Rob Kerr

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by pylon

Huge difference. Rob Kerr has zero effect on the on ice performance. And he actually does a good job minus a few superficial flaws. Nobody can dissect his knowledge and say it is inadequate.

This would be like saying Jiri Hudler should be traded because he has a giant melon.

No it isn't. In broadcasting, delivery is an essential part of the job. That's no different in TV than it is in radio. And it's one of the reasons why Cassie Campbell (to mention another person with weak delivery) is not a good broadcaster. It's also one of the reasons why top-notch broadcasting team, like Phil Legget and Paul Sherman of Tour de France fame, or the legendary English football caller John Motson, can have a dramatic impact on the experience of the audience.

[browna]

I don't doubt that Kerr was, and anyone who likes hockey and has their career directly related to it would be, hard pressed to say no to trying this opportunity. Can't blame him for taking the job. But he shouldn't have been given it, given the lack of experience. This isn't the place to be still learning play by play.


Bottom line, overall, he distracts from the watching game for me and its hard to ignore outside of the mute button.


He's more comfortable with the prepared stories and stats he's assembled (cannot fault his effort and knowledge of those types of things), and thus forces them into the game and they spill over well into the PBP...by the time the story is finished shots and sometimes chances have been missed...or he's behind and all of a sudden the voice goes from 0 to 60 to try and catch up.


By no means am I an expert, but watching hockey on TV for decades, you get used to a certian common delivery and building up of plays, as well as general update every 5 seconds as to what is going on in the ice even of there are stories being told. When the PBP does occur, he randomly gets excited at plays that are half chances, and decent chances are ignored or brushed off.


As an example, with watching and playing around with our little girl most evenings, most broadcasts the game is on in the background or another room and can catch glimpses every minute or so, but rely on the audio to catch what's going on. From a couple nights ago, he was confused to the Baerstchi/Regher penalty in the LA game as he was in mid story when that happend, which it took me a while to figure out. Then, on the PK, I hear him and SImmer chatting about some other story and suddenly hear "They score!" when Carter scored the shorthanded goal. No buildup, nothing, because the goal game during a story.


Delivery, cadence, voice intonation and all those techincal delivery aspects of the job are quirky and disjointed at very best. That said, those are hard skills just to pickup and master at an NHL level with little experience, which is why PBP announcing isn't for everyone and takes years or praactice. As one would expect when focusing on one's strengths (that being the background stats and interesting tidbits as he did on radio), he relies on that more then the PBP and you can hear the comfort level/confidence difference in his voice.


That's not really his fault for taking the job or trying to get better at it, it's more for the Flames and Snet to force their viewers to have to go along for the ride 60+ times this year as Kerr tries to learn on the job, when there are numerous well qualified announcers likely to have chosen from, one of which is doing the between period interviews.


Just my opinion.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

There was a thread on here a year or two ago complaining about Peter Maher. Some people are never happy.

That thread was a prime example of internet trolling though, and that guy was making up idiotic threads just for the sake of being controversial. There are legitimate concerns about Rob Kerr, and I am pretty sure most of it will work out over time. I just hope that he is self-aware enough to adjust his PBP to fix some of the issue that the majority of fans have a genuine beef with, e.g. correcting mistakes, and stopping banter that should be when play resumes.

[stone hands]

honestly the fact that he's a good guy or that he has a family is completely irrelevant to the quality of work he has

he's awful at pbp, he has a screechy unbearable voice, and those 2 things are what you need

he has great insight but he's flat out bad at calling games. for those of you who would say - who cares? you need to give your head a shake. would the NFL keep a broadcaster like Kerr around?

[combustiblefuel]

I personally like the way Kerr calls his games. He seems to keep it real. In his defence he's doing two Peoples jobs . I feel he almost has too. If you notice It seems he has to lead Charlie Zimmer in to doing colour commentary topics that don't include hom just saying is usually dull generic s**t. I personally find it boring when pbp just "he passes to blah and passes to blah he shoots " . Someone mentioned thier was nothing building up to the Jeff Carter goal ? why do I need to get all hyped up about The enemy team scoring? I'm Sure If Ramo had stopped it we would of heard him go wild. I think everyone needs to just chill out and have another beer during the games and let the man do his best with what he has to work with.

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by BBQorMILDEW

If Robb Kerr was a Calgary Flame, he'd be Chris Butler..

