I rarely complain about the team but I have no problem calling out the poor ESPN broadcast quality.
- The intro segment was all a garbled mess of broken audio sound effects. Then they cut to people who were speaking but there was no audio so they played background music instead. The first 6 minutes of the broadcast audio did not come through when I watched the replay through ESPN+ service (not sure what everyone saw live).
- How the hell did McDonough think that Schneider was guilty of boarding when he was the one who got boarded by Malkin?
- The arena audio was kept low through the first 4 goals only to have them change it for the 5th. Why did they wait so long to address this? Goals 1, 2, 3, and 4 didn't alert anyone to the issue/problem?
- PK Subban wearing a casual jacket that looks like he's dressed for a club or party, while having the other guys wearing suits did not mesh or look right.
- Pretty sure Emily Kaplan referred to Mika as 'Miko' during the interview with Tarasenko
- Someone referred to Pettersson as being with the Rangers during an intermission
- One of the announcers declared that Shesterkin shooting the puck into the stands was deflected/tipped - then they inform us that there's a delay of game penalty on the play
- During this broadcast and recent ones you hear times where the announcers talking about silly crap and non-hockey topics while the play is going on.
- A few games back the puck had dropped to start the 2nd period and ESPN was displaying something else on the screen and we missed the first 5 seconds of the period (unacceptable)
- The video-game style, digital name badges are awful - are they done inserting those during the PP?
It feels like amateur hour at ESPN, and like the hockey people ESPN contracts with are mailing it in and cruising through these gigs without taking it as seriously or as professionally as they should be.
You missed one … Panarin’s PPG they kept saying Mika Zibenajad scored it right after the goal and as the replay was being played.
I agree with your entire post though! Thank you for bringing it up!
They did a really good job on Tuesday night’s game. Steve Levy was way better than McDonough (who reminds me of the six flags guy from commercials years ago), Messier did miles better than Ray with his comments, and whoever handled the production/broadcast did great by not cutting to commercials too fast, sticking with the play after the whistle, and showing good meaningful replays at the right time. If Tuesday’s crew was the main crew, and I wish it was, it would be good for sure!
Also, I have to mute the TV when Subban is on. Not only is he annoying, but I find him disrespectful too. I just turn on the radio broadcast between periods.
Very very happy for the win! It was great to watch them put this type of game together! My only complaints are on the product ESPN/ABC put together.