Sportsnets Jason Portuondo

[TheRenter]

I don't know who's a bigger muppet, him or Mike Toth?

Listening to him talk soccer is painful.

[TFC USA]

It is not as bad as ESPN:


During Euro 2008 with Spain/Italy, one of the anchors said "As usual, there was no score after 90 minutes."


You guys have it much much better.....although that dude was painful to listen to.

[ilikemusic]

I hate everything portuondo says.

[Batman]

surely there are more interesting topics

[GhostPK]

The whole Rogers sports net sucks for anything. I'd rather watch 24 innings of baseball on a 13 inch tv while locked in a prison cell then watch any sports on rogers. I mean seriously... get a cast that at least gives a damn about the sport, dont just designate that weeks worst anchor to call the game. Gives me a damn headache just thinking about it.

[arbogast]

at least he looks like he tries to like football...

[MFG1]

you didnt pounce on him for saying "FC"

[TheRenter]

you didnt pounce on him for saying "FC"

like i said...painful!

[GhostPK]

I'll be glad when TSN decides to take over all the home games. At least they'll bring in someone British or someone who cares a little.

[Yeoman]

It is not as bad as ESPN:


During Euro 2008 with Spain/Italy, one of the anchors said "As usual, there was no score after 90 minutes."


You guys have it much much better.....although that dude was painful to listen to.

any sport other then baseball or nascar on espn is brutal

[shaggingscot]

I don't know who's a bigger muppet, him or Mike Toth?

Listening to him talk soccer is painful.

Here's a thought....change the channel

[Flipityflu]

I'll be glad when TSN decides to take over all the home games. At least they'll bring in someone British or someone who cares a little.


tsn don't want to have anything to do with TFC.

[NF-FC]

tsn don't want to have anything to do with TFC.

very true. TSN is in bed with ESPN, the ultimate eurosnob.

[Shakes McQueen]

very true. TSN is in bed with ESPN, the ultimate eurosnob.

I think it has more to do with the fact that TSN doesn't have any Toronto FC broadcasting rights.

I'd actually like TSN to have Toronto FC coverage, because they are the country's biggesty sports network (in terms of viewership). They also tend to sink large sums of money into promoting the Canadian leagues and teams they have television rights to.

Take, for example, their CFL coverage. TSN has exclusive broadcast rights for the entire league, so they have an entire pre/post game panel, extensive marketing during the week, slick production values etc.

SportsNet's television production for Toronto FC games is atrocious. Multiple times during the Colorado game, the screen went completely white from sun glare, cameras were following the action poorly, and there were strange cutaways all the time.

CBC does a lot better, and even broadcasts in HD (which is wonderful, as you can see more of the pitch to watch plays develop).

I'd love to see a TSN TFC broadcast, complete with Dick Howard providing colour commentary (as I think he's TSN's soccer analyst, if I remember correctly from Euro 2008).

TSN *is* completely in bed with ESPN (they are minority-owned by ESPN, so obviously). At any rate, it couldn't be worse than the product Sportsnet is putting out now. Except for Craig and Gerry... I like them a lot.

- Scott

[Roogsy]

Which Colorado game? Because if you are talking about Saturday afternoon's game, it wasn't a Sportsnet production, so you would essentially have a problem with the production from MLS. Sportsnet commentators were just talking heads over the US production.

[Shakes McQueen]

Which Colorado game? Because if you are talking about Saturday afternoon's game, it wasn't a Sportsnet production, so you would essentially have a problem with the production from MLS. Sportsnet commentators were just talking heads over the US production.

Really? Well I consider myself learned then. :D

Not that it really helps I guess, because it means Sportsnet can't be bothered to send their own crew. But still...

You get TSN doing TFC games, you'd get commercials all through the week playing up the next game, you'd get a panel talking about other games around the league before, during, and after the game. Hell, maybe you'd even get one of those "This is my Sportscenter" commercials starring Robbo, haha.

