Oilers Broadcast changes

[Gunnersaurus Rex]

Curious, without fans in the stands, why are they bothering with the anthems?

 

[bone]

Is this punjabi youtube?

heh Not correct quotes. don't mind me, i'm random and a bit hungover.

edit, fixed, sorry

whoops, I take it all back. he must be a Nucks fan. Boninos mother wouldn't cheer like that..

This is yesterdays PBP caller when he calls the game in Punjabi. Completely different sounding, and I've actually deliberately tuned to their call sometimes despite not knowing what they are saying except for the names. He's got talent. I think any issues yesterday I think were just jitters calling in English the first time.

 

[Drivesaitl]

This is yesterdays PBP caller when he calls the game in Punjabi. Completely different sounding.

i get your point. you'd never know it was the same person.

 

[K1984]

I agree that breaking him in on a national season opener probably wasn't the best timing, but it could have been an emergency substitution after all Gene was even out due to Covid protocols.

I don't think this is simple diversity hire because his Punjabi calls are so fun, that I would occasionally tune in to his broadcast on Hockey Night as it was more fun hearing him without understanding a word than whoever they assigned to the English broadcast. That said, I was underwhelmed at the quality of the call last night, both for mistakes and his general tone, but would like to hear him get a couple more opportunities because I think he's got some talent.

Don't think it's a diversity hire, but I suspect that the outpouring of "whoa! cool! amaaaaazing!" wouldn't be happening if we got that kind of play by play performance from a white guy named Jim Smith on his first game.

I don't understand why people have to pretend that was a play by play performance worthy of an opening night national broadcast just because the guy is Punjabi.

 

[joestevens29]

If it was some kind of last minute emergency and they had to have somebody fill in, then I’ll give him a pass. If this is to be a regular occurrence (In English), I suggest that he start at a lower level of hockey to hone his skills. Much like the players, a certain level of quality and experience is expected at this level.

They honestly would've been better off doing what some teams did during the play in and that was having their play by play do it via TV monitors in their home City.

 

[bone]

Don't think it's a diversity hire, but I suspect that the outpouring of "whoa! cool! amaaaaazing!" wouldn't be happening if we got that kind of play by play performance from a white guy named Jim Smith on his first game.

I don't understand why people have to pretend that was a play by play performance worthy of an opening night national broadcast just because the guy is Punjabi.

You're probably right, that no one would be talking about the performance if it was Joe Smith from Kingston Ontario, but I do think it's worthy acknowledging that last night did break through a barrier and that's more likely where people's support is coming from. One could argue what better platform to break that barrier than a season opening national broadcast where viewership would be at its highest.

Shaky first night aside, I'm curious what he can do as he gets more comfortable after listening to his previous calls in Punjabi.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Curious, without fans in the stands, why are they bothering with the anthems?

I wouldn't bother with the anthems even if there were fans in the stands.

I bet Michaels tonight isn't much better.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Is this punjabi youtube?

heh Not correct quotes. don't mind me, i'm random and a bit hungover.

edit, fixed, sorry

whoops, I take it all back. he must be an out of town fan. Boninos mother wouldn't cheer like that..

In our culture, that's awesome lol i loved it

 

[rboomercat90]

Positives on the broadcast.

For once they showed some of the pregame stuff, the lit up ice, projections, some of the pregame stuff and players skating around and taking shots. I like that. So often the crew just pan to the announcers the whole time. This had mroe the feel of being at the game, and was a plus.

next the Muckler and Moss segments were well done. Really enjoyed those, took me back, and they were touching moments.

Huge positive that they didn't go down the virtue hole again which was a league narrative script last time out. Just play hockey, just televise hockey.

Last positive is the Toronto to Edmonton feed was pretty much on cue. They ended the Toronto segment at 8:01 and went to commercials. often times they would tune into Edmonton just in time for the anthem. Thus us not getting the pregame experience. I suspect they did last night because of the Moss and Muckler tributes but at least Snet didn't screw that up arriving late. Prior game had gone to OT so it was a blessing.

The advertising was really not distracting at all. seemed well done. You hardly notice.

maybe its me but I really found the Oilers third jerseys unimpressive. Kind of ugly. The logo needs to be white background, otherwise just looks like a weird blue and orange negative print. Found it really unattractive. Maybe they just don't do well on TV. On tV the two hues don't look right together. Maybe different in person.

In regards to those third jerseys, they’re terrible. Maybe they look nice in person but on tv they come across as awful. You can’t read the names and it’s even a struggle to make out the numbers. Considering there’s nobody in the crowd to see those sharp jerseys in person and the only audience is watching on tv, it was a stupid decision to wear them. Somebody made the comment in the GDT last night that it didn’t matter what the team wore for a jersey, “they can wear garbage bags for all I care”. I thought that was a fitting comment. Those jerseys look exactly like garbage bags with some orange paint spilled on them.

