[Via TorontoSun]

Maybe they had been planning to give Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph a big screen TV – perhaps even one with high definition! – when they were going to force them into the indignity of calling Leafs road games from a dark Toronto studio.

Maybe Rogers and Bell even thought that it wouldn't make a difference, that listeners wouldn't notice or care.

Boy, were they wrong.

And after a day of outrage at the insult sent to long-time voice of the Leafs Bowen and his witty colour sidekick Ralph, the folks that run Rogers and Bell came to what was left of their senses late Monday.

Yes, Ralph and Bowen will be on the road again for all 41 Leafs regular-season away games. And yes, they will be able to do their jobs as professionals. But until the issue exploded, it didn't look like it was going to happen.

A stunning collision of events over the past few weeks once again left a fresh batch of egg on the face of the storied franchise. How could it be that one of the richest franchises in North American pro sports actually thought having a radio crew trying to call half of the team's games on the cheap would fly?

Let us count the ways of how the near debacle unfolded.

g121 wrote:

why the heck isn't Joe Bowen doing the TV broadcasts.  Joe's enthusiasm makes the game fun & his chatter is "Harry Neale" epic.  given a choice between the likes of "paint dry boring" Romanuk, Hughson, etc, i'll take Joe every time. 

cheers from Toronto .. 

You answered that with your signature.  The TV broadcasts (save for Leafs TV) have to be far more neutral than the radio play-by-play.  Joe and Jim gear their style toward a Leafs fandom.
 

No argument about their enthusiam, that's for sure!  Joe cut his teeth with the Sudbury Wolves and he was the only play-by-play guy in the league at the time (late '70s) who worked without a colour announcer.  Not an easy task, and sitting beside him when the Wolves played in London, there was no question he was on his way to hockey's top league.  And I shared the buses with Ralphie in the early '80s.  Every oince in awhile, he would walk to the front of the bus after a win on a long road trip back to Ottawa , grab the bus P.A. microphone and start doing impressions of everyone on board.  We should have had to pay for the privilege,,,

Last edited by maybo (September 30, 2015 6:30 pm)

With the way the Leafs have been playing thus far....  one might thinks that Kessel was still on the team....