The Athletic - Boston Athletic poll: Bruins broadcast voted worst in NHL

[TD Charlie]

The ticker sucks

I like Jack and Brick, despite the over the top shenanigans from time to time.

the new logo and score graphic suck
The ticker sucks
The AV quality sucks

bring me back 10 years, NESN was top notch across the board imo

and the f***ing ticker sucks

 

[Therick67]

I can’t think of much I like about the Bruins broadcast. Could use
A complete overhaul IMO.

 

[EvilDead]

Watching the 2011 games reminds me that Edwards used to actually do play by play, and Brick actually did color. Now Jack does nothing but endless soliloquies on some imagined slight to hockey history, and Brick only gets to speak when he does an on-air commercial read.

It gets to the point that I want to stab my eardrums with pencils during Bruins broadcasts.

 

[McGarnagle]

Jack's gimmick was a lot of fun from 2007-2014 or so, especially when we had the likes of Lucic, Ference, etc. on the team who stirred shit up. Made us feel like heels, I loved it. But he's kind of getting old now and yelling at things and getting worked up still feels out of place now, and it seems like he's finding stuff to rant about for no reason, like Dougie Hamilton, rather than it being an organic part of the game with all the rough stuff going on.

He and Brick are good announcers, very knowledgeable hockey people. But between Jack's emotional outbursts and Brick's always towing the company line, they could be better.

Production value seems fine to me, though the ticket sucks. Also, why is Dale Arnold still there? Does anyone actually like him? They can't find another Kathryn Tappen to fill that role?

 

[BigGoalBrad]

This times 100.

Jack and Brick are fine if they were national guys and would be OK if they only did home or away but I'm just kind of over them and furious we lost Dave Goucher.

Not sure why NESN gets worse and worse re picture.

Get rid of the damned ticker too.

 

[Fenway]

I suppose I have to weigh in on this

At TD Garden I work on either the road feed or for Rogers and NBC. On the road, I work for the truck company that has the contract for NESN.

The NESN telecasts in 2011 were better without question. The crew knows that but NESN management does not care. Graphics NESN has gone from being in the top 5 to about the worst in the NHL.

People complain about the ticker but most RSN's use one.

NESN has become stale but Tom Werner is happy with the product and Charlie Moore being involved doesn't help.

 

[jgatie]

I suppose I have to weigh in on this

At TD Garden I work on either the road feed or for Rogers and NBC. On the road, I work for the truck company that has the contract for NESN.

The NESN telecasts in 2011 were better without question. The crew knows that but NESN management does not care. Graphics NESN has gone from being in the top 5 to about the worst in the NHL.

People complain about the ticker but most RSN's use one.

NESN has become stale but Tom Werner is happy with the product and Charlie Moore being involved doesn't help.

Charlie Moore is involved? I wouldn't let him watch my pet rock!

 

[JRull86]

I suppose I have to weigh in on this

At TD Garden I work on either the road feed or for Rogers and NBC. On the road, I work for the truck company that has the contract for NESN.

The NESN telecasts in 2011 were better without question. The crew knows that but NESN management does not care. Graphics NESN has gone from being in the top 5 to about the worst in the NHL.

People complain about the ticker but most RSN's use one.

NESN has become stale but Tom Werner is happy with the product and Charlie Moore being involved doesn't help.

Could you shed some light on why the NESN picture is...just plain bad, compared to NBC or even the opposing feeds?

I have a pretty good TV, and I spent a long time calibrating it. The picture is perfect for everything I watch EXCEPT NESN Bruins games it feels like, especially home games. Super fuzzy and blurry. I put on NBCSN, and it's as clear as it can be.

Is it an equipment thing?

 

[ODAAT]

B`s broadcast is far from perfect but whenever I am forced to stream a game and wind up with a broadcast from another market, I can`t think of one that doesn`t make me wish I couldn`t have found a NESN feed

Jack irks me, goes over the top too often and Brick is a Bruin ball washer but what else could I expect from essentially the B`s broadcast network? I think the between period guys like Jaffe and Pederson do a good job at not giving the B`s free passes

There are some horrifically bad PBP crews out there, NESN is far from the worst, could go without the ticker though

 

[Fenway]

Could you shed some light on why the NESN picture is...just plain bad, compared to NBC or even the opposing feeds?

