God I miss Chief and his drunken slurs
You know what? I don't particularly like Engblom, but I don't miss Chief. And Dinger or Andy would have been a disaster. Probably do need to replace Engblom though.
It's his chemistry with Peckham that's the biggest issue, IMO. With any duo, you usually need one guy with flash, and the other with substance. These guys are both all substance. (Chief, on the other hand, had no substance whatsoever.)
...I feel like there's a Ryan Malone joke in there somewhere.
Chief has been there since almost the inception of the team. I think he joined the broadcast in like '92 or '93. It's impossible not to miss him...most of us grew up with him as part of the Lightning and like most people change is "hard". Chief is most of all a fan of the Lightning - and that is what I miss. One of us sharing and communicating what we are all feeling. Engblom, naturally so, can't replace over 20 years of seeing the injustices and bad calls that didn't go our way.
Engblom doesn't have 20 years of being a fan of the team. The most anyone can say is that he is not homer enough...but the quality of the content, professionalism, and general feel of the broadcast is vastly improved - there is no denying that.
The most anyone can say is that he is not homer enough...
He's not homer at all, which is my problem with him. There is a huge middle-ground between Chief's disputing every call and Engblom fawning over the opposition all the time. I expect our color commentator to act like he at least likes the Bolts. I don't get that feeling very often with the new guy.
I would totally agree with this! I feel like we are watching the national broadcast all the time as opposed to the home feed.
The answer to this is obvious. We need to get Brian Engblom drunk.
I guess I need to take one for the team.
True story about Chief. At the post-game radio show last season, he stopped and was chatting with people on his way in. He asked me what I was drinking. I told him the Rumfish Grill 'Blue Marlin'. He told me I should have them remake it, as it wasn't blue enough. He was right, it was pretty green.
I honestly don't mind hearing about the other team since we know our own team so well, but it would be nice if Brian felt a little more invested in the guys here instead of talking about their performance dispassionately. It's odd because when he was hired he talked about being excited about this team, but he's kind of suffocated that aspect of it too much.
I like Rick but it's just a boring crew overall now. Engblom doesn't have much personality, and he isn't a big enough homer for my liking.
Exactly this.