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The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

WeWantMore said:
I don't hate him as much as some people, but it's very evident that he spent 3 Saturdays watching college hockey this year, all of it the East Coast variety, and based all of his opinions off of that.
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3 Saturdays? That's generous. It is clear to me that talking about college hockey is a chore for Mr. Melrose. We are very sorry ESPN doesn't carry the NHL anymore, Barry, but if I hear him talk about his coaching days one more time..........

Send him to Versus..... where he can watch Sid the Kid and the cageminder for the Devils.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

yaledoc said:
Excellent post,Swami. Nicely argued and impressively written.
Be careful,though, one of the Cambridge townies and Harvard-wanna-
bes may accuse of having gone to Yale. ROFL.:D
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You're a perceptive one. I'm a Denver undergrad, but my journalistic skills were upgraded later at a certain 374-year old school. That said, I'd trade it all for one of those perfect Monday nights at Mory's (when it reopens, anyway).;)
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Puck Swami said:
You're a perceptive one. I'm a Denver undergrad, but my journalistic skills were upgraded later at a certain 374-year old school. That said, I'd trade it all for one of those perfect Monday nights at Mory's (when it reopens, anyway).;)
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I didnt no North Dakota needed to win the game to make the NCAA , my guess is they hooked him up to the mike 2 minutes before he went live.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

In case anyone didn't know, one of the 3 weekends that Barry spent watching college hockey was when he broadcast the Cornell/UNH game. Cornell thoroughly dominated that game, including what Cornell fans are referring to as The Shift, when Cornell held the puck in UNH's zone for about 2:33 (at 5x5!) before scoring a back-breaking goal in the 3rd period to go up 4-2 en route to a 5-2 win. If that were the only college hockey game you watched all year, I could see why you'd be overly enamored with Cornell.

See for yourself: The Shift.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Puck Swami said:
You're a perceptive one. I'm a Denver undergrad, but my journalistic skills were upgraded later at a certain 374-year old school. That said, I'd trade it all for one of those perfect Monday nights at Mory's (when it reopens, anyway).;)
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Swami;

I have a graduate degree from the same 374-year-old, but I
am keeping it "secret" from the Bulldogs and their families. Good luck to the
Pioneers. I went out to the Denver Holiday Tourney (was it Dec.2002,or2003?) and had a great time though Yale lost to UNO and Niagara.
(LUX ET) VERITAS.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

I had hoped that in seeing Melrose broadcast several games this year that they were attempting to to expose him more to the college game. I am not sure he comes with a bias against the college game, it is just that he does not have a feel for the passion that players and fans have for the game.

He can certainly be colorful and will speak his mind regarding the pros and cons of a player. He does however make numerous mistakes during his broadcast.

I am however another supporter of Bob Norton he knows the game, the teams, the coaches and the players. I do like others miss Tom Mees he was at the top of my list.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Barry v/s Mike Millbury.. center ice. Celebrity deathmatch. Problem solved.

Melrose Place will never be the same again
:)
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Melrose has his schtick, and I'm not a big fan of it, but isn't creating some character and performing part of nearly all "color" commentators? NOTE! I wrote "nearly all." Before you list the exceptions, think about the norm:
  1. Introduced with credentials possessed by many other players, coaches, whatever? Check.
  2. Primary qualification: ESPN execs like his character and performance. Check.
  3. Uninformed? Check.
  4. Decided before the game what to emphasize, and kept at it regardless of what happens? Check
  5. Producers provided some background on a player, and commentator inserts it whenever possible even if it has nothing to do with what's happening? Check.
  6. Went to cliche school, and passed, so could talk like a "real sports commentator" rather than an educated user of the English language? Check.

And the list goes on. Melrose may be more bizarre than most, but few add anything. The solution? Mine is to turn on the radio coverage of my favorite team, by computer if necessary, and mute the TV audio. Melrose, or Sean or whomever, won't bother me a bit, and I'll probably not miss anything they say.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

5IslandsWildcat said:
Melrose has his schtick, and I'm not a big fan of it, but isn't creating some character and performing part of nearly all "color" commentators? NOTE! I wrote "nearly all." Before you list the exceptions, think about the norm:
  1. Introduced with credentials possessed by many other players, coaches, whatever? Check.
  2. Primary qualification: ESPN execs like his character and performance. Check.
  3. Uninformed? Check.
  4. Decided before the game what to emphasize, and kept at it regardless of what happens? Check
  5. Producers provided some background on a player, and commentator inserts it whenever possible even if it has nothing to do with what's happening? Check.
  6. Went to cliche school, and passed, so could talk like a "real sports commentator" rather than an educated user of the English language? Check.

And the list goes on. Melrose may be more bizarre than most, but few add anything. The solution? Mine is to turn on the radio coverage of my favorite team, by computer if necessary, and mute the TV audio. Melrose, or Sean or whomever, won't bother me a bit, and I'll probably not miss anything they say.
Click to expand...

