OT: Rogers unveils full broadcasting lineup

[rojac]

In 2013-14, here was the breakdown for Leaf games:

Leafs TV: 17 games
SN Ontario: 23 games
TSN: 17 games
HNIC: 25 games

In 2014-15, the breakdown is this:

Leafs TV: 0 games
SN Ontario: 15 games
TSN4: 26 games
City TV: 4 games
SN National: 13 games
HNIC: 24 games

So, if compare what we're likely to get in broadcast teams compared to last season, what do we get?

I would say that HNIC is pretty much a wash -- likely to be primarily the same crew with Strombo largely replacing MacLean. I honestly think Strombo will be okay -- he'll just be a little annoying in a way than MacLean was a little annoying.

Given that it's the Leafs, I expect that the TSN Regional Leafs games will pretty much feature the TSN A team so we actually get 9 more games with that crew this year. I'd consider this an improvement.

Given that I think Romanuk/Randorf isn't a big difference from Bowen, the SN Ontario games shouldn't be much different than last year's. In fact, they could be better depending upon what insiders/studio analysts they use. In any event, there are 8 fewer of them this year. I'd also consider this an improvement (primarily because there are fewer).

This leaves us with the SN National/City games which at worse I think will be just below HNIC in quality. And when you consider that these 17 games effectively replace the 17 games on Leafs TV, this is a huge improvement.

So, in my opinion, the quality of Leafs broadcast overall should be better this season than last.

Of course, all these assumptions are based on viewers having access to all games either because they live in the Leafs region or because they have GameCentre or Centre Ice.

 

[HarryLime]

ugh hate sportsnet but it's not a big deal

 

[James Duthie]

No Bowen, freaking idiots. Leafs games are gonna be a bore, TSN I miss you

 

[Pyrophorus]

Missing Bowen?

Turn on the radio.

I like GS, I just don't like another Hab fan being part of national hockey for the next 12 years.

 

[Suntouchable13]

TSN4?? What the hell? By the way, who will be calling the games on our regional TSN broadcasts?

 

[rojac]

TSN4?? What the hell? By the way, who will be calling the games on our regional TSN broadcasts?

http://www.bellmediapr.ca/Network/TSN/Press/Toronto-Maple-Leafs-Games

According to this press release, play-by-play will be Gord Miller or Chris Cuthbert with analysis by Ray Ferraro or Jamie McLennan.

 

[rojac]

No Bowen, freaking idiots. Leafs games are gonna be a bore, TSN I miss you

This makes little sense. Bowen hasn't called Leafs games on TSN (TV) for years.

Bowen would have only been calling 17 games anyway. It seemed pretty clear that TSN would like use Miller and Cuthbert for regional Leaf games.-- it's one of their most valuable hockey properties. So that would just leave the 17 SN regional games.

 

[Nyax]

It's a shame that Jim Hughson has any National access. He may not yet be available, but Ken Daniels (Detroit) would be a fantastic support and eventual heir to Cole.

God no. Do you watch Red Wing broadcasts? Daniels spends half the game kissing Mickey Redmond's ass. He can stay in Detroit.

 

[DatsyukianDeke*]

Didn't like Bowen at all. I hated this "Holy Mackinaw" on every single thing, got very annoying real quick.

 

[DatsyukianDeke*]

God no. Do you watch Red Wing broadcasts? Daniels spends half the game kissing Mickey Redmond's ass. He can stay in Detroit.

As a Wings fan, that is simply not true. You might want to actually listen to the broadcasts more often.

Mickey Redmond however is a huge Wings homer, but not Daniels.

 

[BIitz]

And with this comes the end of a true Leaf's great, Rick O'Shay. The game day Chatzy just got a little less fun, VoR.

 

[MapleLeafs9]

So there's no games on Leafs TV anymore? I have the channel for no reason?

 

[ULF_55]

Joe Bowen is radio only (all 82 and hopefully ++++) for both Rogers/TSN (which means Jon Abbot is out of a job, which i know blasted_Sabre is happy about).

What irks me is... WHY can't we have Bob Cole back? They hired him. they're going to use him. Most leafs fans on twitter want him back. so we're stuck with who? for regional and Hughson for National, where Montreal gets Cole AGAIN (i'm imagining).

Pang & Johnson coming over doesn't surprise me. If TSN is only doing Ottawa/Winnipeg + 24 Leafs games there's not a lot of work for them vs. doing more for Sportsnet. What is surprising me is that more TSN talent DIDN'T go over. but loyalty i suppose.

All i know is, my out of town option is going to get a massive workout if i don't like what Rogers is providing.

I frequently receive the out of town home-team broadcasters on Center Ice.

I have found some of them are better than HNiC, although not so much fluff.

 

[ULF_55]

Didn't like Bowen at all. I hated this "Holy Mackinaw" on every single thing, got very annoying real quick.

