Changes Coming to On-Air Personalities

[TheChimp]

Has Duff ever done play-by-play? Because it really is time for Sylvester to go back to doing what he was doing and if Duff could do PBP, they could just switch. I think Neale is fine at color as long as he wants to do it, and frankly that probably won't be much longer, if at all longer, after RJ hangs 'em up. I wouldn;t mind seeing how Rayzor does with color when Harry retires. Then you can just have Gare go down betweeen the benches and everybody's happy. :D

 

But I agree, RJ is hanging on in vain if he's hoping the team will win a Cup with him calling it. And he's missing alot of details. But Kevin, the super nice guy that he is, and knowledgeable about the game as he is, just doesn't have what it takes to do PBP, and Duff is the only one I can think of (unless I include Koziol or the guys from the radio show, maybe) who I can see being smooth enough to do it right.

[papazoid]

Duff has been involved in sports broadcasting for more than 15 years, with a strong focus on hockey. The veteran broadcaster can be seen nightly during the NHL season on NHL On The Fly.

 

Prior to joining NHL Network, Duff spent six years as the pre- and post-game host for Toronto Maple Leafs hockey on Leafs TV. His extensive hockey broadcasting career also includes stints as the radio host for pre- and post-game coverage of the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers and radio game analyst for the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers.

 

In addition, Duff worked at The Score as an anchor and reporter and provided play-by-play for Ottawa Rebel lacrosse and the Mann Cup. Duff has also freelanced for key U.S.-based media outlets including ESPN and Associated Press.

 

Duff, who grew up in Whitby, Ont., holds a Broadcasting Diploma from Mount Royal College in Calgary.

[spndnchz]

Duff has been involved in sports broadcasting for more than 15 years, with a strong focus on hockey. The veteran broadcaster can be seen nightly during the NHL season on NHL On The Fly.

 

Prior to joining NHL Network, Duff spent six years as the pre- and post-game host for Toronto Maple Leafs hockey on Leafs TV. His extensive hockey broadcasting career also includes stints as the radio host for pre- and post-game coverage of the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers and radio game analyst for the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers.

 

In addition, Duff worked at The Score as an anchor and reporter and provided play-by-play for Ottawa Rebel lacrosse and the Mann Cup. Duff has also freelanced for key U.S.-based media outlets including ESPN and Associated Press.

 

Duff, who grew up in Whitby, Ont., holds a Broadcasting Diploma from Mount Royal College in Calgary.

 

http://blackbluegold.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/duff-has-tools-to-inherit-lorentzs-vacant-role/

[I am Defecting]

What's best about RJ is that he has this theatrical way of getting the action across on the radio.

 

They should hire some flaming thesbian to replace him, preferably with some hockey knowledge.

 

Duff could do color.analysis.

[nobody]

What's best about RJ is that he has this theatrical way of getting the action across on the radio.

 

This is something I've mentioned before - RJ calls a game for the radio. He needs to call a game so when you hear it you can imagine you are watching it. Sure - when you are watching a game on TV that he is calling you will catch some mistakes that he makes. But who cares - you can see what is going on and a few mistakes don't take away from the experience.

 

Then you get Sylvester who calls a game for TV. It's adequate for that medium since you can see what is going on so you can block him out to some degree. But when you are forced to listen to Sylvester on the radio - ugh.

[I am Defecting]

I don't imagine they will be keeping the same substitutes here next year. It would be difficult to hire top-notch pros to fill in at RJ's whim. It's already time for a change, sadly, but we suffer for RJ's sake, imo.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I don't imagine they will be keeping the same substitutes here next year. It would be difficult to hire top-notch pros to fill in at RJ's whim. It's already time for a change, sadly, but we suffer for RJ's sake, imo.

 

Did you mean to type Holland, Pennsylvania?

[I am Defecting]

I see that's an actual town, but I must be missing something.

 

Holland, NY is what happens when you follow the 400 to its southeastern terminus, and keep going for 10 minutes. It's out there, but we still consider it Buffalo.

 

It's the 14080.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I see that's an actual town, but I must be missing something.

 

Holland, NY is what happens when you follow the 400 to its southeastern terminus, and keep going for 10 minutes. It's out there, but we still consider it Buffalo.

 

It's the 14080.

 

I'm just teasing. You have some "calling-out" gumption that not many here would have.

[Robviously]

Schopp and The Bulldog is sports talk worth listening to, it only gets better when Sullivan joins the discussion.

 

Joe Buscaglia is really good, the kid knows football. He'll be in a bigger market real soon.

 

The WGR morning show is horrible.

 

The Sabres broadcast team is amateurish. Maybe they have too many play makers in the booth.

