Jack Michaels: Brutal commentator

[ManofSteel55]

I don't mind Jack. He has grown on me.

 

[Stoneman89]

Just creeped the Kings PBP thread. Sounds like Jack made quite the impression.

Awesome, I wish him the best of luck. I'll gladly take my chances and accept the devil wI don't know of, for next year. I'd love to see them go local, or at least Alberta. Nait and Sait both have programs that deal with broadcasting, do they not? There must be some graduates in the last few years that have some decent resumes.

 

[MoneyGuy]

Spruce Grove Saints play-by-play guy Tom Strangward is very good.

 

[Gunnersaurus Rex]

Jack Michaels is better on TV than radio. He called an Oiler game a year or two ago on Sportsnet that was better than any time I've heard him on the radio. I only saw the third period of the Coyotes/Kings game a couple nights ago but he was really into it, especially the final minutes with LA's playoff hopes on the line.

Give him the Sportsnet gig and get Quinn out of the booth.


Here's his call of the final minute of the clincher vs LA last week: http://www.630ched.com/audio-vault/

Audio Date: March 28
Audio Time: 9:00 PM

Skip to 33:45

Ugggh...that epitomizes everything I hate about him. Scream, yell, scream, yell. Terrible !!! I can only imagine if the Oil win a game in OT during the playoffs. His shrill scream will be insufferable.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

Ugggh...that epitomizes everything I hate about him. Scream, yell, scream, yell. Terrible !!! I can only imagine if the Oil win a game in OT during the playoffs. His shrill scream will be insufferable.

In *gasp* OOOOOOOOOOOOOO-ver-tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmme!!!!!!!

At least Rod knew how to sound genuinely excited. This sounds less like genuine excitement and more like someone trying to win most intense call of the week.

 

[Stoneman89]

Ugggh...that epitomizes everything I hate about him. Scream, yell, scream, yell. Terrible !!! I can only imagine if the Oil win a game in OT during the playoffs. His shrill scream will be insufferable.

Hey, at least during the Kings desperate shoot in, he didn't lapse into talking college basketball. Credit where due, you know.

 

[Gord]

Did your friend the senior guy at 1260 tell you this on Saturday (April 1st) by any chance? That's the only way to explain why the Oilers would want to bring aboard an 82 year-old who was mercifully relieved of his duties as the Eskimos' pbp announcer after the 2009 season.

hope it's a joke. only thing Hall is now good for is the Eskimo fight song.

as to Jack Michaels, I would say he is better than when he started, but I still don't enjoy him or bob.
Guess for those of us who were spoiled with Rod Phillips for all those years, nothing will ever measure up.

with Rod, I liked tuning into Oiler games. with Jack, I tolerate oiler games when I have to listen.

 

[tips]

In *gasp* OOOOOOOOOOOOOO-ver-tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmme!!!!!!!

At least Rod knew how to sound genuinely excited. This sounds less like genuine excitement and more like someone trying to win most intense call of the week.

This is the exact thing i've always hated about Jack. He sounds like he's trying to lay audio track over top some monster truck commercial WAY too often. Stop trying to sell us used cars/Oiler Kool Aid Jack, call the game.

Granted comparing him to Rod isn't fair, but Rod didn't try to manufacture drama all the time. He was honest. When he was excited, he was excited for a reason, and on the other side he wasn't afraid to call a turd a turd, made no attempt to polish it. Everything about Jack's commentary sounds like he's trying to sell you something. Rough paraphrase: "I would suggest to you Bob.... that with the Oilers down 5-1 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd period, this power play is their last chance to get this to overtime where you know Connor and Leon will shine in 3 on 3!" Thanks Jack.

Not to mention the fact that he and Bob like to reminisce about 1970/80's NFL/MLB/NCAA teams at random.

I was very disappointed in his selection when they hired him, they picked someone TOTALLY different in style of call then Rod. I remember there being way better options IMO at the time, but the candidates escape me at the moment.

While we're on the subject, I've never been a fan of Kevin Quinn either, but for other reasons, as for Remenda, well, thats another thread. I do think that the Flames Sportsnet pxp guy Rick Ball is a much better commentator then Quinn, same goes for Dennis Byak (sp?) for the regional Jets TSN feed.

For the record, my fave commentator aside from Rod and the giants like Bob Cole, is likely Paul Romanuk. He's gone downhill a bit the last few years as he's overly pumped the tires of the Leafs thanks to his Rogers overlords and it makes me gag, but his calls at the Spengler Cup/World Championship and his younger days with TSN were fantastic, you still hear flashes of it when he's not calling Leaf games.

