Fifth Avenue Forum

What did we think of ESPN? I was out watching it so didn't have sound. I caught some of the Vegas game when I got home and thought Bucci was better than I expected him to be as a pxp guy

• Rush Cam: Fine for a few second, preferably on a replay, but not at all useful for long-term use as you cannot see what's happening down low
• Arena Cam: SD resolution on an HD broadcast... just no. The angle would be fine if the camera actually broadcast in HD, but it didn't. It was really bad
• Audio was **** for a while, but got better
• The announcers on this broadcast, Mcdonaugh and Ferraro... meh, at best
• I didn't watch on ESPN+, but their streaming app is garbage quality, confirmed by others

Hopefully they'll tweak and improve the camera stuff as the season goes

I'm really happy they're trying new stuff. Hockey should be presented closer to what it's like playing it in a video game. The mentality of parking a camera in the rafters at the center line and saving alt-angles for replays is very dated. As NTP66 said, they need a higher quality camera for the chase shots but other than that it's fine. They'll get better at when and where to deploy those shots, I'm sure.

Their fox box isn't very good. Someone mentioned it needs a shot count added to it. I think the whole thing needs redone. But I've always been partial to long skinny bars instead of a rectangle box. The one they're using looks like it's for MLB.

I thought Ferraro was great. This was my first time hearing him do color and he seemed super knowledgable and knew when to chime in with interesting info. He may have beaten the same few drums a few times too many but other than that I thought he was great. I forget the name of the person between the benches but I also thought she was great. I liked having a female voice to break up the sausage party and her content was much better than Pierre's usual schtick.

And I agree that I'm happy they're trying to innovate with how the game is presented. There will be some growing pains and maybe that sky cam is better for replay or specific game situations like PPs but there is potential there.

Source of the post Their fox box isn't very good. Someone mentioned it needs a shot count added to it. I think the whole thing needs redone.

I like that it's small and doesn't take up much space. I was worried that it would be huge.

I thought Ferraro was great.

OI' Chicken Parm is very good. I was happy to hear him last night as well. He's been trapped up north for years, and I don't watch enough hockey these days to hear him work an entire game.

Source of the post I forget the name of the person between the benches but I also thought she was great.

Was she? She was just... there. Didn't really add anything to the broadcast, IMO.

Source of the post I forget the name of the person between the benches but I also thought she was great.

Was she? She was just... there. Didn't really add anything to the broadcast, IMO.

She didn't have many segments but the ones she had were interesting. I also hate Pierre so anybody is an improvement. Though to be fair, she didn't really do any of the typical between the bench reporting. There was no real purpose to her being at ice level and now I'm wondering if she was even there the entire game or just for her segments. I also do believe that having another voice besides the room full of dudes is important and does a nice job breaking up the monotony.

Hopefully ESPN brings back the glowing pucks.

I appreciated how Emily Kaplan said Corey Perry was "pissed off". We need more candor like that instead of telling us which high school the player went to.

Also enjoyed the 5 or so seconds of awkward silence after she finished that.

Yeah, that was a little jarring that she said "pissed off" actually...not because I'm scared of the language, it was just odd to hear that from a reporter...

Ferraro is the best in the business, he's been the best for a while now...

I like a little bit more of an overhead look...helps with team tactic identification for me...I like that they're trying stuff.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!!!!!” Is a scarlet letter Ferraro should have to wear for the rest of his career, though. Tough to call him the best in the biz for me, even though it’s ancient history.

400 million hours of live TV from a guy who spent 400 million hours on the competitive other side gets strung up on a single line...? Get bent, sir...

What's "you should be ashamed of yourself?" I assumed it was Stefan missing the empty net but the line is "You should be embarrassed for what you just did."

On that call, he said this:

Stefan should have been embarrassed

It takes a genuine dumb dumb to look at a puck hopping over someone’s stick, and a player dying a slow death in front of 15k people and your first reaction is, “you assssshoooooole!!!” Even though you aren’t personally impacted whatsoever.

I didn’t like it. It’s fine that he realized he was being stupid. But I still don’t understand how getting caught up in the moment equates to shitting on someone who made an honest mistake and already felt worse about it than anyone.

Ferraro is great.

Also, the older Bettman gets, the more I find myself liking him and will be sad to see him leave the league. He's been the best of the Big 4 commissioners IMO.

**** Gary Bettman.

Don't talk about Uncle Gary like that.

Uncle Gary can choke on a 5 lb. bag of dicks.

Nah I’m with Shad. Bettman is a goofball, but he’s our goofball and he’s good at his job.

I don't know how a Pittsburgh fan could dislike Bettman.

I don't get how any fans dislike Bettman...the game has seen unreal growth under his watch, he installed the entry-level system and the salary cap under his watch. He's a HOFer, easily...

Expansion is bad and the credit he gets for growth should be offset by this perverse application of it.

…but that’s the owners’ fault - not his. Just like the lockouts.

He’s failed to purge the good Canadian boy network out of key front office positions. I think he could have done better there. But aside from that, it’s hard to find a complaint specific to something he actually had substantial influence over.