Schopp and the Bulldog is a good show that is often great and occasionally brilliant. And they should really call it "Schopp and the Bulldog featuring Greg Bauch." Every now and then Bauch deadpans a one liner that has me cracking up at my desk.

 

From a couple years ago:

Bulldog: "We all hate Tim Connolly like he spends his free time drowning kittens."

Schopp (wondering out loud): "Do you think it's hard to drown kittens?"

Bauch: "Well.....morally......"

 

I do think of these shows more as entertainment than sports analysis. Actual sports analysis on the radio is rare and can be boring even when you do get it. I like they Schopp and the Bulldog do "Country Draft", "Actor Draft", etc.

[I am Defecting]

I'm just teasing. You have some "calling-out" gumption that not many here would have.

Ted? :wub: You're my favorite.

I didn't expect you to delete it, but I did the same with my TSC thread.

It coulda got ugly and I didn't want that.

 

To us! Excelsior!

[mudberry]

Rick is obviously awesome

Duff is a great addition and adds a touch of professionalism. I thought he and Robitaille had great chemistry when they were teamed up at intermission and I'd love to see more of that.

I didn't like Ray at first but he has grown on me. Has pretty good insight and a good sense of humor that isn't over the top.

Neutral on Neil. Don't care if he stays or goes. Like that he doesn't get in the way of the play by play.

I'm not fond of Gare's commentary. Doesn't seem to add much and there's something about his voice that doesn't sound right on tv.

Have always been a fan of Robitaille. Very insightful, and doesn't hold back too much. I used to enjoy hearing him do the color commentary and would love to see him back doing that though I might be in the minority there. Wish we had someone who could hip-check like him.

Sylvester-Never liked him in any capacity. Always came off as a smart ass to me. Maybe would be better suited having a radio show. Has his moments, and he's better than some announcers in the NHL, but I've tuned in to a few that are better. I don't like that we're having him do on the job training.

[LTS]

Well...

 

RJ gets the nod, history has legs for him. He's still a great announcer to listen to even if some details are wrong. And to think.. I hated him some 20 years ago.

Duff - absolutely outstanding in every way. His knowledge of the NHL (which I assume he hones for the NHL network) and his ability to almost push Sylvester and Gare into addressing issues he thinks they should be talking about is outstanding. He's got to be included in the future.

Ray - I like him, a lot. His insight is that of a player who knows when a certain toughness is needed and he speaks it. There are a few times I think he makes some irrelevant points but I almost feel like he's being forced to say something by MSG and he has a limited set of "good plays" to work with.

Neal - retire, now.

Sylvester - cannot stand him.

Gare - cannot stand him even more.

Koziol - meh.. I listen to music between periods

Robitaille - ugh.. this guy tries way too hard to force analogies and cute statements. I think he's a moron. Ray can do everything Robitaille can do and not seem like a complete jackass doing it.

 

Schopp - this guy sucks. There are a few times he makes a point but most of the time he is busy cutting people off and trying to force his view points on people. Moreover he could not seem more disinterested in sports at times and even says so. Go host a political talk show or something then.

 

Bulldog - he's a fan stuck in a broadcast role. I think he waivers too much in his opinions but sometimes I wonder if that's part of being a host and also knowing things he cannot say.

 

Howard Simon - whatever.

Jeremy White - I'm fine with him.

 

in the end they will need someone outstanding to fill RJ's shoes... I hate that every time I know RJ is not announcing I almost want to turn off the game. I long for NBC announcers or ANYONE other than Sylvester and Gare... it's gotten to the point where I just don't watch when they are the announcers.

[Taro T]

As TP seems to have more money than he knows what to do with, I wonder if there'd be any possibility that after RJ retires that they'd go back to having a separate TV and radio play-by-play crew.

 

Prior to Gurtler not being able to come close to standing in Ted's shoes (even the very ill version of Ted that was worse at the end than Van Miller was at the end) the Sabres always had separate crews for separate mediums. They even had a cable TV crew and a broadcast TV crew, though I think I got to watch exactly 2 games on cable back in the day.

 

Considering TP still fondly tells of listening to the Sabres on AM maybe he'd be willing to set up the broadcasts so that listening on the radio isn't as unsatisfying as checking for updates on Yahoo.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

For a group that supposedly cherishes hockey......listening to the GR show today with Schopp, Parker and Bauch was borderline disgusting.

 

The hosts obviously did not watch the entire game last night. Bulldog went on about how "weak" Phoenix's roster is....yet in naming their roster, failed to mention the alternate captain who Bauch also had no clue about, Martin Hanzal. He spouted off 7 or 8 names....but not the 24yo, 6'5" 225lb center who would have been 5th in scoring on the Sabres and outhit the entire center contingent of Buffalo the entire year. I would put $1,000 down that if you called Phoenix tomorrow and offered Hodgson and Ennis for him, they'd tell you to stuff it.

