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Awful Announcing Readers Give Flyers’ TV Broadcasters a B Grade
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The fine folks at Awful Announcing run polls every year asking readers to grade the broadcast teams for each franchise across the four major spectrum. Last year, for reference, the Phillies crew of Tom McCarthy, John Kruk, Ruben Amaro Jr., Ben Davis, and Mike Schmidt finished 7th best, earning A grades from 35% of respondents. This year, AA went back to hockey, and the pairing of Jim Jackson and Boooooooooooosh finished in 11th place:
Jackson has been the Flyers’ TV voice since 1995. Boucher started working on their studio show after his 2013 retirement, then jumped up into the booth last September when Keith Jones moved into a new role as the team’s president of hockey operations. Jackson, with analysts Jones and Bill Clement, earned a 2.68 in 2020 (seventh of 31 teams) and a 2.27 (16th of 30) in 2016. This group earned 88 As and 126 Bs of 298 votes, but also 21 Ds and 17 Fs.
In the comments, there were quite a few criticisms of Jackson. That included “Boucher keeps this from being a F” (on a D grade), “Sometimes teams have a long-time announcer who sticks around because they do a great job and the fans love them, like Harry Kalas. Other times, you get Jim Jackson,” and “Bouch is great, but Jackson is eh, hence the B.” However, even more people liked Jackson, offering lines like “criminally underrated,” “the best in the biz,” “an A-list play-by-play,” “the most underrated voice in the business,” and “should have a network job.”
The booth overall earned some acclaim. That included “JJ and Bouch really found rhythm this season,” “natural chemistry,” and “Jim and Brian both provide great commentary and are very entertaining to listen to.” And Boucher got his own individual plaudits, including “a strong analyst, particularly on goaltending nuances.
That feedback seems fair. Boosh does a good job. Obviously he broadcasts nationally and isn’t just some local yokel, so he’s well-rounded with good league knowledge. He’s also relatively young, just 48 years old and not THAT far removed from his playing days, so you don’t feel like he’s one of those veterans who just shows up and goes through the motions without being arsed to care.
RE: Jackson, he’s always been steady, right? JJ does a good job. Always has. Not once have I ever thought to myself, “you know what? they should find someone to replace Jim Jackson.” He’s solid at the local level and national level and seems to work well with whomever is paired as the color commentator. Maybe hardcore Flyers fans have their gripes, but on the casual front, you really don’t hear much negative chatter about him.
Awful Announcing says Jackson and Boucher received a B grade from 42.3% of voters, while 87.2% of the response was an A, B, or C grade. Here’s the full ranking:
The 2024-25 Awful Announcing local NHL announcer rankings
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com