Pierre McGuire

If you watch hockey in Canada, you can't help but be exposed to Pierre McGuire. Pierre is something of a polarizing figure. I don't particularly enjoy his brand of commentary, but apparently lots of people in Canada think highly of him. He certainly gets excited about the game, and I won't fault him for that. It's a lot more enjoyable viewing when it seems like the commentators genuinely want to be working the game. He also seems to do his homework before games because he often cites weird little anecdotes about the players. Again, not my cup of tea, I don't really care which Bantam team Matt Stajan played for, but it shows he's invested in his job. So he has his strengths , and even though they aren't necessarily what I look for in a good commentator, I will acknowledge he isn't all bad.

He is a lot bad, though.

During tonight's Leafs-Flyers game, broadcast on TSN, Pierre said something about Mike Richards that bordered on the insane. I'll paraphrase:

"Mike Richards is a real leader! As he skated by the Flyers bench he said: 'Come on guys, let's pick this up!' There may have been questions about Richards earlier this season, but there's no question now. Mike Richards is a leader!" (Those of you unfamiliar with Pierre McGuire may initially think I used too many exclamation marks in describing his tone. You are very wrong my friends. I considered using more. Many, many more.)

McGuire had spent a good chunk of the first period heaping praise on Richards for wholly unremarkable play, but this one line was so over the top that I just started cackling like a maniac. What does it mean that Pierre thinks this is a good example of leadership? One so good, in fact, that he felt the need to highlight it to a national audience. Does he get blown away every time someone in his life accomplishes a menial task? "You just made it down the block without tripping over your own shoelaces? That's an unbelievable level of balance! There used to be questions about your ability to walk upright, but not anymore! You can definitely put one foot in front of another! Outstanding!"(At the same time, I think Pierre would make an excellent life coach and motivator. Having someone pump you up every time you did your laundry would be pretty awesome).

This is typical of McGuire's commenting style. I often get the feeling that he comes into a game with a storyline in mind. "Player X is good at Y, so look for examples of this to reinforce pre-game comments". The issue is that this often devolves into Pierre trying to ram a square peg into a circular hole. Maybe Mike Richards is a good leader, but that instance Pierre screamed about for 30 seconds certainly did not prove it. If anything, it makes me question Richards' leadership, considering how inane of a situation was just provided as a supposedly outstanding example. That's a good reason to think he's a good leader, Pierre? Really?

The other problem this creates is that it becomes impossible for Pierre to ratchet it up a notch if there ever is a big play that warrants top of your lungs screaming. The reason you want to keep things low-key 95% of the time is so that when something incredible happens that 5% of the time, you have a different level to go to. Pierre doesn't have another level. And if he does have one that he has been saving all this time, God help us all. If he's somehow involved in the commentary for the gold medal game, and Mike Richards scores the game-winning goal in overtime, after telling the team "Come on! We can do this!", it might be just enough to get Pierre to that extra level. I think we'll have to call in a SWAT team to take him down.

I think in limited doses, Pierre could be effective. As far as the pre-game show goes, I actually think he does a pretty decent job. But when he's forced to carry the colour commentary, he tends to over-compensate, and at least two or three times a game he'll say something crazy. I'm writing this because I don't know who's providing the colour commentary for the Olympics. And I'm scared.

NB