I have a pretty good TV, and I spent a long time calibrating it. The picture is perfect for everything I watch EXCEPT NESN Bruins games it feels like, especially home games. Super fuzzy and blurry. I put on NBCSN, and it's as clear as it can be.

Is it an equipment thing?

The video leaving the truck at TD Garden is fine - the issue are the fiber lines that connect TD to NESN studios in Watertown.

 

[GabeTravels]

Really sad we let Goucher go to Vegas. He's one of the best. I know it would've been hard moving on from Jack, but I really wish we would've.

 

[mikelvl]

Considering the whole Pie McKenzie/Dougie Hamilton #19 fiasco was in the last few years, in no way can it be said he's toned down the hysterics in the last few years. Even Pie's family couldn't care less about that bit of fluff, and Jack turned it into a maelstrom. Think about it, a supposedly professional broadcaster actually used the words "stripped the blubber from the whale".

That was it for me as well. Half of the audience probably had no friggin idea what he was talking about. It's almost like your spouse or family member begins to say something inappropriate at a crowded function and you are sitting there muttering 'Shut up!!' under your breath. So completely uncomfortable. And his point was completely stupid on top of all of it! There very well may have been not one other person on the planet who was upset by it. What a moron.

 

[McGarnagle]

Really sad we let Goucher go to Vegas. He's one of the best. I know it would've been hard moving on from Jack, but I really wish we would've.

There's an easy answer as to why they let Goucher walk and kept Jack. Just about 2 or 3 years earlier NESN let Don Orsillo go in order to keep their really good, professional sounding radio man Dave O'Brien in the market. And that massively backfired on them. NESN wasn't going to put themselves in the same situation twice.

 

[mikelvl]

There's an easy answer as to why they let Goucher walk and kept Jack. Just about 2 or 3 years earlier NESN let Don Orsillo go in order to keep their really good, professional sounding radio man Dave O'Brien in the market. And that massively backfired on them. NESN wasn't going to put themselves in the same situation twice.

I don't think that would have been the same situation at all. Goucher had developed a loyal following, especially with his Bergeron call against the Leafs. O'Brien hadn't developed such a following at all.

 

[BruinDust]

Bruins broadcast is not the worst, not even close.

That being said, after years of tolerating Jack Edwards I finally had it with him this year. It's like his handlers told him to take the obnoxiousness up another level this season. He can go now.

 

[PB37]

Really sad we let Goucher go to Vegas. He's one of the best. I know it would've been hard moving on from Jack, but I really wish we would've.

I wasn't a big fan of Goucher. I think he calls the game alright but I'm not a big fan of his voice.

Get rid of the damn nesn ticker.

Jack has lost his fastball but i still prefer him than most around the league.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Can't disagree, but not because of production value. Edwards is a f***ing embarrassment and Brick is a complete schill for the team, constantly carrying their water by perpetuating their crappy agendas regarding players. Backes is a prime example. Never heard one word of critical analysis on a player that so clearly didn't belong. Instead it was he's a warrior and he's doing the little things. By the little things, you mean he's constantly 4 steps behind every play and not in any form of correct positioning? Morons. Both of them. Make the broadcast nearly unwatchable.

The last 10 or so games of Brett Ritchie (before he was waived) featured Jack and/or Brick going on long diatribes about his “effectiveness” at least once every game.

I thought the over the top love affair with Chris Kelly from the broadcast booth was bad years ago. The Ritchie agenda blew it out of the water. Especially considering his level of play.

On the topic in general, I do find Jack grating but he calls the play well when he’s focused on doing the meat of what should be his job. He says a lot of really stupid things though, and I find it silly that so many fans just can’t seem to admit that. In terms of dumb exclamations, Jack is at the top. Brick tows the line that’s asked of him (Ritchie is the prime example), but he’s one of the better analysts knowledge wise IMO.

There are guys out there who may not belt it out as loud or obnoxiously as Edwards but take just as skewed a view. Go take a listen to the Leafs radio broadcast of the Wingels/Kadri incident from 2018 playoffs. It’s scary stupid.

