Oops.
I imagine that’s the overarching theme in the Wild front offices so far this week. For those who have been living under a stone (or don’t have cable), let me recap.
The Wild announced that they had not renewed play-by-play man Dan Terhaar. Now, that in and of itself wasn’t enough to cause a riot. In fact, there are enough fans who don’t like the FSN crew that it actually elicited a positive response. Buzz was that there was national interest in the vacant position.
Then the Wild front office did their best imitation of the last half of the season, and like a bird into a plate glass window…SPLAT. It leaked out that Gopher play-by-play announcer and FSN studio regular Anthony LaPanta would be offered the position.
Ever see Twitter explode? Ouch.
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not in the best position to judge. The FSN team is a bunch of homers, no doubt about it. That said, I still preferred them to the VS / NBC crew. I don’t think Terhaar was the weakest spot of a Wild broadcast. I also have watched very little Gopher hockey on TV (I write about the Wild, I’m watching the game I have to report on 😉 ). And yes, some of the responses were downright cruel. That said, this was a major missed opportunity for the Wild to show respect for a fan base that is feeling a bit trampled on right now.
As others have said, if the fans get this worked up over a TV announcer, the Wild need to take note and realize what happens if they fail to sign the “big fish” GM Chuck Fletcher is talking about chasing this summer.