Glenn Gale writes:
 
 
>>* The glaring exception being Don Cherry, whose only value is for yuks.  I
>>think he sank to a new low, which was a stretch, with his schtik about
>>Pavel Bure on Saturday.  Not even funny, this time.
 
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I'm CBC-less, and would be interested in what he had to say about Bure. I have
a pretty good idea...
 
Say what you will about Cherry, but he is the personality the US
hockey-broadcasting market is missing--a knowledgeable figure who can be
annoying, but is at least animated and enthused about the sport he's covering.
Imagine NFL broadcasts without John Madden. NCAA hoops without Dick Vitale.
(Baseball's pace doesn't really allow for such a figure, though I'd imagine
arguments could be made for Harry Caray, Rizzuto, Harwell, etc.). While I'm
not a huge Madden or Vitale fan (especially not Vitale), I'll attribute a fair
share of their sports' TV success to their presences.
 
There are regional hockey broadcast personalities who seem to fill this void.
Bob Norton, Derek Sanderson [remember, no Bruin has lost a fight with Turk
doing color! ;) ], and that Penguins guy Lange, (whose "Heeeeeeeeee shoots he
scoooooooores!" has been appropriated by MSU's Ken Landau).
 
In my book, the top *National* hockey broadcast team would include Sean
McDonough on play-by-play, Bob Norton doing color, and Don Cherry and John
Saunders back in the studio.
 
 
Greg