Hopefully the Oilers bring Louie back for colour on TV, and replace Jack and to a lesser extent Kevin soon.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

Good post.

Re: favorite announcers...I'll get slagged for saying this, but I really enjoyed pre-Leafs/Canucks Jim Hughson. I still get goosebumps hearing his calls from the 2006 series against the Sharks.

"Ekman, trying to bank one in off the goaltender. Out of the penalty box comes Samsonov! Out of the GOAL comes Toskala! Lost it, Samsonov SCORES! .... Do you believe what you've just seen?!?! It's a 3-3 tie!"

 

[Debonair]

Good post.

Re: favorite announcers...I'll get slagged for saying this, but I really enjoyed pre-Leafs/Canucks Jim Hughson. I still get goosebumps hearing his calls from the 2006 series against the Sharks.

"Ekman, trying to bank one in off the goaltender. Out of the penalty box comes Samsonov! Out of the GOAL comes Toskala! Lost it, Samsonov SCORES! .... Do you believe what you've just seen?!?! It's a 3-3 tie!"

I am not a fan of Hughson - still think CBC dropped the ball big time when they lost Cuthbert and got Hughson to replace him. Cuthbert is miles better.

Edit - not to mention he's a massive canucks homer. He's intolerable when calling a canucks game.

 

[NegativeNelly]

I've never liked Michaels' play by play. I really hope he moves on and takes Drew Ramenda with him. It's time for someone else

 

[SometimesY]

I could listen to Oilers games again if Jack would stop that barking 'OILERS'. It's that offensive to my listening experience.

 

[MoneyGuy]

hope it's a joke. only thing Hall is now good for is the Eskimo fight song.

as to Jack Michaels, I would say he is better than when he started, but I still don't enjoy him or bob.
Guess for those of us who were spoiled with Rod Phillips for all those years, nothing will ever measure up.

with Rod, I liked tuning into Oiler games. with Jack, I tolerate oiler games when I have to listen.

He's not even good at that. Long story but a couple of years ago I had to reteach Hallsy the fight song. I have the video evidence. Maybe he had a senior moment.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

Jack with quite the quote tonight. "Sharks have three wins in their last eleven, both of them against Vancouver..."

...

 

[Kerricthebig]

Jack with quite the quote tonight. "Sharks have three wins in their last eleven, both of them against Vancouver..."

...

Sounds accurate to me.

 

[guymez]

hope it's a joke. only thing Hall is now good for is the Eskimo fight song.

as to Jack Michaels, I would say he is better than when he started, but I still don't enjoy him or bob.
Guess for those of us who were spoiled with Rod Phillips for all those years, nothing will ever measure up.

with Rod, I liked tuning into Oiler games. with Jack, I tolerate oiler games when I have to listen.

This pretty much sums things up for me as well. Jack has his moments but by and large I just dont enjoy his game call. He is so busy trying to fill every single second with his talking....he doesn't seem to know when not to talk.

Like calling a goal....let the call breath for a few seconds. No need to start describing the goal immediately after you call a goal. It kills the emotion IMO.

That was the beauty of Rods game calling....he was able to call an exciting game without being in a rush to fill each second with his voice. He knew when to talk and when to let the emotion of his game calling breath for a few seconds.

Then again it might be a generational thing. These days everything is geared (video and audio) in such a way that there is very little time to digest what you just saw or heard.

 

[guymez]

This is the exact thing i've always hated about Jack. He sounds like he's trying to lay audio track over top some monster truck commercial WAY too often. Stop trying to sell us used cars/Oiler Kool Aid Jack, call the game.

Granted comparing him to Rod isn't fair, but Rod didn't try to manufacture drama all the time. He was honest. When he was excited, he was excited for a reason, and on the other side he wasn't afraid to call a turd a turd, made no attempt to polish it. Everything about Jack's commentary sounds like he's trying to sell you something. Rough paraphrase: "I would suggest to you Bob.... that with the Oilers down 5-1 with 3 minutes left in the 3rd period, this power play is their last chance to get this to overtime where you know Connor and Leon will shine in 3 on 3!" Thanks Jack.

Not to mention the fact that he and Bob like to reminisce about 1970/80's NFL/MLB/NCAA teams at random.

I was very disappointed in his selection when they hired him, they picked someone TOTALLY different in style of call then Rod. I remember there being way better options IMO at the time, but the candidates escape me at the moment.

While we're on the subject, I've never been a fan of Kevin Quinn either, but for other reasons, as for Remenda, well, thats another thread. I do think that the Flames Sportsnet pxp guy Rick Ball is a much better commentator then Quinn, same goes for Dennis Byak (sp?) for the regional Jets TSN feed.