You probably didn't like Danny Gallivan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Gallivan

Colourful descriptions[edit]

Gallivan was known for his colourful descriptions of action on the ice. Hard shots became "cannonading drives"; saves were "scintillating" or "larcenous" rather than merely spectacular; and, after a save, pucks tended to get caught in a goalie's "paraphernalia" (goalie equipment). If the goaltender made a fantastic or impossible save, he would refer to it as a "hair raising save" or that the goalie "kicked out his pad in rapier-like fashion" to foil a "glorious scoring opportunity". He would use words such as "anemic" to describe an ineffective offence or powerplay. He also coined phrases like "nowhere near the net", when a shot would go wide, comment that "there has not been a multitudinous amount of shots" to describe a game with a "dire dearth" of shots on net, would mention that a defender was "wasting valuable seconds in the penalty" when they were ragging the puck, and would almost always announce, "and the penalty has expired!" at the end of a penalty. The ultimate Gallivanism was a word he coined: the "spinarama," which described a player evading a check or when a player would deke a defender with a sudden 180- or 360-degree turn. Its chief practitioner was Montreal Canadien Serge Savard so that the move was also known as "The Savardian Spinarama". Many players were also known to "dipsy-doodle" with the puck, or come out of their own zone "rather gingerly". When a university professor wrote to Gallivan protesting that there was no such word as "cannonading", Gallivan wrote back: "There is now." The Canadian Oxford Dictionary now includes an entry for "spinarama".

Like many hockey announcers, he would often shout whenever a goal was scored, louder with the Montreal Canadiens. On the down-side, his style was unmodulated, nearly always intense, so that a goal or near-goal towards the end of a 7-1 game sounded very similar to that of a 2-1 game.

Wow was it really 21 years ago he left us?

 

[Duke Silver]

oh having a heart and a sense of humour is so bad !

i rather not have a Leafs fan like BOWEN and have some random nobody

Sense of humour? Joe Bowen has never made me laugh. Creepy Uncle Henny must be George Carlin reborn to you?

Paul Romanuk is most certainly not a nobody. He's done World Championships and Spengler Cups for TSN for years now. Insightful, calls a smart game, and doesn't bore you to death.

 

[exporta]

Ron Mclean?

 

[rojac]

Ron Mclean?

What about Ron MacLean?

I believe he is still supposed to do Coach's Corner with Don on Saturday and he is the host of the Sunday night game on City.

 

[Moncherry]

Leafs TV: 17 games
SN Ontario: 23 games
TSN: 17 games
HNIC: 25 games

In 2014-15, the breakdown is this:

Leafs TV: 0 games
SN Ontario: 15 games
TSN4: 26 games
City TV: 4 games
SN National: 13 games
HNIC: 24 games

If anything this seems like an improvement to me.

No games on Leafs TV while there will be 9 more games on TSN and only 5 more on Sportsnet. HNIC is almost the same.

 

[X66]

Get the petition ready, Bowen's gonna need it.

 

[Warden of the North]

Bare with me but I think Bowen is actually a better radio host then TV host. He goes off on tangents which play over better on radio.

And ROFL at the Leafs having MORE games on TSN then ever before after all the hubbub over Rogers having national rights.

 

[Agnostic]

Bowen is such an unabashed Leafs fan there is no way he's suitable for a National telecast. You guys are fretting over Strombo's allegiance, Bowen is a nut by comparison.

I don't think the "Holy Mackinaw" thing helps him either. A friend should have told him to drop that before it started. I always think of Pigskin Pete and the Ti-cats Oskee Wee Wee chant.

 

[Warden of the North]

Bowen is such an unabashed Leafs fan there is no way he's suitable for a National telecast. You guys are fretting over Strombo's allegiance, Bowen is a nut by comparison.

I don't think the "Holy Mackinaw" thing helps him either. A friend should have told him to drop that before it started. I always think of Pigskin Pete and the Ti-cats Oskee Wee Wee chant.

Nothing wrong with a play by play guy having a signature call. I dont mind the holy mackinaws

 

[exporta]

What about Ron MacLean?

I believe he is still supposed to do Coach's Corner with Don on Saturday and he is the host of the Sunday night game on City.

My Bad, I missed him on the list. Good to know he'll be working next year.

 

[Ace88*]

And with this comes the end of a true Leaf's great, Rick O'Shay. The game day Chatzy just got a little less fun, VoR.

lol

but

rip rick o'shay, you legendary beauty

 

[Rare Jewel]

Bare with me but I think Bowen is actually a better radio host then TV host. He goes off on tangents which play over better on radio.

And ROFL at the Leafs having MORE games on TSN then ever before after all the hubbub over Rogers having national rights.

I agree actually with Bowen being on Radio

I like him as well, But I'm not overly fussed about this; Now Greg Millen is another issue. Having to listen to him go on about the other teams goalie all night was more than then enough last time round. I also find his general analysis when he makes it pretty uninteresting as well.

Give me Mike Johnson any day over him.