 

[oilers'72]

I was looking at the Sportsnet PBP guys. I wonder if they had tried to get RJ Broadhead to do the game, as Singh is probably based in Toronto. Nationally, other than Hughson (Vancouver) and Broadhead in the west, and Cuthbert and John Bartlett in the east, there's no #3 PBP guys in the west and east. I'm not sure if the schedule has all 3 games in the east or west on a Saturday.

 

[Mav3rick07]

Any word if we get Jack tonight ?

 

[rboomercat90]

Maybe it was the sound in your tv, because I heard him speaking fine. Also, this isn’t a very good argument for not being happy with Singh as an announcer?

I’ve been defending Singh in this thread and the GDT last night. Not sure why you’re going off on me. I thought he did all right for his first English broadcast. The post you quoted was me offering an explanation to why “his emotion” may have been substandard in the eyes of some. IMO, if he wasn’t very good last night it was in part because Sportsnet thought it was more important for the audience to hear their fake crowd noise than it was to hear their announcers. His microphone wasn’t loud enough and i made that comment 2 minutes into the game last night.

 

[oilers'72]

Any word if we get Jack tonight ?

He should be on. It's a regional broadcast but shown nationally on SN1.

 

[frag2]

I was looking at the Sportsnet PBP guys. I wonder if they had tried to get RJ Broadhead to do the game, as Singh is probably based in Toronto. Nationally, other than Hughson (Vancouver) and Broadhead in the west, and Cuthbert and John Bartlett in the east, there's no #3 PBP guys in the west and east. I'm not sure if the schedule has all 3 games in the east or west on a Saturday.

Singh is based out of Alberta IIRC. He freelances for Flames website

 

[oilers'72]

Singh is based out of Alberta IIRC. He freelances for Flames website

Ah, OK. Thanks.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Or these ones

I think Bonino scored that first goal, cant confirm though.

 

[Drivesaitl]

In our culture, that's awesome lol i loved it

I could get used to it. Your culture seems good at celebration. its joyful, and I live in the Mill hood so I get to experience it a lot. Love the food heh.

You know, being that his pbp was entirely different I get the impression the broadcast told him to tone it down, but I don't know why, just that they seem to like boring nondescript broadcasts. I mean Gene Principe was the only edge to the Oilers broadcasts and even he was pretty homer.

 

[McDraekke]

I’ve been defending Singh in this thread and the GDT last night. Not sure why you’re going off on me. I thought he did all right for his first English broadcast. The post you quoted was me offering an explanation to why “his emotion” may have been substandard in the eyes of some. IMO, if he wasn’t very good last night it was in part because Sportsnet thought it was more important for the audience to hear their fake crowd noise than it was to hear their announcers. His microphone wasn’t loud enough and i made that comment 2 minutes into the game last night.

Misunderstanding is all - I post on my phone and I didn’t go check who it was who I quoted when I saw your response (cause that’s a bit of a pain), so in my head you were responding to me defending him which meant you were slighting him. My apologies!

 

[NeverForget06]

This is an interview with Mr. Singh that was done on the Steve Dangle Podcast. I usually only listen to this pod to soak up the tears of Leafs fans when they are losing. Otherwise, it can be painfully Leaf-centric, which is fine, the podcast isn't meant for me.

It's a pretty great interview. Singh was born in Wetaskawin and grew up in Brooks. There is a funny story in there about his family celebrating Gretz's birthday every year using their own cultural traditions. I think he is actually more of an Oilers fan than a Canucks fan.

Anyways, thought I would post here in case anyone is interested. I would agree that he needs a little adjusting, but I think it's a cool story nonetheless.

 

[Cloned]

Or these ones

I think he purposely toned down his enthusiasm last night because it was first English national broadcast and he was scared to go overboard.

That was a mistake IMO. He needs to be himself and call the games the way he got here.

 

[Smartguy]

Curious, without fans in the stands, why are they bothering with the anthems?

I don’t think even with fans in the stands they should bother with anthems

 

[subnet]

I think he purposely toned down his enthusiasm last night because it was first English national broadcast and he was scared to go overboard.

That was a mistake IMO. He needs to be himself and call the games the way he got here.

I also think that being an Oilers fan, he perhaps tried to not sound like a big homer, and instead went on to pump up the Canucks a little more to compensate?

 

[McTonyBrar]

I feel bad for calling him out. His style of commentating works well when he speaks in Punjabi but obviously it isn't the same in English. Example, how he said Yamamoto's goal would actually be awesome in Punjabi but in English it didn't sound that good

 

[Morpheus]

I feel bad for calling him out. His style of commentating works well when he speaks in Punjabi but obviously it isn't the same in English. Example, how he said Yamamoto's goal would actually be awesome in Punjabi but in English it didn't sound that good

No reason anyone here should feel bad. We had no idea he was a last minute fill in, and he did a better job than most of us would have done.
He can fill in anytime in an emergency situation...
just imagine if we had to sit thru a game with Cassie for 3 periods in a row!?

 

[Gunnersaurus Rex]

I don’t think even with fans in the stands they should bother with anthems

Agreed. Been saying this for years. At minimum, if you do the anthems, start them before the top of the hour start time, before the TV broadcast begins.