few folks here, but oh well. I do admire his ability to call the game play.

 

I'm impressed that these guys can decipher who the player is for both teams without hesitation. Some of these uniforms and numbers are hard to read especially at the pace and angle the game is played at. Yet they seem to know who is on the ice, leaving the ice and involved in the play in real time. I know it is their profession and they should be good at it, but many aren't and therefor they just call part of the play ala Bob Costis. RJ is a pure game caller with a touch of embellishment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not going to give you a hard time, because I hate the wave too. But for a young kid, and there did seem to be a lot of youngsters at the game, it was probably fun. And if I'm not mistaken, that period of the wave was during a delay(was it the busted glass?), so it didn't take away from the game. When your beloved team scores 7 in one period, even the silly wave isn't going to get me down. That RJ and JL had some fun with it made me laugh. Lot's of guys that age are just old curmudgeons, these guys aren't.

 

As for the SHOTTTT! thing......here's how I see it. When an oponent or your own player have a chance to shoot and score, there is a point where the sticks in motion, and the shot could go anywhere. That's the SHOTTTTT! excitement RJ gives us. That half the time the shot misses the net doen't take away from the excitement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's funny because I also watch a ton of Center Ice and the Dallas and Detroit guys do not stand out to me one way or the other ... which maybe is a good thing. I LOVE the Vancouver guys too, definitely my second-favorite behind our guys.

I'd probably put Vancouver #2 (behind the obvious pair) and then could see going with Dallas' announcers. I also like the Nashville guys (props to Pete Weber although he's more of a baseball announcer than a hockey announcer) and liked listening to LA's announcers last season (haven't heard them this year yet).

 

I could probably take or leave Detroit's crew, but Mickey Redmond's constant whining about the new rules enforcement last season turned me off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could probably take or leave Detroit's crew, but Mickey Redmond's constant whining about the new rules enforcement last season turned me off.

Well, with Mickey, that's what you get: The old school, original six viewpoint. I don't always agree with him, but I enjoy listening to him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...