Would You Rather Listen to Jim Hughson and Harry Neale or John Shorthouse and Tom Larscheid?
By Richard Eriksson on April 13, 2007 - 6:06pm
Just a few seconds before Game 2 between the Dallas Stars and the Vancouver Canucks, and during the game on Wednesday, I tried a little experiment. As much as I like Jim Hughson's competent play-by-play, it's a lot more fun to get swept up by John Shorthouse and Tom Larscheid. More so than Hughson, Shorty and Larscheid are homers, in that they're fans who have an obvious bias towards the Canucks. You can hear it best after the Canucks score, with Larscheid exclaiming, especially when it's a tie-breaking goal. So on Wednesday I tried watching the game with the volume down and TEAM 1040 turned up, but couldn't go through with it, because the radio was a split second ahead of the play as seen on TV. I didn't want to find out from Shorty that the home team scored before it "actually" happened on my screen. I'm going to try listening on the web: maybe there will be enough of a lag that the online stream will line up with what I see.
So which do you prefer? Jim Hughson or John Shorthouse? The correct answer is usually "what I grew up with", and in my case it's Jim Robson, especially when games were "simulcast" on CKNW and BCTV.
There's an article in The Tyee that touches on the commentators for he CBC:
I secretly miss the days when Chris Cuthbert called Canucks games. He was fired from the CBC—for reasons still unknown to me—and now calls games for TSN, a channel I don't get. He made even Flames games sound exciting.
But enough Calgary-fan baiting: I less secretly yearn for a choice between play-by-play and no play-by-play. The CBC technician strike in 2001 meant no play-by-play commentary on the French station. This isn't a dig against the French play-by-play commentators, but a dig against them all: they're too verbose, most of them calling the game as if it were on radio. All I need really is the name of the player with the puck, and maybe what's happening outside of the camera's view. I, along with pretty much everybody else watching the game, can figure out what's going on.
BTW I like Bob Cole, flaws and all. He's still a Canadian broadcasting legend.
Guess what Jim Hughsonis my dad. He is the best!
I don't believe that Jim's your dad... I like Tom's voice but Jim has a better analysis on commentating play-by-play action.... Fuse them together and that'll be the best commentator in the history of commentators.
Post new comment