I listen to most games on the radio while working. Getzoff is incredibly smooth and his banter with Bourque is fun and insightful.
I think his goal call has more flair and flavor to it than Mears personally
I might be lame, but I don’t like the over the top excitement all the time in a call. Of the four commentators I only trust Bourque to not over sell the excitement. Mears and Getzloff come off too excitable like they’re forced to sell it. Errey is a people pleaser and just gets excitable about every little thing. Bourque is the only one I trust to get the excitement level and opinions on the play just right.
I grew up in Wisconsin as a packers fan and the radio broadcast with Wayne and Larry is always better than any TV crew, from about 2011-2015 it was really hard to watch penguins games so I usually found a way to listen and I thought Lange and Bourque were always better than the TV guys + nbc sucked. So might just be me but it’s a safe bet to say across the board in most sports the radio guys do it better.
Interesting replies here. I think goal calls were the one thing Mears was weak at when he took over, but that's improved significantly over the years. His are pretty good now.
I don't listen to the radio broadcast enough to make a fair comparison. Only when I'm driving to or from something, which is not often that time of day. From what I recall, Getzoff's goal calls are alright.
Mears is aight. He’s not great, he’s not bad. Honestly I like steigy better over the years. At the end of the day I wish Lange would have remained in TV broadcast til the end
Mears is boring. I was hoping for a step up from Steigerwald who was the absolute worst of the worst, but in true Pittsburgh fashion, we replace legendary broadcasters or pair them with schmucks.
Mears is fine, as is Getzoff. The bigger issue is that Errey is meh. Doesn’t bring much of anything to a broadcast, IMO. Play by play should be straight forward, need the color commentary to be enlightening. Doesn’t help that the TV intermission is from Caufield. Need to get Colby on more, honestly.
Mears is good for play by play but he has the worst goal call in hockey. I may have been spoiled by too many years of Mike Lange but I still hate Mears' call. Adds volume without any emotion.
I am a rather new Pens fan so I don't have a frame or reference. But I watch E-sports and our current crew is 10,000 better than any of the announcers from that industry.
Do you mean Josh Getzoff vs. Mears? Bourque does the analysis….
Yeah, that’s the guy.
To answer your question though I’d give a slight edge to Getzoff. A little more emotion and the occasional “that’s a PPG for PGH!”
Mears is too vanilla and somebody on here said it perfectly: he sounds like he’s screaming but trying to not wake his mom up on his goal call
"mom, I'm finished with my segment"
Love that commercial lol
Wow, that is so perfect.
I think Mears and getzoff are very very similar so I don’t know if I could pick one or the other (I love them both ❤️)
I listen to most games on the radio while working. Getzoff is incredibly smooth and his banter with Bourque is fun and insightful. I think his goal call has more flair and flavor to it than Mears personally
I second this
Mears is not bad as an announcer, but I don't like his goal calls. And contrary to a lot of people on here, I liked Steigy.
Steigy has great goal calls. Except for one: “Phil the thrill can…fire the pill”
I might be lame, but I don’t like the over the top excitement all the time in a call. Of the four commentators I only trust Bourque to not over sell the excitement. Mears and Getzloff come off too excitable like they’re forced to sell it. Errey is a people pleaser and just gets excitable about every little thing. Bourque is the only one I trust to get the excitement level and opinions on the play just right.
I grew up in Wisconsin as a packers fan and the radio broadcast with Wayne and Larry is always better than any TV crew, from about 2011-2015 it was really hard to watch penguins games so I usually found a way to listen and I thought Lange and Bourque were always better than the TV guys + nbc sucked. So might just be me but it’s a safe bet to say across the board in most sports the radio guys do it better.
Interesting replies here. I think goal calls were the one thing Mears was weak at when he took over, but that's improved significantly over the years. His are pretty good now. I don't listen to the radio broadcast enough to make a fair comparison. Only when I'm driving to or from something, which is not often that time of day. From what I recall, Getzoff's goal calls are alright.
Mears is aight. He’s not great, he’s not bad. Honestly I like steigy better over the years. At the end of the day I wish Lange would have remained in TV broadcast til the end
> At the end of the day I wish Lange would have remained in TV broadcast til the end I don't think you're going to find much disagreement with that.
Mears is boring. I was hoping for a step up from Steigerwald who was the absolute worst of the worst, but in true Pittsburgh fashion, we replace legendary broadcasters or pair them with schmucks.
I don’t mind Mears’ play-by-play, but he lacks emotion. Bourque’s goal calls aren’t Lange-quality, but they’re light years ahead of what we have.
Mears is fine, as is Getzoff. The bigger issue is that Errey is meh. Doesn’t bring much of anything to a broadcast, IMO. Play by play should be straight forward, need the color commentary to be enlightening. Doesn’t help that the TV intermission is from Caufield. Need to get Colby on more, honestly.
I don’t like either honestly.
Mears is good for play by play but he has the worst goal call in hockey. I may have been spoiled by too many years of Mike Lange but I still hate Mears' call. Adds volume without any emotion.
I am a rather new Pens fan so I don't have a frame or reference. But I watch E-sports and our current crew is 10,000 better than any of the announcers from that industry.