New sig thanks!

[neo45]

They fired Loubardias for being too quirky then went with a quirkier, less knowledgeable guy

Kerr is likeable as a person but absolutely awful at play by play. One thing he really needs to work on is not mixing up the Flames players. He called Monahan Stempniak for an entire shift this year, and they don't even shoot the same way

[puckluck2]

Originally Posted by pylon

There was a point where I thought these threads were OK, and even participated in them, but they are not. There has been 2 PBP guys dismissed from SNET, and this website specifically, and forums like it, has been more instrumental than you may think in making that happen. How do I know this? I just do, and the mods can feel free to PM me on how I know.

These men have families, and responsibilities. And would be just as devastated as any one of us to lose their livelihood or be demoted at their work place as you or I. Complaining is one thing, calling out the guy to be FIRED, is straight up wrong. How would you feel, if you were called out in a public forum by all the customers who's cars you filled, video game you took on trade, car you sold,... whatever it is you do, to be publicly lambasted and piled on, not because you did it poorly, but because they didn't like the way you looked or the way your voice sounds. Kerr has an incredible enthusiasm and mind for the game, and that more than makes up for what may be the odd awkward comment, or voice fluctuation.

I really like Sushi. But if I go to a sushi restaurant, and I don't like the way the chef prepared the Nigiri and he had a mole on his face I found gross, yet the other 4 people in my 5 person party do like it and don't care about the mole, then it is unreasonable for me to stand up, ask for the manager or owner, and ask they fire the chef because I disagree with his preparation technique and looks. That is what this is boiling down to. Superficial BS, not his actual abilities.

Rob Kerr is an incredible hockey mind, an enthusiastic broadcaster, and by all accounts of anyone who has known or met him, a really good man. I am ashamed that a bunch of donkeys on here that think the 5 bucks a month they contribute to their cable bill towards Sportsnet, gives them the right to call for his dismissal. It is downright pathetic.

Give your heads a shake, and get some class.

Oh please pylon. You know as good as anyone that if you're not doing your job with your specific audience approving then why would the station want to keep you? the audience is the only reason a PBP guy is needed so if we think he sucks and the majority thinks he's a terrible PBP guy then why should we have to listen to him?

Nothing personal against Kerr because he really comes across as a nice guy, kinda dorky. It's just he really is bad at doing PBP. He might get better but maybe they should have let him practice doing AHL instead of throwing him into the fire.

But we are talking about a bush league station in SN who can't even figure out how to sync their audio correctly so it's no surprise they screwed that up too.

[skeena1]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Oh please pylon. You know as good as anyone that if you're not doing your job with your specific audience approving then why would the station want to keep you? the audience is the only reason a PBP guy is needed so if we think he sucks and the majority thinks he's a terrible PBP guy then why should we have to listen to him?

Nothing personal against Kerr because he really comes across as a nice guy, kinda dorky. It's just he really is bad at doing PBP. He might get better but maybe they should have let him practice doing AHL instead of throwing him into the fire.

But we are talking about a bush league station in SN who can't even figure out how to sync their audio correctly so it's no surprise they screwed that up too.

Just a guess but I bet Ken King et al have a tremendous amount of influence over who is behind the mic.

[rayne008]

+1 on getting the damn sound fixed. For what ever reason, it drives me crazy to have the audio before the video, and knowing the outcome of a breakaway before I see it.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I'll say it again - there just isn't enough broadcasting talent in Canada to cover all the NHL games that are shown on all the networks these days. Not at a professional level anyway. There's enough top-flight talent for about 5 broadcast teams, not 12 or 15. Even the old 2&7 broadcasts were higher quality production than Sportsnet. Whalen was decent, and the color guys (Harry Neale, John Davidson, Scotty Bowman) were excellent. The talent today is simply spread way too thin. I used to chuckle over the local broadcasts of Flames away games in places like Buffalo and Boston that I watched on satellite. But they're a lot better than Sportsnet West.

Mute your TV, turn on the radio, and you can convince yourself that you're watching a professional sports broadcast, and not an AJHL came on community TV.

I have no idea what the situation is in the WHL, but pretty well every OHL game is broadcast on the local community TV channel in the team's location. There are some good ones (and yes some awful ones) that you can easily bring up to Sportsnet and improve the situation. Heck.. most of the community channels here are Rogers operated anyways.