Also, yes the presentation on NESN sucks. That’s been the case for as long as I can remember. It feels like a company trying to present in a “high tech” manner that runs their ship as cheaply as they possibly can.

 

[Glove Malfunction]

Considering the whole Pie McKenzie/Dougie Hamilton #19 fiasco was in the last few years, in no way can it be said he's toned down the hysterics in the last few years. Even Pie's family couldn't care less about that bit of fluff, and Jack turned it into a maelstrom. Think about it, a supposedly professional broadcaster actually used the words "stripped the blubber from the whale".

I guess we just have different views of "hysterics". For me the hysterics are the Philly game where he laughed like The Count from Sesame Street after a hit where the crowd wanted a penalty. haven't seen that sort of thing recently. that's the level i'm talking about.

He does seem to get wrapped up in minute things that don't seem worthy of the time he spends, and the 319 thing was definitely one.

 

[Glove Malfunction]

Really sad we let Goucher go to Vegas. He's one of the best. I know it would've been hard moving on from Jack, but I really wish we would've.

I actually like Jack. Despite this Athletic article, I think Jack is far from the worst in the league. That said, I would have kicked him to the curb in a heartbeat if we could have kept Dave Gaucher instead.

 

[Glove Malfunction]

That was it for me as well. Half of the audience probably had no friggin idea what he was talking about. It's almost like your spouse or family member begins to say something inappropriate at a crowded function and you are sitting there muttering 'Shut up!!' under your breath. So completely uncomfortable. And his point was completely stupid on top of all of it! There very well may have been not one other person on the planet who was upset by it. What a moron.

This is exactly the point of my first post in this thread. People point to a select few things that stick out in their mind that really irk them (and with Jack, those things REALLY irk them - admittedly for good reason), but ignore that as a PbP guy, he's easily one of the best in the league, if he just kept to calling the plays. He may be the best prepared broadcaster (besides maybe Pierre, who knows the family a guy billeted with in juniors 12 years ago), and he knows the players' names - ALL of them. Listen to some other broadcasts and see how many PbP guys don't know half the Bruins' names, of butcher them when saying them, because they just don't care to invest the time. Jack definitely has cringeworthy moments, but some people let those moments define his entire broadcast.

 

[jgatie]

I guess we just have different views of "hysterics". For me the hysterics are the Philly game where he laughed like The Count from Sesame Street after a hit where the crowd wanted a penalty. haven't seen that sort of thing recently. that's the level i'm talking about.

He does seem to get wrapped up in minute things that don't seem worthy of the time he spends, and the 319 thing was definitely one.

I see them as one and the same, i.e. overblowing some minor thing to make it seem like an affront to the hockey Gods. The fact that he spends time doing it instead of calling the frigging game makes it even more grating.

 

[Glove Malfunction]

I see them as one and the same, i.e. overblowing some minor thing to make it seem like an affront to the hockey Gods. The fact that he spends time doing it instead of calling the frigging game makes it even more grating.

Fair enough. This is 100% an opinion issue, so there isn't any right or wrong answer. Just varying opinions. When he IS just calling the game, what are your thoughts on him?

 

[EvilDead]

It's times like these that I wish NBC Sports Boston would take control of the Bruins broadcasts again so that Jack Edwards and Tom Caron can get ditched to the roadside. NESN as a network is just getting worse and worse by the year. The fact they would keep the cringe inducing stiff that is Jack Edwards over replacing him with an excellent play by play guy in Dave Goucher just makes me sad. Hell, replacing Edwards with Sirot would be nice at this point. Anything so that I just don't have to listen to Edwards and his awful soliloquies about nothing as he misses important plays in the game. That said, I will say that even homerific Jack Edwards is still better than Doc Emerick who is f***ing unbearable.

 

[Fenway]

I don't think that would have been the same situation at all. Goucher had developed a loyal following, especially with his Bergeron call against the Leafs. O'Brien hadn't developed such a following at all.

Oh yes he had

 

[EvilDead]

Oh yes he had

Still like Orsillo better. O'Brien is good, but ever since Jim Murray pointed out the ear worm that is how O'Brien whistles after words that end in s, I can't not hear it and it becomes jarring. Plus I dislike the way that NESN and the Red Sox got rid of Orsillo as the play by play guy.