[News] Jim Hughson: Canucks Homer?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GoJetsGo

...The most telling moment thus far was the winning goal in game one.

"Russell scores!" followed by ten awkward seconds of stunned silence...

Yeah, this is just not true.

I mean, it is true that there was a prolonged silence following Russell's gwg in Game 1, but what is not accurate is this notion that there was any perceptible difference between Hughson's call of this goal, and either of the other two goals in this game. As a matter of fact, on the first Vancouver goal scored by Bo Horvat, Hughson follows with a prolonged silence of around 17 seconds, compared to the silence of around 12 seconds following Russell's.

Honestly, go and listen to his call on every goal in this series so far, and his cadence, timing and reaction is pretty straightforward. There are no actual dramatic differences, and anything that you think you hear to distinguish his emotional lift of one team over another is just your imagination.

I agree that there are possibly some things to complain about in Hughson's call (I don't like the benefit of doubt that he extends by default to Canucks stars when they are in altercations with Flames players), but this is not one of them. Hughson is a homer, and this is because he was a Canucks regional broadcaster for over a decade before becoming the HNiC headliner. But I think his call has not been at all bad so far in this series. There are shades of his regional roots that come through. But you would never know it if you hadn't spent years listening to Hughson call regional Canucks games, or for his call of the only Canadian team in every series in which the Canucks played in 2011.

[Tinordi]

Gotta complain about something I guess...

[HotHotHeat]

There was a moment last game when Simpson brought up Gelinas cup win with tha oilers in 1990. Immediately after the comment, Hughson dropped his own knowledge bomb saying "Or in 1994 when he nearly won as part of Canucks!"

It was thr most transparent moment either of them have had, they each went complete fan boy, then realized where they were.

[Geeoff]

I'm gonna go against the grain here. It's obvious that Jim Hughson is a Canucks fan. This much is true. I mean, even though he's picked a terrible team to support, you can't really expect him to stop being a fan anymore than you would stop being a Flames fan in the same position.

That being said, his calls haven't been that biased. He's said a lot of positive things about both teams. I think he's done an alright job.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

I'm gonna go against the grain here. It's obvious that Jim Hughson is a Canucks fan. This much is true. I mean, even though he's picked a terrible team to support, you can't really expect him to stop being a fan anymore than you would stop being a Flames fan in the same position.

That being said, his calls haven't been that biased. He's said a lot of positive things about both teams. I think he's done an alright job.

I generally agree.

It really would have been neat to hear Rick Ball call this series. Not just because he is awesome at his job, and not because he calls the Flames regional games. It would be great because he is invested in the Flames, and he was a long time Vancouver local broadcaster. It doesn't get much more balanced than that.

[Geeoff]

Also, the Eddie Lack's dad #### was not Jim's fault. It was Rogers that kept showing him.

[Poe969]

He's completely biased towards the nucks. It seems that he almost always says "another great" when talking about anything the sedins do, he even says they miss the net intentionally when they shoot wide. I know it happens but it's not every time. He's not as bad as some say but you can tell he's doing his best to make the nucks look better.

[Flames89]

I found him better in game 3, and I am wondering if he relatively* slants his calls towards whoever is the home team, as the side stories were more Flames based in game 3.

(* relatively versus his gushing for Canucks in games 1 and 2)

[Erick Estrada]

He also talked up Horvat saying he would have been in the Calder conversation if his first half of the season was as good as his 2nd half. He's actually been arguably the best Canuck forward this series but again this is something only Canucks fans and media believe as even his 2nd half of the season was just okay and not outstanding such as Stone's and Gadreau's.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Poe969

He's completely biased towards the nucks. It seems that he almost always says "another great" when talking about anything the sedins do, he even says they miss the net intentionally when they shoot wide. I know it happens but it's not every time. He's not as bad as some say but you can tell he's doing his best to make the nucks look better.

No, you cannot, unless you are expecting it from him. I just finished re-watching game 3, and he did the EXACT same thing on a Flames play, and called an intentional wide shot.

I sincerely believe that this is a matter of your own perception. But if you think differently, and you honestly believe the call is tipped egregiously out of balance in favour of the Canucks, then demonstrate it. Go through the games, track the call, make observations and record notes about patterns and consistency for both teams—count his usage of key words and phrases, compare and contrast similarities and differences.

Show me some actual numbers that illustrate what you are talking about, and then I might believe you. Otherwise, I must conclude that this is your own confirmation bias at work.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

That being said, his calls haven't been that biased. He's said a lot of positive things about both teams. I think he's done an alright job.

