Buccigross appreciation thread

[Marty Barry 230]

This guy has been one of our greatest fans among the national media for years. He was recently hated on by a Wing fan for really nothing at all. Other than Panger (must be his close relationship with Stevie), I can't think of another major sportscaster that likes the Wings so much. Or at least recognizes where excellence is the norm.Bucci

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Bucci gets it right a lot more often than he gets it wrong. His predictions are typically informed and pretty accurate. I get a little tired of his music references (probably moreso because I don't agree with his taste in music), but he's definitely a huge hockey fan and supporter, almost to the point of being the lone reasonable voice on ESPN.

I think he gets grief for saying some hard truths about the Wings over the years. He predicted the Ducks upsetting the Wings in the first round, which irritated the crap out of me at the time, then turned out to be right, but he definitely appreciates the talent and heart of a lot of the Wings players over the years.

Edited April 7, 2010 by haroldsnepsts

[Yzerfan1999 81]

To be honest, I don't hear much of what the guy says since I live in Canada and I only read the occasional article. Two guys that come to mind who ALWAYS give the Red Wings respect are TSN's Bob McKenzie and Ray Ferraro. McKenzie is always saying the Wings will be in the finals ( i know, not hard to guess), even at the beginning of this season, when things didn't look good for Detroit, he still knew they would come around. Ray Ferraro also seems to have a lot of respect for the Wings, when many other guys seems to hate them because of their continued success. To me, these two guys always seem to get it right when they are assessing the Wings. Respect for the players and the system because of what they have done over the last 15-20 years.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

This guy has been one of our greatest fans among the national media for years. He was recently hated on by a Wing fan for really nothing at all. Other than Panger (must be his close relationship with Stevie), I can't think of another major sportscaster that likes the Wings so much. Or at least recognizes where excellence is the norm.Bucci

Attaboy, I always liked him and Pang, and thought they always spoke graciously of the Wing's, perhaps even more than they deserved at some times. Besides a whole load of people on HNIC and TSN, these 2 are my favorite to listen to, although I always kinda liked Pierre Mcguire (for all the wrong reasons).

My personal favorite in regards to any network is Bob Mckenzie, as I almost always agree or at least see parts of his arguments, and has a wealth of knowledge and sources. Doesn't hurt that he also pegged Hudler with "possible steal of draft" potential

Edited April 7, 2010 by EZBAKETHAGANGSTA

[Jedi 1,865]

Bucci has always been one of my favorites. He's smart, insightful, and damn funny to boot.

I really miss the days of NHL2Nite with Bucci-Chicken Parm.

That said, there's only so many "What *insert singer's name* is to *insert singer's band's name*..." that one can take. If he had a few more go-to lines to swap in and out, he would be that much better.

[zettie85 106]

To be honest, I don't hear much of what the guy says since I live in Canada and I only read the occasional article. Two guys that come to mind who ALWAYS give the Red Wings respect are TSN's Bob McKenzie and Ray Ferraro. McKenzie is always saying the Wings will be in the finals ( i know, not hard to guess), even at the beginning of this season, when things didn't look good for Detroit, he still knew they would come around. Ray Ferraro also seems to have a lot of respect for the Wings, when many other guys seems to hate them because of their continued success. To me, these two guys always seem to get it right when they are assessing the Wings. Respect for the players and the system because of what they have done over the last 15-20 years.

Ferraro wants his kid to make the team eventually.

Two years ago Dreger was a big Wings fan too.

[Nev 1,085]

I used to love Buccigross, and read his column every week going back years - I've even had several letters printed in his column - but this season I've gone right off him.

* His constant man-love for Crosby makes me puke. Bucci hung his hat for years on being different to all the other pundits, now he's as bad as, or worse than them, relentlessly force-feeding him down our throats. And when he's not talking about Crosby, he's talking about Malkin or Ovechkin. Yawn.

* His constant claims to be a fan of hockey, not favouring one team over another, when he spends most of his time talking about Pittsburgh, Boston and Philly in that order.

* Yes, the music references are getting boring now. Great chunks of song lyrics are treated like the poetry in Lord of the Rings - they get skipped.

Lots of other little stuff too, I'm just not interested now.

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

LOVE him! Always been a fan. He knows his hockey and is hilarious. Which NHL2Night was still around!

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

He is one of the maybe 3 NHL commentators between ESPN and TSN whose opinion or analysis I read and actually take seriously.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Wings_Dynasty

[Guest mjtm77]

To be honest, I don't hear much of what the guy says since I live in Canada and I only read the occasional article. Two guys that come to mind who ALWAYS give the Red Wings respect are TSN's Bob McKenzie and Ray Ferraro. McKenzie is always saying the Wings will be in the finals ( i know, not hard to guess), even at the beginning of this season, when things didn't look good for Detroit, he still knew they would come around. Ray Ferraro also seems to have a lot of respect for the Wings, when many other guys seems to hate them because of their continued success. To me, these two guys always seem to get it right when they are assessing the Wings. Respect for the players and the system because of what they have done over the last 15-20 years.

you got this wrong Bob McKenzie is probley the smartest person on tsn then Dreger. Bob gives some respect to the wings but not as much as any other competitive team. And for Ray um we drafted his kid so yea.

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

you got this wrong Bob McKenzie is probley the smartest person on tsn then Dreger. Bob gives some respect to the wings but not as much as any other competitive team. And for Ray um we drafted his kid so yea.

I think Bob McKenzie just says what he thinks the typical Canadian fan wants him to say. I'm not bashing Canadians, I am just saying that Canadians typically like a more hard-nosed type of game and McKenzie will comment on questionable hits, players, and league decisions as such. He is very smart about the game, just too tilted for me to be able to take most of the things he says seriously. I do aree with him on some issues (rarely) but most of the time he is just blowing smoke.

His knowledge is not in question, only what he decides to talk about and the stances he takes on certain issues.

Buccigross on the other hand comments on the game more like an insider who is speaking to both hardcore fans and someone who may have clicked on the wrong link looking for NBA scores. He promotes the game enthusiastically and most of the time speaks from a "how can the game be better" POV.

[AtomicPunk 296]

He is one of the few sportscenter people left who is actually an unabashed fan of the game. Steve Levy as well. I've always liked him.

[Travis 576]

Just ran across this on ESPN.com:

A decent-sized clump of Detroit Red Wings fans is like that girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband who gets 99 compliments but remembers the one measured comment/opinion that didn't inject sunshine into the other half's body.

I think it's important that Red Wings Nation and I get things ironed out before the postseason begins. This is the last week of the regular season, and we all want to be in a good frame of mind as the greatest tournament in sports begins next week.

With that in mind, I have gone back to my very first NHL column here on ESPN.com and found some of the nice things I've said about the Red Wings throughout the years. This is not all of the nice things I've said, just a sample. So Detroit, put on your Snuggie and smell the bloggy bouquet of flowers I've sent you as we all prepare for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Enjoy.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/notebook/_/page/buccigross_100406/my-case-detroit-10-years-worth