 

Not only that.....but to comment on the hit by Brown without seeing it in context of the biggest game to date this year is crazy. Over the previous 15 minutes, there were 4 or 5 referee impacts that were bordering on absurd...against both teams. The interference and then offside on Doughty, the icing call, then non-icing call where there should have been a delay of game.....then spearing Smith's catching glove off him and letting play continue....then the hit by Brown in real time, after all the recent action. Anyone would understand why 10 seconds after play resumes, Phoenix would go bonkers.

 

I'm not one to give a crap usually, but how am I to take these guys' opinions seriously? They "love" hockey over football and fawn over all things Sabres, yet can't watch the pentultimate series deciding game of the sport? I know they have kids and all.....so maybe it's time to hand over the air time to someone like Buscaglia who at least has passion about the sports he covers.

[ubkev]

For a group that supposedly cherishes hockey......listening to the GR show today with Schopp, Parker and Bauch was borderline disgusting.

 

The hosts obviously did not watch the entire game last night. Bulldog went on about how "weak" Phoenix's roster is....yet in naming their roster, failed to mention the alternate captain who Bauch also had no clue about, Martin Hanzal. He spouted off 7 or 8 names....but not the 24yo, 6'5" 225lb center who would have been 5th in scoring on the Sabres and outhit the entire center contingent of Buffalo the entire year. I would put $1,000 down that if you called Phoenix tomorrow and offered Hodgson and Ennis for him, they'd tell you to stuff it.

 

Not only that.....but to comment on the hit by Brown without seeing it in context of the biggest game to date this year is crazy. Over the previous 15 minutes, there were 4 or 5 referee impacts that were bordering on absurd...against both teams. The interference and then offside on Doughty, the icing call, then non-icing call where there should have been a delay of game.....then spearing Smith's catching glove off him and letting play continue....then the hit by Brown in real time, after all the recent action. Anyone would understand why 10 seconds after play resumes, Phoenix would go bonkers.

 

I'm not one to give a crap usually, but how am I to take these guys' opinions seriously? They "love" hockey over football and fawn over all things Sabres, yet can't watch the pentultimate series deciding game of the sport? I know they have kids and all.....so maybe it's time to hand over the air time to someone like Buscaglia who at least has passion about the sports he covers.

 

They were quite irritating today, I agree.

[JJFIVEOH]

#1-Jeaneret-Nothing needs to be said

#2-Ray-Entertaining, funny, informative and knowledgable

#3-Koziol-Dude's got a tough job. Taking the same repetitive calles every night, provides some really good stats and his whole crew does a great job keeping up with the times as far as social media. Really goes out of his way to answer Emails

#4-Neale-So the guy has lost a step because of his age. I think he's entertaining, probably makes Jeaneret feel young and those two seem like a good combo. I think he gets way too much undeserved criticism

#5-Robitaille-Like has been mentioned, he lost a step after he got muzzled. But he still finds a way to tell it like it is

#6-Duff-Tough to rank because we don't see him often enough. But a true professional

#7-Gare-Pretty good at filling in for Neale. Tough to get a rythym going when you're not doing a lot of games

#8-Sylvester-I think his play by play could use some work. But like Gare, it's tough to get in the groove when you're not full time

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19-Bulldog-These two are so bad they deserve to be ranked behind 10 people who don't even exist

#20-Schopp-S&B are usually so uninformed it amaes me they still have jobs. When all your job entails is talking about sports and half the time you don't even know what the hell you're talking about, you gotta resort to shock tactics just to improve ratings.

[SwampD]

For a group that supposedly cherishes hockey......listening to the GR show today with Schopp, Parker and Bauch was borderline disgusting.

 

The hosts obviously did not watch the entire game last night. Bulldog went on about how "weak" Phoenix's roster is....yet in naming their roster, failed to mention the alternate captain who Bauch also had no clue about, Martin Hanzal. He spouted off 7 or 8 names....but not the 24yo, 6'5" 225lb center who would have been 5th in scoring on the Sabres and outhit the entire center contingent of Buffalo the entire year. I would put $1,000 down that if you called Phoenix tomorrow and offered Hodgson and Ennis for him, they'd tell you to stuff it.

 

Not only that.....but to comment on the hit by Brown without seeing it in context of the biggest game to date this year is crazy. Over the previous 15 minutes, there were 4 or 5 referee impacts that were bordering on absurd...against both teams. The interference and then offside on Doughty, the icing call, then non-icing call where there should have been a delay of game.....then spearing Smith's catching glove off him and letting play continue....then the hit by Brown in real time, after all the recent action. Anyone would understand why 10 seconds after play resumes, Phoenix would go bonkers.