Great point !!!!!!
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

5IslandsWildcat said:
Melrose has his schtick, and I'm not a big fan of it, but isn't creating some character and performing part of nearly all "color" commentators? NOTE! I wrote "nearly all." Before you list the exceptions, think about the norm:
  1. Introduced with credentials possessed by many other players, coaches, whatever? Check.
  2. Primary qualification: ESPN execs like his character and performance. Check.
  3. Uninformed? Check.
  4. Decided before the game what to emphasize, and kept at it regardless of what happens? Check
  5. Producers provided some background on a player, and commentator inserts it whenever possible even if it has nothing to do with what's happening? Check.
  6. Went to cliche school, and passed, so could talk like a "real sports commentator" rather than an educated user of the English language? Check.

And the list goes on. Melrose may be more bizarre than most, but few add anything. The solution? Mine is to turn on the radio coverage of my favorite team, by computer if necessary, and mute the TV audio. Melrose, or Sean or whomever, won't bother me a bit, and I'll probably not miss anything they say.
Click to expand...

The good ones do. And asking someone getting paid to be prepared, is really not so much to ask.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

bicycleed said:
I had hoped that in seeing Melrose broadcast several games this year that they were attempting to to expose him more to the college game. I am not sure he comes with a bias against the college game, it is just that he does not have a feel for the passion that players and fans have for the game.

He can certainly be colorful and will speak his mind regarding the pros and cons of a player. He does however make numerous mistakes during his broadcast.

I am however another supporter of Bob Norton he knows the game, the teams, the coaches and the players. I do like others miss Tom Mees he was at the top of my list.
Click to expand...
Bob Norton sucks.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

dolan said:
I agree 100% with this.



When I heard him say that, I laughed for the better part of 5 minutes.
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As did I, then I wondered...why do I get up to watch this thing? Every year the guy ****es me off.

I wish they would work something out to get some people that actually know college hockey, say, the FANS, and have them do some volunteer type stuff or a contest winner from each conference. Then, BM and his desk mates can announce the brackets, the volunteers talk about the teams and then BM and whoever else can predict what will happen. The bias in the fans will only coincide with the bias they have currently.

"The WCHA is the best conference..." but they didn't pick a WCHA team to win. DU, WI and UND have legit chances at going all the way, UND is hot now, DU might be able to turn it around, and WI lit up DU Saturday, that might have been enough to motivate them after losing to SCSU. SCSU may have a harder time getting to the F4, only because of WI. If they make it, and everyone stays healthy...who knows.

Miami is a threat, and so is BC. I think it'll be an interesting tourney. (sorry if I'm being WCHA biased, I don't know much about the ET teams.)
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

I'm on the fence as to who is worse.....Melrose or Walsh from NESN. I guess Melrose, since as has been pointed out he reads the "story lines" before the game and sticks to it no matter what happens in the game.

But really, why is it so hard to find a decent commentator?
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Barry "I'll Prepare as little as possible" Melrose vs Bob "Prep schools are the only thing that matters" Norton.


I would just pass on either.
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

Puck Swami said:
Barry Melrose is a brand. Taking a page from the Don Cherry school of 'unique screen presence', Melrose has extended his mediocre coaching career into a well-paying ESPN analyst gig by carving out his differentitiation from the standard bland sycophant types of TV people.

The look of the brand is fronted by his distinctive mullet, paired with a loud suit and supported by blustery blowhard comments that nobody else would say. Don Cherry called Melrose "Billy Ray Cypress" (sic) on CBC TV for years, in homage to the early 90s mullet of Miley Cyrus' one-hit, Achy-breaky father, Billy Ray Cyrus. The difference between Cherry and Melrose is that Cherry does more homework, and is a more of Canadian nationalist/traditionalist. Cherry's blowhard comments are almost always traceable to that bedrock.

Melrose's bombast is more all over the board, and his condescension to college hockey is reflected in his lack of preparation and his lack of care. ESPN doesn't really care about college hockey either, and that's why they don't care about his lack of preparation or his bombast. They think Melrose will add some hockey cred that might not otherwise be there for the casual audience, and to an extent, they are right about that. Melrose is at home in the NHL world, and for Joe six-pack who channelsurfs into the NCAA hockey broadcast on ESPN, seeing the Mullet does gives the NCAA brand of hockey some level of credibility...

ESPN's late Tom Mees, who loved college hockey and cared deepy about broadcasting the NCAA Frozen Four with respect and serious effort, would be flabbergasted to see Melrose's lack of preparation and the insulting condescension that comes out of Melrose's mouth. I miss Mees and so does our game.

But this is our reality. ESPN broadcasts college hockey because it must as part of a larger NCAA deal for other sports. I wish we could get someone with more love of the college game, but we are stuck with Mullet. It's a curse for the serious college hockey fan. And while Bob Norton makes some ears bleed with his regionalism, his accent and his constant references to player origins, at least he's genuine, prepared and cares about our game.
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Sound comparison. Even Michigan's own Sean Ritchlin was rolling his eyes. (BTW, did you hear him plugging the WCHA? A CCHA guy waxing on about the Badgers.)
 
Re: The official I love or hate Barry Melrose..

They should just get Wooger and Mazocco. Everyone knows they're the best.
 
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