Disagree. Both game 1 and game 2 were embarrassing. I heard casual fans commenting on it as well. Game 3 was much more balanced, he probably got a talking to.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

He also talked up Horvat saying he would have been in the Calder conversation if his first half of the season was as good as his 2nd half. He's actually been arguably the best Canuck forward this series but again this is something only Canucks fans and media believe as even his 2nd half of the season was just okay and not outstanding such as Stone's and Gadreau's.

Yeah, that was ridiculous.

These things will come out a little in Hughson's call, somewhat naturally because of his very long history with Vancouver and the Canucks. Also, Hughson already has a history of inappropriately biased playcalling on national broadcasts, which works against him in peoples' perception of this series in which I think he has been pretty balanced.

But you and I—being very sensitive to such things, are also prone to notice them more readily, and to focus more attention on them. Hughson also has positive stock phrases that he is using regularly for the Flames (i.e. "here comes Johnny!"), but again, we tend not to pay close attention to how often he uses these because of our already engrained fan sensitivity.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Well the flames were outplayed in games 1 and 2, for the most part, and outplayed the Canucks in game 3, so that's exactly what you'd expect.

This is seriously just whining, if there's anything embarrassing here it's been that.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by heep223

Disagree. Both game 1 and game 2 were embarrassing. I heard casual fans commenting on it as well. Game 3 was much more balanced, he probably got a talking to.

Game 2 was bad, but I think for both Game 1 and 3 Hughson was probably also making his call (probably inadvertently) in response to the crowd's energy. It's easier to make an enthusiastic description of what is happening in an environment in which the crowd is visibly, audibly invested and excited. It is more difficult when they are more subdued.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

This is seriously just whining, if there's anything embarrassing here it's been that.

Do you have any corsi stats to back that up?

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Well the flames were outplayed in games 1 and 2, for the most part, and outplayed the Canucks in game 3, so that's exactly what you'd expect.

This is seriously just whining, if there's anything embarrassing here it's been that.

+100
Whining about the play by play guy is embarrassing. It would be excellent we we could, collectively, pull up the bottom lip on this

[Poe969]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

No, you cannot, unless you are expecting it from him. I just finished re-watching game 3, and he did the EXACT same thing on a Flames play, and called an intentional wide shot.

I sincerely believe that this is a matter of your own perception. But if you think differently, and you honestly believe the call is tipped egregiously out of balance in favour of the Canucks, then demonstrate it. Go through the games, track the call, make observations and record notes about patterns and consistency for both teams—count his usage of key words and phrases, compare and contrast similarities and differences.

Show me some actual numbers that illustrate what you are talking about, and then I might believe you. Otherwise, I must conclude that this is your own confirmation bias at work.

Geez...is he your brother or something? I wish I had time to re-watch the games, heck I wish I had time to be able to watch 100% of the games on TV but I don't so I won't be able to take notes and present them to you.

I, and it seems a lot of others, feel that Hughson is biased towards the nucks. He does sing the praises of the Flames at times but I, and it seems a lot of others, feel he sings the praises of the nucks more ofthen. But, as you pointed out, I don't have written proof of examples so I guess he isn't.

Hughson is a cunuck broadcaster and I wish they had someone else, and I'm not suggesting a Flames broadcaster, calling the games. I don't enjoy when a game is called with a biased towards either team as it makes the game much less enjoyable, again I have no written proof of this so I'm probably wrong.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

+100
Whining about the play by play guy is embarrassing. It would be excellent we we could, collectively, pull up the bottom lip on this

Hughson is seriously a homer. I'm surprised he doesn't wear his Canucks jersey while calling the game. How people can not see this is beyond me. All that we ask in a national broadcast (especially in Canada with two Canadian teams playing each other), is a fair, unbiased broadcast call.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Personally, I like Hughson, and I don't care if he likes the Canucks. His call of the game shows that he likes hockey, and his enthusiasm for the sport comes through. Play-by-play commentary is way harder than it sounds, and he does a good job--quibbling over "bias" is just silly. He doesn't affect the outcome of the game.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Igster

Hughson is seriously a homer. I'm surprised he doesn't wear his Canucks jersey while calling the game. How people can not see this is beyond me. All that we ask in a national broadcast (especially in Canada with two Canadian teams playing each other), is a fair, unbiased broadcast call.

Of course he is.
Shall we say it 1000 more times to make it more true? 10,000?