[StrykerSteve]

I really dislike Kerr's play by play, but I like the guy as an interviewer and on-air host.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

I really dislike Kerr's play by play, but I like the guy as an interviewer and on-air host.

i agree he is good in interviews, really good actually. He is solid, in control and direct. Asks good questions and listens well. When he does the play by play he gets way to caught up with the moment.
I get the sense Kerr away from his job is a pretty down to earth guy and wears his heart on his sleeve.
He seems like good people he just is a spaztic play by play guy.
Hey at least he roots for our Flames in his broadcasts.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

Hey at least he roots for our Flames in his broadcasts.

Personally, I prefer professionalism to cheerleading in a sports broadcast.

[RyZ]

I like Kerr. I have no problem at all with him as our PBP guy. To tell you the truth I hardly even notice him. If it weren't for threads like this I wouldn't even think about him.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Gord Miller does it, Chris Cuthbert did it, Bob Cole has always done it, etc.

Let me get this straight. You are watching a moving picture, that you can see yourself, with your own eyes and interpret yourself, and are upset that the guy that describes the action had the nerve to stop and tell a story to add color?

Alright then

Yikes! I agree with SP....that's a first for me!

If you don't like the PBP turn off the sound. If you don't want to do that, sync up Peter Maher on fan960.com, delay the SNET broadcast by about 15 sec. and Bob's your uncle.

There are many other choices to moaning, bitching and complaining about how the PBP is.

Personally, I'm frequently working at night - dual monitors in front of me, TV on softly behind me...I listen for the noise cue - regardless of when it comes and go to look. Every play of significance is replayed anyway, so what does it matter if I see it live or 10 seconds later? Nada.

Kerr is quirky enough to enjoy, not smoothly professional like the clean and cool Charlies Simmer and is far more enjoyable than many of the American ones I've heard (or other Canadian ones for that matter).

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by pylon

I am ashamed that a bunch of donkeys on here that think the 5 bucks a month they contribute to their cable bill towards Sportsnet, gives them the right to call for his dismissal. It is downright pathetic.

Give your heads a shake, and get some class.

Can't disagree -- but you know that (ahem) nowadays with that new-fangled internet thing, everyone is an expert and better at any job than the guy doing it.

My guess is that there is maybe one person on this forum who could do half as good a job, and no one who could do better.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Gord Miller does it, Chris Cuthbert did it, Bob Cole has always done it, etc.

Let me get this straight. You are watching a moving picture, that you can see yourself, with your own eyes and interpret yourself, and are upset that the guy that describes the action had the nerve to stop and tell a story to add color?

Alright then

This is true. There is a big difference between PBP on TV and on Radio - the radio guy has to paint the picture. The TV guy has to describe the play but can deviate if it is adding to the entertainment of the production. The folks can see what's happening - so they occasional tangent is OK and in fact expected.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

This is true. There is a big difference between PBP on TV and on Radio - the radio guy has to paint the picture. The TV guy has to describe the play but can deviate if it is adding to the entertainment of the production. The folks can see what's happening - so they occasional tangent is OK and in fact expected.

No question this is expected.
That said, I feel he tries WAY too hard. Just call it, tell some stories, show enthusiasm and the job is well done.
People like to make fun of Pierre McGuire and create drinking games out of his commentary. I think it is time we create a Kerr drinking game.
- 3 drinks for each comment that has everyone in the room look at each other and wonder if he really said that....
The one from last night that stands out most is not understanding why they looked tired in the sandwich frame.
1 - OK i understand what you meant by sandwich but it was stupid as can be and really doesnt make sense.
2 - A 5 year old watching the game with their dad on back to back nights would know why they might be tired.

If he just settled down, cut out the giggles and stuck to hockey terms I believe he could be great.

[Magnum PEI]

Rob kerr is like a hockey savant when he come on the FAN, very informed and comes across as thoughtful and intelligent. But I don't think he is an NHL calibre play-by-play man. I guess that means I want him fired, sue me.
Most of the time I watch illegally on my laptop and the stream is usually from the opposition's broadcast, so it doesn't really matter to me one way or the other. But to compare a sushi chef to an NHL commentator is ridiculous. One is at the top echelon of his/her profession, the other is a dime a dozen. If Gordon Ramsay served something from Boston Pizza I bet there would be a ton of complaints.