Could Joe Bowen broadcast Leafs national games next season?

[Tak7]

Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson aren't anti-Leafs.

You could argue that Healy is hyper-critical & condescending to the Leafs, sure.

But Simpson and Hughson aren't biased.

I just don't like them calling games, because I don't think they are good.

Why would anyone like them? If you are 20 years or older, you've grown up with Bob Cole and Harry Neale, who were the best 2 in the business (Neale = super underrated).

How do you go from Bob Cole and Harry Neale to Hughson-Simpson? I don't like them calling games because I don't think they are good at it; Hughson's voice isn't great, and I don't really know what Simpson offers. I'm not a big fan of Greg Millen, but he offers a lot more than Simpson.

 

[cyris]

I think were so used to Leafs bias that when a neutral party calls our games they think theyre biased against us.

I don't know. Bob Cole is very beloved around here and he isn't/wasn't bias in our favor.

I think Leafs fans just like play by play guys who show passion for the game.

 

[Leaf Lander]

Bowen would be great as he is the most,onyrrsyinf play by play guy in canada

 

[shakes]

Hughson: "Kadri comes in to take the draw and he actually won it."
Simpson: "-chuckle-"

That's pretty much the definition of condescending mocking on air.

This season, every Saturday it's:

Hughson: "And to nobody's surprise, the Leafs are being outshot."

That's just being overly sensitive. The other guy was right. People are so used to homer calls, when they hear something remotely negative, the broadcaster is against them. I love Bowen but he's far too biased to announce nationally.

 

[Deuce Awesome]

Ive said it before Ill say it again, if Rogers boots the three clowns off of the HNIC broadcast I will switch to them for cell phone service.


That's how much I hate Hughson and co

 

[therealkoho]

That's just being overly sensitive. The other guy was right. People are so used to homer calls, when they hear something remotely negative, the broadcaster is against them. I love Bowen but he's far too biased to announce nationally.

how bout this from the Vancouver game

Jay McClement(yes Jay McClement offensive dynamo) takes a wrist shot from the circle and he's between the dot and the boards, the Nux defenceman is allowing the shot but taking away any path to the net

McClement lifts a waist high wrist shot that Luongo expertly smothers into his chest protector for a face-off

Hughson: "Great save Luongo!!!"

Later

With Kadri off for a bit of a phantom high stick and Vancouver on the PP the Nux are buzzing in the Toronto end moving the puck into the goal mouth which results in a Jordan Schroeder shot Bernier is dealing with a scramble when the puck pops back out to Schroeder who goes cross ice to Kesler on the tape, Bernier pushes across and gets a piece of the puck with his right leg and jumps on the rebound to kill the play

Hughson: "Bernier gets across but he's lucky Kesler didn't get all of it!"

yep he said that

 

[TieClark]

That's just being overly sensitive. The other guy was right. People are so used to homer calls, when they hear something remotely negative, the broadcaster is against them. I love Bowen but he's far too biased to announce nationally.

But that's not true, because the only time there were ever complaints from Leaf fans regarding Bob Cole was when we played the Habs (which he is a fan of)

 

[hotpaws]

I couldn't care less who does the games but i'm getting tired of Joe going nuts anytime the puck dribbles any where near the opposition net .

 

[ConnorTO]

CBC hates the Leafs

go with Bowen all year round !
TSN is okay

its nice to get a variety of broadcasters once in a while tho

 

[Leafs87]

I despise Hughson and love Bowen, but the rest of the country would lose their minds if Bowen was calling, say, a Leafs/Flames game.

And why do we care ? It's a leafs game on CBC.

 

[Ratboy]

I couldn't care less who does the games but i'm getting tired of Joe going nuts anytime the puck dribbles any where near the opposition net .

this.

 

[Arizonan God]

God I hope not
Bowen is good as a regional commentator, but on a national level it would be a disaster lol

 

[Arizonan God]

If that was truly the case, they wouldn't have the current team calling the games as is. I mean come on, they have Hughson calling Vancouver vs Leafs , unless all of Canada wants to hear how bad the Leafs suck. Then again, people insist CBC has a Leafs bias so IDK but things are owned by Rogers so theres a small chance Bowen could work HNIC for the Leafs.

Bowen is way more biased then Hughson
Hughson has slight bias towards Van, but other then that, he's as neutral as it gets.

 

[canary]

Personally, I don't like Bowen but I can see how others do. Find him kind of annoying but I suppose you can't question his passion.

However, too biased for a national network.

 

[DD03]

Honestly, I don't mind Gord Miller. He loves his job. He's into it. Bring back Pierre too. Least these guys give a damn and it's not monotone. Doesn't matter the game or the teams.

 

[Ratboy]

If it were up to me I'd give the reigns to Cuthbert.

 

[FerrisRox]

This season, every Saturday it's:

Hughson: "And to nobody's surprise, the Leafs are being outshot."

Do you think maybe this is because the Leafs are continually getting badly outshot, game in and game out?

