Gary thorne

[CrossoverThrash 0]

Anybody know when his contract with espn expires, i like doc and all but he is not a #1 guy the nhl needs thorne back

Thorne is better:

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Yeah, I miss Thorne.

He belongs as a hockey announcer with his play by play excitement, instead of calling a boring ass, ***** wannabee sport like baseball. However, I doubt espn will let him go.

[wingsdiehard13 33]

Anybody know when his contract with espn expires, i like doc and all but he is not a #1 guy the nhl needs thorne back

Wait, did I read that right?

[Heaton 1]

I hate Gary Thorne and love him at the same time. The "Off the floor! On the board!!" is still one of the best calls ever.

[joshy207 156]

Thorne is brutal and Emrick is worse. If anything, VS should go after local guys or Canadian guys (TSN, CBC).

[Jedi 1,865]

Man... I really forgot how much I missed Gary Thorne and Bill Clement until hearing all those clips. Much better that Doc and Eddie, imo.

Doc's ok, but Thorne just seemed to me to get more excited as the game, and series wore on, and his calls during those big goals always gives me goosebumps. It also helps that he called my 3 favorite Wings goals...

"McCarty drops back with Niinimaa in front of him, McCarty draws, McCarty in, McCarty SCORES!!! A magnificent goal, Darren McCarty!"

"...Lidstrom shot, Yzerman knocked it down, and a great save, THE GOAL COUNTS, THE GOAL COUNTS,

!"

"Gretzky had it, lost it, Yzerman picks it up. Yzerman moving, blue line chance, SCORES, STEVE YZERMAN, DETROIT WINS!"

Gives me chills just thinking about them...

[therock48880 14]

Thorne was one of the most incompetent, biased announcers I've ever heard. His public, undying love for the Avalanche polluted every Wings game that was televised. He truly didn't know the hockey players either. Anyone who had a number on their jersey that started with a "1" could be called the name of any other player whose jersey had a "1" at the beginning. Same with all of the other numbers. Luckily for Fedorov, he was one of the few Wings players to have a "9" at the beginning of his number so he didn't get mixed up with anyone else very often. Everyone else was fair game, though. Yzerman was called "Maltby" countless times by the moron. I have no use for Thorne whatsoever as a hockey announcer.

[henrik40 76]

Incompetent, biased, whatever you wanna call him you cannot deny his excitement (or forget it in some of those wings moments posted above) when it came to announcing. I was 11 when Yzerman scored that goal and I'll never forget it, mostly due to Thorne's call.

Edited July 30, 2008 by henrik40

[joshy207 156]

There's excitement with dignity and class, like Bob Cole and Chris Cuthbert, then there's just yelling for yelling's sake like Thorne does. It's great to get excited, but you have to know how and when to tone it back down.

[DogBolter 0]

Thorne may be an exciting (or excitable) announcer, but I agree he was brutal when doing Wings games. I don't expect a homer on a national broadcast, but with Thorne and Clement if the Wings were losing, their commentary made the experience even worse. Let him stay at ESPN. Don't look to the past - there has to be new talent out there waiting for a chance to add thier voice to the game.

Edited July 30, 2008 by DogBolter

[Happy Pancake 6]

I miss him doing hockey but now I get to listen to him every night doing commentary for the Orioles.

[CrossoverThrash 0]

Wait, did I read that right?

hes not a bad announcer, hes getting old which is why hes starting to suck more, but put him in the place of that dumbass Canes announcer

There's excitement with dignity and class, like Bob Cole and Chris Cuthbert, then there's just yelling for yelling's sake like Thorne does. It's great to get excited, but you have to know how and when to tone it back down.

cuthbert has the worst nasaly voice out there, gord miller on the other hand is very good but i dont see him leaving canada

There's excitement with dignity and class, like Bob Cole and Chris Cuthbert, then there's just yelling for yelling's sake like Thorne does. It's great to get excited, but you have to know how and when to tone it back down.

and whens bob cole gonna retire the only player he knew was "Tucker!" and now hes gone. he might have known who crosby was too.

[Hockey9019 0]

You just can't top Mickey here in Hockeytown

[CrossoverThrash 0]

You just can't top Mickey here in Hockeytown

the world would end if he was on nat tv haha

[CAredwingsfan91 28]

if they ever replace thorn on EA NHL 0whatever i'll be pretty pissed i know hes gonna be on 09 i don't like doc that much his voice ALWAYS cracks haha but thorne is a lot more entertaining.

[Doc Holiday 0]

Gary thorne was the shiz. His excitement during the game made me excited when I watched on TV. I don't even know what bias you are talking about he was great for both sides.

[T.Low 1,011]

You just can't top Mickey here in Hockeytown

Can't stand the Nashville guys.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Gary Thorne was an Avs homer? Did I read that right? I don't ever recall that. If anything, he sounded more biased FOR us than against us.

[Guest Crymson]

I always liked Thorne, and I felt that he was not biased at all. He called it almost for his own enjoyment, which ended up meaning that he didn't favor any team over another.

Doc and Eddie suck. They make terrible calls, they're boring, and they mess up constantly. Worst of all, they're hideously biased at times, especially when it comes to the Wings; they basically verbally fellate any team the Wings are playing against. I don't know if that makes them feel like more people will watch; for my part, I muted the television during game four against Dallas.

[Guest Shoreline]

Really the only announcers I can say I enjoy hearing on a consistent basis are Ken Daniels, Gord Miller, Dean Brown, and Joe Bowen. Maybe Jim Hughson. Gary Thorne was a thing of the past to me, kind of like ESPN. If only we could get Sportsnet and TSN down here in California without a limited package like Center Ice.

There's just something about most American style broadcasts (including Thorne, and "Doc" Emerick) that just irks me. It's mostly blabbering throughout the game, like jousting of broadcast-peens, rather than calling the game and yapping between the whistles like most Canadian broadcasts.

Edited July 30, 2008 by Shoreline

[Doc Holiday 0]

Oh one thing I hate about the current announcers is they like to ramble on about irrelevant hockey stories during the game. That happened like 5 times when Detroit scored these playoffs.

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

WAFFLEBOARDED AWAY

[auxlepli 17]

Doc is pretty good in my opinion, but I like Gary Thorne better too. Bill Clement and Thorne were a good tandem.

[CrossCheck24 2]

"Gary Thorne and Bill Clament here, bringing you another exciting game on NHL98"

never gets old...

[betterREDthandead 58]

Thorne was one of the most incompetent, biased announcers I've ever heard. His public, undying love for the Avalanche polluted every Wings game that was televised. He truly didn't know the hockey players either. Anyone who had a number on their jersey that started with a "1" could be called the name of any other player whose jersey had a "1" at the beginning. Same with all of the other numbers. Luckily for Fedorov, he was one of the few Wings players to have a "9" at the beginning of his number so he didn't get mixed up with anyone else very often. Everyone else was fair game, though. Yzerman was called "Maltby" countless times by the moron. I have no use for Thorne whatsoever as a hockey announcer.

Nonsense. Like Crymson said.....if anything, Thorne was biased in favor of the Wings. But I doubt either is the case.

Thorne was an excellent broadcaster. Simply excellent. Exciteable, but exciteable at the right moments. And his voice is miles better than Emrick's.

Anyway, I think the OP's premise is wrong - I don't think Thorne is employed by ESPN any more. Currently Thorne is broadcasting Baltimore Orioles games for the local Maryland station, MASN.