It's been a good run, but....
So last night the CBC decided to give the West Coast the "good" crew - we got the HD truck, Don Cherry and Ron McLean, and, best of all - Bob Cole doing play by play.
The high definition truck was excellent, and there is really no excuse to not have that at every single Canucks game for the rest of history. If you're not fortunate to have an HD TV (and I don't in my apartment, but we were at a friends house who does) do yourself a favour and start saving for one because the difference is huge and it makes sports way better.
While Don Cherry has clearly lost a few steps, he is sitll worth watching, and Ron McLean is an excellent host, so it's nice to have those guys on during our game, even if you do have to deal with Cherry's blatant homerism for the Leafs. Honestly, I think Kelly Hrudey does a pretty good job and is probably just as good if not better than Cherry at this point, so I will call that one a wash.
Then, there was Bob Cole. Now, if the people at CBC think we were getting the good end of the deal by getting Bob Cole instead of Jim Hughson they are sadly mistaken. It is completely obvious that Cole no longer has the slightest clue what is happening on the ice in front of him, especially if neither of the teams involved are the Maple Leafs.
Some random examples include mistaking Daniel Sedin for Matt Cooke, horribly mispronouncing various names throughout the contest, at one point referring to a Calgary player as Tommi Santala despite the fact that Santala plays for the Canucks and wasn't even on the ice at the time. But, my personal favourite was the Canucks powerplay where he repeatedly called Krajicek Willie Mitchell, then mistook Bieksa for Mitchell as well, commenting that "Mitchell is all over the ice" despite the fact that he in fact wasn't on the ice at all.
His voice still sounds like hockey, but if you ever pay a little bit more attention to what he's saying and a little less to the tone of his voice it is horribly obvious that he needs to go. I know it's a hard thing for CBC to do given his history with the game and the fact that I am sure he still wants to be doing it, but the sad truth is that he just can't hack it anymore.
At the very least, stick him with the Leafs games and give us Jim Hughson back, because there is no finer call in the game right now thatnHughson's trademark "Great Save Luongo!"
The high definition truck was excellent, and there is really no excuse to not have that at every single Canucks game for the rest of history. If you're not fortunate to have an HD TV (and I don't in my apartment, but we were at a friends house who does) do yourself a favour and start saving for one because the difference is huge and it makes sports way better.
While Don Cherry has clearly lost a few steps, he is sitll worth watching, and Ron McLean is an excellent host, so it's nice to have those guys on during our game, even if you do have to deal with Cherry's blatant homerism for the Leafs. Honestly, I think Kelly Hrudey does a pretty good job and is probably just as good if not better than Cherry at this point, so I will call that one a wash.
Then, there was Bob Cole. Now, if the people at CBC think we were getting the good end of the deal by getting Bob Cole instead of Jim Hughson they are sadly mistaken. It is completely obvious that Cole no longer has the slightest clue what is happening on the ice in front of him, especially if neither of the teams involved are the Maple Leafs.
Some random examples include mistaking Daniel Sedin for Matt Cooke, horribly mispronouncing various names throughout the contest, at one point referring to a Calgary player as Tommi Santala despite the fact that Santala plays for the Canucks and wasn't even on the ice at the time. But, my personal favourite was the Canucks powerplay where he repeatedly called Krajicek Willie Mitchell, then mistook Bieksa for Mitchell as well, commenting that "Mitchell is all over the ice" despite the fact that he in fact wasn't on the ice at all.
His voice still sounds like hockey, but if you ever pay a little bit more attention to what he's saying and a little less to the tone of his voice it is horribly obvious that he needs to go. I know it's a hard thing for CBC to do given his history with the game and the fact that I am sure he still wants to be doing it, but the sad truth is that he just can't hack it anymore.
At the very least, stick him with the Leafs games and give us Jim Hughson back, because there is no finer call in the game right now thatnHughson's trademark "Great Save Luongo!"