For the record, my fave commentator aside from Rod and the giants like Bob Cole, is likely Paul Romanuk. He's gone downhill a bit the last few years as he's overly pumped the tires of the Leafs thanks to his Rogers overlords and it makes me gag, but his calls at the Spengler Cup/World Championship and his younger days with TSN were fantastic, you still hear flashes of it when he's not calling Leaf games.

Hopefully the Oilers bring Louie back for colour on TV, and replace Jack and to a lesser extent Kevin soon.

Excellent point....you nailed it. Manufacturing excitement is probably the best description of Jacks game calling I have heard yet.
It might be fine for some but it just doesnt work for me at all. Its disingenuous.

 

[Cloned]

Excellent point....you nailed it. Manufacturing excitement is probably the best description of Jacks game calling I have heard yet.
It might be fine for some but it just doesnt work for me at all. Its disingenuous.

It's definitely manufactured excitement.

Just listen to his call on the LA Kings broadcast on TV the other day. Yes, I get that you're supposed to be calling it for the "home broadcast", and yes, he's probably auditioning for a job, and even yes, as a professional you should be able to manufacture some level of excitement whenever you call any game, but the fact that he can just turn it on and off with so much ease is pretty telling. One moment he's screaming his lungs out as an Oiler broadcaster, the next he's rallying the troops as a Kings guy. He's obviously not a fan - he's just a very polished broadcaster. Very little of his on-air emotion is real.

 

[guymez]

It's definitely manufactured excitement.

Just listen to his call on the LA Kings broadcast on TV the other day. Yes, I get that you're supposed to be calling it for the "home broadcast", and yes, he's probably auditioning for a job, and even yes, as a professional you should be able to manufacture some level of excitement whenever you call any game, but the fact that he can just turn it on and off with so much ease is pretty telling. One moment he's screaming his lungs out as an Oiler broadcaster, the next he's rallying the troops as a Kings guy. He's obviously not a fan - he's just a very polished broadcaster. Very little of his on-air emotion is real.

100%

For the longest time I just couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was that was off with his game calling. This 'selling' mindset which means manufacturing excitement is a large part of what disconnects me from wanting to listen to him. Its highlighted perfectly with his signature "OILERS radio network" call before going to commercial. Its just so phony.
I think its a style that doesnt work in this market. Rods honesty and genuine emotion was what endeared him to this market IMO. Jack is the antithesis of that...it seems to me that salesman style just doesnt work in a blue collar town like this. It lacks substance.

Having said that he might just be the perfect broadcaster with the perfect style for a more superficial Southern California (sell sell sell) market.

 

[tsnTpoint]

Honestly IMO this thread is crazy and think it should be an appreciation thread.

Have your own opinion, but I would honestly use the 630 CHED game audio on my sportsnet broadcast if I could match it up live.

As someone who drives long work trips to northern Alberta twice a week, I get my fare share of 630 CHED Oil games.

Jack Michaels does an outstanding job, puts me on the edge of my seat listening. I don't think you can find a more exciting guy to call overtime.


Favourite announcer: Chris Cuthbert.

On a side note, where is the Drew Remenda bash thread? If anyone deserves one it's him. That guy just flat out sucks.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

You've apparently never heard Rod Phillips then...

 

[AM]

Honestly IMO this thread is crazy and think it should be an appreciation thread.

Have your own opinion, but I would honestly use the 630 CHED game audio on my sportsnet broadcast if I could match it up live.

As someone who drives long work trips to northern Alberta twice a week, I get my fare share of 630 CHED Oil games.

Jack Michaels does an outstanding job, puts me on the edge of my seat listening. I don't think you can find a more exciting guy to call overtime.


Favourite announcer: Chris Cuthbert.

On a side note, where is the Drew Remenda bash thread? If anyone deserves one it's him. That guy just flat out sucks.

You just have to think these guy have alot of beefing that has no place to go this year and they have to unload it somewhere.

 

[Grey Poupon*]

I love Jack Michaels.

I've been an avid listener of Phillips since the late 80s. Are they different? Sure. Am I the type of guy who complains for the sake of complaining or to sound smarter than I really am? No, I'm not the one.

 

[abootzky]

I think Michaels has improved a fair bit over the years. Still, his goal call of DD's overtime winner in Game 5 clearly shows why I've never fully embraced him as Rod Phillips' replacement.

https://omny.fm/shows/ched/apr-20-david-desharnais-ot-winner

 

[Rawg]

I work a lot of out town, I have to listen to many games, I Like Jack and Bob, idk, i feel like a lot of the time people don't remember how bad this team is and how hard it is to call a loss 82 games a year. His OT call last night was awesome, he was excited, he was energetic it was real