Some people seem to have a hard time discerning the difference between "snarky comments" and a play-by-play announcer stating the facts.

While Joe Bowen would never put his pom poms down long enough to share a statistic that won't make a Leaf fan cheer, Jim Hughson, and other non-cheerleader announcer will actually try to reflect the and share the actual game story.

Somebody pointed out earlier in the thread that some are objecting to an announcer that isn't blatantly cheering for the Leafs as being "biased."

I think the notion that Jim Hughson has a "bias" against any team is absurd. I've also listened to him call several Canucks game and been impressed by the fact that he doesn't appear to have any favouritism towards them despite his history as doing regional work for them. Ditto for Dean Brown with Senators games.

 

[FerrisRox]

You could argue that Healy is hyper-critical & condescending to the Leafs, sure.

Healy is this way with every team. Thats his schtick, he's the cranky ex-player who thinks he knows more then other people on his panel and is constantly nit-picking and complaining. You might feel he trashes the Leafs more because he covers 90 percent Leaf games and through the bulk of his broadcasting career the Leafs have been a non-playoff team.

It seems a lot of people object to their team being criticized, even if the criticism is warranted, which, frankly, seems odd. Hockey analysts are going to criticize things. When a team misses the playoffs for nine years in a row, or gets heavily outshot game in and game out, these things are gonna get pointed out.

 

[stickyiki]

For national broadcasts, no. However, Hughson should be replaced. I would much rather see Mark Lee calling the game than him. If it's someone outside of CBC, then I'd like to see Chris Cuthbert or Bill Clement call the game

 

[KuleminFan41]

Bowen is way more biased then Hughson
Hughson has slight bias towards Van, but other then that, he's as neutral as it gets.

People insist he's bias yet never prove it. He loves the Leafs sure but he doesn't blatantly ignore things like the current team does. Hughson is awful, he always takes pokes at the Leafs as does Simpson. They always gush over the opposing team, even when the Leafs are dominating . How often do they "focus" on other teams during the ENTIRE game? Going on about how they're one of the best player if not the best player in the league. They hardly ever focus on the Leafs and you'd think they'd do it a tiny bit more, considering they're you know calling the Leafs games! They go out of their way just to say something bad sometimes and I don't get it and I can't see why people just accept it just so they can say they're "realists" .

Oh, and don't get me started on how awful Hughson is at calling the game. The guy is monotone in general but when the Leafs are playing well, he acts like he couldn't care less but the moment the other team scores, its as if they won the game.

 

[LeafsMonster]

how bout this from the Vancouver game

Jay McClement(yes Jay McClement offensive dynamo) takes a wrist shot from the circle and he's between the dot and the boards, the Nux defenceman is allowing the shot but taking away any path to the net

McClement lifts a waist high wrist shot that Luongo expertly smothers into his chest protector for a face-off

Hughson: "Great save Luongo!!!"

Later

With Kadri off for a bit of a phantom high stick and Vancouver on the PP the Nux are buzzing in the Toronto end moving the puck into the goal mouth which results in a Jordan Schroeder shot Bernier is dealing with a scramble when the puck pops back out to Schroeder who goes cross ice to Kesler on the tape, Bernier pushes across and gets a piece of the puck with his right leg and jumps on the rebound to kill the play

Hughson: "Bernier gets across but he's lucky Kesler didn't get all of it!"

yep he said that

The way I read those quotes in his voice

I love bowen's enthusiasm. I really don't like the cbc crew. I've gotten way to used to his voice. I really like cuthbert and I like gord miller.

 

[BonMorrison]

Do you think maybe this is because the Leafs are continually getting badly outshot, game in and game out?

Some people seem to have a hard time discerning the difference between "snarky comments" and a play-by-play announcer stating the facts.

As said earlier, it's very very easy to make these comments without the snark. Look at the quote above, if he simply removes the, "and to nobody's surprise" followed by his half-hearted chuckle - it's a normal comment that nobody would get annoyed at. Stating facts is one thing, backhanded jabs with a condescending tone and flat out laughter is pretty much a violation of professionalism when you're on a national broadcast.

If we were talking about Healy, you would have a valid point. I don't mind him, he tears apart all our flaws but he does it in a straightforward, here-are-the-facts manner. That's fine and relates to what you're talking about. Hughson masquerades as an un-bias voice but actually takes more shots then Healy.

 

[FreeBird]

Bowen coast to coast

Their would be eight other provinces joining to succeed along with Quebec. And the NWT.

 

[Patty Lee]

I can't see Bowen doing national games. He's been the Leaf guy for decades. There's no reason to even have him attempt to do a team-neutral broadcast when there's plenty of options available.

Dean Brown does and a bigger homer you will not find.

 

[Patty Lee]

Hughson: "Kadri comes in to take the draw and he actually won it."
Simpson: "-chuckle-"

That's pretty much the definition of condescending mocking on air.

This season, every Saturday it's:

Hughson: "And to nobody's surprise, the Leafs are being outshot."

they get outshot every game. that is not bias, that's stating a fact