Basically, you'd get an attempt to increase the viewership (and consequently, their advertisement profits). As opposed to Sportsnet, which seems to do the bare minimum for what can still be considered a televised football match.

- Scott

[Roogsy]

We'd love for Sportsnet to throw money at TFC, but they are not in the business of losing money. Picking up a US feed and putting Canadian commentators on it is as good as it is going to get when you have 100k viewers.

And even if you had 10x the amount of viewers, teams are not in the habit of sending their own production crews when there is a local one already available and doing the job. You think the Yankees send their own production crews for Jays games? Just the commentators. The production work is still done by Toronto home crews. The same as everywhere else.

[TheRenter]

at least he looks like he tries to like football...

i'll give him that

[Shakes McQueen]

We'd love for Sportsnet to throw money at TFC, but they are not in the business of losing money. Picking up a US feed and putting Canadian commentators on it is as good as it is going to get when you have 100k viewers.

And even if you had 10x the amount of viewers, teams are not in the habit of sending their own production crews when there is a local one already available and doing the job. You think the Yankees send their own production crews for Jays games? Just the commentators. The production work is still done by Toronto home crews. The same as everywhere else.

CFL viewership has increased exponentially in recent years, precisely because TSN pushes it so hard. I'm not suggesting anyone throw money around - just invest wisely NOW in putting on a decent broadcast, that can expand the fanbase. That pays dividends for both TSN, as well as the club. And the league too, I guess.

Touche on the production crew thing. Though if that's the case, why does HDNet broadcast their games in HD, when the MLS feed for matches is standard def?

Assuming HDNet has their own crew for games, Sportsnet should be able to do it too. HDNet is an incredibly small, niche channel.

Correct me if I'm wrong, however.

- Scott

[Bluenose13]

^^Sportsnet sends there own cameras & prodution crew on the road for TFC games.

[Shakes McQueen]

^^Sportsnet sends there own cameras & prodution crew on the road for TFC games.

Okay then... my original point stands? I'm just confused now, haha. I don't know what to believe!

- Scott

[DVS]

Yes Snet is the "hockey" network. They proved that when they dropped all basketball games on their station leaving it almost unbearable to watch esp when they black out all games not leafs.

However; everyone has to remember that TFC doesn't draw very well and for now the best fans can hope for is that the majority of the games are on Tv

[Flipityflu]

i'm pretty sure that John Molinaro has said that TSN has been offered TFC games when CBC can't broadcast, and tsn have refused. so, its not a matter of tsn getting the rights, its a matter of tsn wanting nothing to do with TFC. i wouldn't waste any time about havig tsn broadcast anything.

to be fair, until TFC can draw any kind of decent tv ratings, this will be what we get. i'm not that bothered because i certainly enjoy the CBC broadcast, and i don't have much of a problem with sportsnet.

[RealG-TFC]

I can't believe you would even consider TSN for TFC. That would be the ultimate insult. THey don't care about football AT ALL!! The only reason they show CL is because of their affiliation with ESPN.

[bee dubya]

We'd love for Sportsnet to throw money at TFC, but they are not in the business of losing money. Picking up a US feed and putting Canadian commentators on it is as good as it is going to get when you have 100k viewers.

And even if you had 10x the amount of viewers, teams are not in the habit of sending their own production crews when there is a local one already available and doing the job. You think the Yankees send their own production crews for Jays games? Just the commentators. The production work is still done by Toronto home crews. The same as everywhere else.

Actually, the US networks always send their own trucks to games at the Dome. YES, ESPN, etc are always going to want full control of their broadcast, they don't want to rely on the "home" broadcast...

[bee dubya]

I can't believe you would even consider TSN for TFC. That would be the ultimate insult. THey don't care about football AT ALL!! The only reason they show CL is because of their affiliation with ESPN.

They only reason they show Champions League is because of the ratings those games receive. It has little to do with an ESPN affiliation. ESPN owns the rights to all sorts of things that TSN doesn't necessarily show. They show the CL because they know it will consistently draw numbers and the reason that CL gets bumped for curling is because unfortunately, curling gets better numbers than CL. Simple as that.

