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This should be fun. Before I rip on the NBCSN crew I would like to note Mike "Doc" Emrick is a respectable announcer; one of the bests. Unfortunately, he is accompanied by several odd characters.  Photo: zimbio.com Why I dislike NHL on NBCSN Before I get into this rant I'd like to explain why I personally dislike watching games on NBCSN. Blues Buzz provides material ESPN and other big sport networks do not; opinions from die-hard fans. Fox Sports has announcers focusing in on these teams so there are very few mistakes made during the broadcast. NBC, like ESPN, consists of educated journalist and broadcasters. Some of them are watching a team for the first time this season—AND THEY ARE TRYING TO ANNOUNCE THE GAME. These announcers have their beloved teams as we have the Blues. So expecting them to be able to cover every team in the NHL could be considered unfair. Anyway, that's why I dislike them. Here's why everybody else does. Why everybody else dislikes NHL on NBC One problem that was expressed through Twitter last night was the "pings" that randomly rung in the background of the broadcast. NBCSN has placed 4-5 high-tech microphones on the boards and in the nets to give the viewers that 'arena feel'. This brought discomfort to many. It seemed the sounds picked up by the microphones were louder than the announcers. I heard skate drags, banging sticks, and players stopping more than I heard either announcer (which is actually not a bad thing). And everybody who watched the game las night noticed the "PING"s that echoed every 20 seconds or so. I think the microphones were picking up the sound of goalies checking the post with their sticks, but a Blues Buzz fan by the name of Todd tweeted, "I feel like some jacked up adhd kid is tapping away at some metal object near the camera." That is a great comparison. Oh, this next topic really gets me going. The NBCSN crew not understanding the basic rules of hockey. Here is a video of the Predator's Coach's challenge from last night. It seemed the puck entered the zone before Blues forward Dmitrij Jaskin exited. But, as most hockey fans know, the NHL allows players to "tag-up" by simply exiting the zone (without touching the puck) before reentering it. One announcer said, "it's hard to tell where the puck was at that point." The call was clear, but due to NBCSN's poor broadcasting many Blues fans panicked and searched the web for an unusual offside rule NBC knows that we don't. But no, they were just wrong. Fox Sports—per usual—pronounces names correctly. Here they pronounce the Kings' Andrei Loktionov's name correctly (first game). When NHL on NBCSN covered the Kings (second game), Rick Peckham and Brian Engblom struggled with his last name. An argument could be, "But that's a hard name." These announcers are paid to explain what is happening in a game. The names should be practiced and known before broadcasting. As many of you know, this isn't a one-time fluke. The NBCSN gang believes the pronunciation of names isn't really important. As they pronounce Magnus Paajarvi's last name: Pie-arrh-vy. Like a pirate moaning for pie... They have had issues with "Pietrangelo", "Perron", and many more Blues players. But we don't have a lot of hard names. "... it continued last season, and then occurred several times again on Sunday evening, is downright unfathomable. That we had references to "John Klingman" and "Jordan Benn" and "Brad Ritchie" is also, to be completely honest, absolutely ridiculous." via Defending Big D Pierre McGuire "Pierre is the only man I know of capable of turning a bone-crushing hit or electrifying goal into a two-minute exploration of junior hockey in Saskatoon. Did Tuukka Rask just make an improbable save? Let's hear about Derek Dorsett's breakout year for the Medicine Hat Tigers back in '06 and his mother Donna's favorite thing to get at the snack stand there. I heard it was mozzarella sticks. Back to you, Doc."— via BostInno Mike Milbury has also had some problems with Pierre. In fact, he called him a "soccer mom" on live T.V. McGuire was quoted several times during that Boston game: "The Bruins just aren't getting pucks to the net, Doc. You need goals to win a hockey game Doc, and the Bruins just aren't putting pucks on net. You need that to win and they aren't. Back to you, Doc. Just look at the size of Chair-a, just a big guy with a heck of a slapshot, moving the puck into the offensive zone with his big physical presence. My goodness, Chair-a's big. Back to you, Doc. Big-time hit here by Mulan Luchik, catches Ryan Callahan off-guard with this big hit. Callahan's stumbling to get up, thinking 'Woah, that was a big hit.' Back to you, Doc." But that's just a Boston game, right? Wrong. We tweeted out a quote thrown in after a Blues penalty: "Ken Hitchcock is not going to be happy about that." I agree. Hitchcock was probably unhappy after the Blues took a penalty. That's some topnotch broadcasting. He's kinda creepy, too. Here are some parodies and compilations making fun of him. Fansided made a great (more professional) video explaining why people hate him: This one isn't as mature, but it makes our point early: Blues Buzz does not agree with the opinions expressed in the videos; they are for entertainment purposes only. This one is just funny: P.J. Cox
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