Mike Lange plans to call significantly fewer away games

[shmenguin]

hi everyone. my name is shmengy. i'll be your bad take boy for the day. if you look out the window on your left, you'll find an explanation of why you guys are clinging onto lange out of nostalgia rather than quality. and under that tree over there, you'll see a comparison to chris berman and his nicknames that stopped being entertaining about 20 years ago. hope you enjoy your time here. we'll be showing a screening of sorority boys later - which is a funny and underrated movie.

[columbia]

He's better than Howie Rose (who is actually pretty good at calling a baseball game).

[Jim]

No one ever plays poorly if you listen to Lange, which is a flaw in his game calling.

[Troy Loney]

I think Steigerwald was better than this guy doing the play by play now.

[Troy Loney]

I think the thing I hated most about Paul Steigerwald was his brother John Steigerwald.

[Silentom]

That bad take might trump all other bad takes.

[Morkle]

I think Steigerwald was better than this guy doing the play by play now.

Actually this. I don't think Mears is that great. Hopefully, he gets better but right now, blech.

[MR25]

Mears is fine imo, and is closer to the rest of the league than Steigerwald was.

I think half the reason people claim to like Steiggy over him is that people actively listened for when Steiggy would say something absolutely horrendous to laugh at. You aren't going to get that with Mears.

[NTP66]

I'm going to give Mears more than half a season before I start crucifying him. He certainly has room to improve, but I have enjoyed the broadcasts more than I did with Steigerwald.

[Dickie Dunn]

People actively listened to Steigy whereas Mears put them to sleep before the third period.

[mikey]

They're both bad, but for different reasons. It's just a matter of which bad you prefer. Maybe I should take this to the political thread...?

[columbia]

A pox on your house, if you chased away Steigy for that bum Mears.

[shmenguin]

steigy is better with big moments. mears is better with roughly 99+% of the remaining broadcast.

my choice is no play-by-play, if that's an option

[Troy Loney]

I hope that post doesn't come off as an endorsement for Steigerwald. I think Mears was just making me question whether he was that bad.

[shafnutz05]

I didn't mind Steigy at all...of course he was a ridiculous homer, and there were multiple laugh out loud moments throughout the season, but I miss his passion for the team.

[shmenguin]

if there was a feed that just played ice + crowd noise with no commentary, i would pick that. i'm not seduced by steigy's actual enthusiasm or a national crew's fake enthusiasm. or the odd enthusiasm mears brings to the table, of course. i like errey enough as a color guy, but i'd still pick the ice + crowd noise

[mikey]

Skates cutting ice is a terrific sound. I get to hear it most days of the week and it brings me great joy.

[Jim]

Steigerwald was hot trash. Mears is not great but he is no where near as bad as Steigerwald.

[Orlando Penguin]

My level of 'approval' of Mears is based on the number of times I prefer to listen to the road broadcast online. With Steigy, it was just about every night unless it was the Flyers, Caps, or Islanders. I haven't gone to the road announcers once this year. He's not one that will dazzle you and he's certainly not challenging Emrick at the top (amirite, @dodint?) but he at least calls a fair game and doesn't let bias creep in.

As for Lange, I listened to the first period last nite in the car on my way home from a game and you can tell that he's slowed down...he just seems a tick behind the play, which at his age is certainly understandable in a fast game like hockey. And when you're on radio and you're the eyes and ears for the consumer, you have to be on it all the time. It's not a knock on a HOF talent, it's just the natural progression of someone aging.

[dodint]

Emrick, at the top? What?

[NTP66]

Emrick was better last year than the year before, where he was completely insufferable. His Emrickisms are still total ****, though.

[llipgh2]

if there was a feed that just played ice + crowd noise with no commentary, i would pick that. i'm not seduced by steigy's actual enthusiasm or a national crew's fake enthusiasm. or the odd enthusiasm mears brings to the table, of course. i like errey enough as a color guy, but i'd still pick the ice + crowd noise

I would love this. I find all announcers distracting. I put the games on mute and only put the sound on when there is a penalty or scrum.

[shmenguin]

His Emrickisms are still total ****, though.

then i need to understand the difference between emrickisms and langeisms.

and here's an unpopular take...i even prefer mears and his "8th grader recording his demo reel" caliber goal calls as opposed to lange's contrived catch phrases. i even think his 2009 cup clinching call was terrible.

[NTP66]

Starting off Thursday with more bad takes. You really did earn the title of Bad Take Boy.

[shmenguin]

well...what is the difference between "waffleboarded" and "michael michael motorcycle" other than the latter being worse.