[GhostPK]

I dont mind the CBC broadcasts as much (except when they show a replay while a corner is being taken, then by the time they switch back to live action you see the ball sail past the crossbar and the crowd was almost excited for a goal) The announcers on CBC are far better. I KNOW TSN would do an amazing job covering the TSN games, and though the company itself wouldnt care about TFC, they would get some announcers who at least care about the sport.

I wouldnt be so quick to say TSN wants nothing to do with TFC, perhaps they are just waiting until Hongcouver Brownstreaks and the Frenchy extrodinare get into the MLS before looking more seriously into the matter.

[poppamidnight]

Portuondo's one of Canada's best SPORTScasters...
so what if he's not into the MLS lingo, the guy brings a youth appeal (in touch with cultural refernces) that others simply cant...

What you fail to realize is these guys have soo much S*** on their plate they gotta be on top of, and the demand for coverage on WORLD SPORTS (no longer exclusively north-america's 3 [mlb, nba, nfl]) is increasing

Right now this is my list of top Canadian SPORTS (not "exclusively-hockey") casters:
1 - Brian Williams
2 - Ron Maclean
3 - Adnan Virk
4 - Don Taylor (exclusive to BC)
5 - Farhan Lalji (mainly BC)/Rod Black

*this is quality, not "what they've done" (Black obviously would be #2/3 if that was the case)

[Blizzard]

Portuondo's one of Canada's best SPORTScasters...

He wouldn't make my top 20!

[stretchthetruth]

Rod Black is waaaaaaaaay worse than Portuondo...

[ochos]

For anyone who dislikes Gerry or Craig, well... these guys have done enormous things for football in this country

I can't how many Saturday mornings I've woken up to that memorable EPL theme song. Having G and C around to add insight to the games, and deliver the news only adds to the production value. Heck, I'd love if these guys would work for Setanta now that Setanta are the clear favourites for soccer channel in this country.

They may not be the most colourful commentators around, but at least it's not "It's in the net! It's IN THE NET!!" (although that guys better than most of the American guys too)

[Shakes McQueen]

I like Craig and Gerry... I just wish everything around them was better.

- Scott

[TheRenter]

TSN is carrying men's olympic soccer right now (Argentina vs. Australia) ....about time footy got some coverage over equestrian :smilewinkgrin:

[Blizzard]

Rod Black is waaaaaaaaay worse than Portuondo...

I don't like him either but in fairness, it's hard to compare them as Portuondo is strictly at the desk as far as I know while Black is one of their so-called "stars".

He gets the plumb assignments. That doesn't make him good though. He churns the stomach.

[stretchthetruth]

I don't like him either but in fairness, it's hard to compare them as Portuondo is strictly at the desk as far as I know while Black is one of their so-called "stars".

He gets the plumb assignments. That doesn't make him good though. He churns the stomach.


So true. I always refer to the interview Black did with one of the Canadian junior hockey players about 10 years ago whose father recently passed away. The player promised his dad gold, but they won the silver medal...

Black says something like "Now I understand you promised your father a gold medal before he passed away, but you came up a little short with the silver medal... Are you disappointed?"... WTF?!?!?! I was completely shocked at his lack of sensitivity, and he seemed to disappear for awhile after that... So yeah I have to agree, he's a douche...

[Blizzard]

So true. I always refer to the interview Black did with one of the Canadian junior hockey players about 10 years ago whose father recently passed away. The player promised his dad gold, but they won the silver medal...

Black says something like "Now I understand you promised your father a gold medal before he passed away, but you came up a little short with the silver medal... Are you disappointed?"... WTF?!?!?! I was completely shocked at his lack of sensitivity, and he seemed to disappear for awhile after that... So yeah I have to agree, he's a douche...

I remember that interview as well. He's an idiot.

I also cannot stand it when he goes into figure skating mode and changes the style of his delivery, gets all mushy / emotional and all I can think at home is "what a faker".