 

I'm not one to give a crap usually, but how am I to take these guys' opinions seriously? They "love" hockey over football and fawn over all things Sabres, yet can't watch the pentultimate series deciding game of the sport? I know they have kids and all.....so maybe it's time to hand over the air time to someone like Buscaglia who at least has passion about the sports he covers.

No offense, Ghost, (don't you love when someone starts that way? It usually means they are about to offend you.) but this post is uncharactoristically whiny (see). Arizona was frustrated because they lost and were looking for any reason to be mad. That's it. There was no penalty or reason to stop play on the Smith glove play. Brown's hit was clean. The refs had zero effect on the outcome of that game or series.

 

While I agree that they would refuse your trade suggestion, is being 5th in scoring on the Sabres something you would put on your resume?

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

No offense, Ghost, (don't you love when someone starts that way? It usually means they are about to offend you.) but this post is uncharactoristically whiny (see). Arizona was frustrated because they lost and were looking for any reason to be mad. That's it. There was no penalty or reason to stop play on the Smith glove play. Brown's hit was clean. The refs had zero effect on the outcome of that game or series.

 

While I agree that they would refuse your trade suggestion, is being 5th in scoring on the Sabres something you would put on your resume?

 

It is whiny....and I am not one to lay stuff on the refs. It was just the 5 minute conversation I heard between the two, who have a job to talk about sports.....and are vocal about their preference of hockey over football....yet they don't even watch the games that matter. It's obvious that if you can't stay up to watch a Stanley Cup participant deciding game.....you probably saw all of 7 minutes of Phoenix play the past year and have no clue what you are talking about.

 

I leave well enough alone, but Buffalo is such a city of doing things out of habit. It's too bad WECK had the broadcast power of a GE toaster, because we suffer from a lack of competition around these parts.

[tom webster]

It is whiny....and I am not one to lay stuff on the refs. It was just the 5 minute conversation I heard between the two, who have a job to talk about sports.....and are vocal about their preference of hockey over football....yet they don't even watch the games that matter. It's obvious that if you can't stay up to watch a Stanley Cup participant deciding game.....you probably saw all of 7 minutes of Phoenix play the past year and have no clue what you are talking about.

 

I leave well enough alone, but Buffalo is such a city of doing things out of habit. It's too bad WECK had the broadcast power of a GE toaster, because we suffer from a lack of competition around these parts.

 

I can tell you for certainty that if Schoop didn't watch the game, life got in the way and I am pretty sure the same applies to Chris.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I can tell you for certainty that if Schoop didn't watch the game, life got in the way and I am pretty sure the same applies to Chris.

 

I have liked them over the years in general, but the lack of passion is obvious now. It happens, you get into your 40's, have families, etc. Then I see a kid like Buscaglia diving into football like Mel Kiper, and i will at least respect his opinion because of the passion he shows. GR just seems to be another appologist arm for the Sabres mediocrity many times, and when you belittle a team like Phoenix and don't even understad their style of play, why they could have possibly been upset, or are unable to identify one of the top young, bruising 2-way centers in the game.....the very type of player the Sabres "should" be dying for.....then I just have to shrug my shoulders I guess.

 

Maybe Phoenix doesn't have many O-Pee-Chee, Diamond studded, sweat-stained swatch cards that could help identify some of their players. I just expected a tad more from those guys. I guess it isn't 1994 anymore.

[nobody]

Re GR - beyond the on-air work; they have had some good articles on their website by Matthew Coller looking at some stats for current players and by Jeremy White looking at the upcoming draft.

[papazoid]

Changes Coming to Buffalo Sabres Broadcasts:

 

According to a news release sent out by the team, among the major changes will be the addition of Rob Ray to the broadcast booth as the full-time color analyst and the creation of a new Sabres radio show, hosted by Kevin Sylvester, which will air daily beginning with its debut on June 18.

 

Brian Duff, who joined the Sabres broadcast team in 2011-12, has also signed a new deal with the team to serve as the full-time host for all Sabres broadcasts on MSG. In that role, Duff will host the pregame show before all games, the post game Report and the intermission reports between periods.

 

Veteran broadcasters Harry Neale, Danny Gare and Mike Robitaille will be mainstays across all Sabres platforms in 2012-13, providing in-depth analysis before, during and after games. Neale will join Robitaille as a regular analyst on the pregame show and intermission reports, while Robitaille will continue his work on the postgame show. In addition to writing a new blog on Sabres.com, Gare will be appearing on Sabres Hockey Hotline in a weekly segment.

 

http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/171134/37/Changes-Coming-to-Sabres-Broadcasts

[nobody]

Might want to update the thread title - since this is major good news!

[spndnchz]

Might want to update the thread title - since this is major good news!

 

http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/21257-sabres-new-media-summit-ray-replaces-neale/