Kayte Christensen

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Fine. Words don't mean things anymore. Play by whatever rules you want, I can't convince you otherwise.
Color is subjective, right? Yes, it is. You like blue, I like green, some other guy likes purple or yellow, etc. There may be some men out that wear pink pants, shirts, and underwear, live in a pink house, and drive a pink car. (If you think that's extreme, I lived right down the block from a guy who wore yellow, lived in a yellow house, had a yellow car, and yes, he had a yellow (blonde) wife. But they, I think we can agree, are a distinct minority. Objectively, therefore, men typically don't wear pink, live in pink, and drive in pink. Pink sucks for most men, objectively speaking. Kayte sucks, objectively speaking also.
 
You are making assumptions not in evidence. Frankly, I never played basketball. I grew up in the country and only played on the county soccer teams from elementary school through high school - I don't even know if the local area had basketball teams when I was a kid. I barely made the high school freshman basketball team (because they didn't have enough players to have to cut anyone) and we lost every game we played, including to the 8th graders. I didn't have a hoop at my house until my freshman year so I could practice shooting on the back patio. I got cut during basketball tryouts every other year in high school (because I had no real skills and had never played before, other than as a benchwarmer that freshman year and at that point I was just still trying to learn how to dribble with both hands instead of actually learning "basketball"). Seriously, don't pick me to be on your team. You'll lose.

So while I know the basic rules of the game, I don't generally know much more than that - even many basic sets, how plays are designed and run to free up players, etc. Sometimes when she's describing how that play developed, I rewind a bit to try to follow along. I'm still learning what the intent of certain cuts or picks were for (or what their various names are), those kinds of things. Seriously, I love watching the game, but I don't "know" the game. So, I'm just trying to pick some things up as she describes them or discusses how something went wrong in a certain play. And I've never gotten that before from the Kings announcers, except maybe a little bit with Doug.

I don't watch college ball, I rarely watch other team's games, and I don't have the time or desire to do so. I've NEVER postured or pretended to know much about the sport (technically). I know a lot of you have played throughout school and maybe in college and have that institutional knowledge. I certainly don't have that. I just love watching the local pro team (since they moved here in 1985). Before the Kings, I just caught a few pro games on OTA/broadcast TV when I could.
I realize I made some assumptions, which is why I posed the question to you that I did and admitted that I may have overrated your knowledge and experience.

Judging from your response, I agree that the latter was true.

Thanks for the detailed and honest answer. Much appreciated.
 
I watch most of the games with the mute on. Much more enjoyable to cut out the non-stop babbling and let the action speak for itself.

It's interesting how much more your eye can pick up, without needless annoying chatter
How you feel is exacly how my wife feels. She complains every time I watch a game.

Admittedly my wife was already anti-Kayte from her days as sideline and locker room reporter because she could never just ask a simple question and instead always prefaced with a super long-winded lead up. My wife’s main criticism is that she feels Kayte tries to hard to show off her knowledge instead of keeping it simple.

From that standpoint, I always agreed with my wife. But I wasn’t as upset over it. Mostly indifferent.

As far as her analysis goes, I’ve said this many times already but I’m not casting final judgement until the end of season 2. I think she’s ok at some things and not so good at others. She’s new at the gig and could get better. But as of today, I agree that she’s too long-winded often not adding anything of value when she does that and often misses out on the next play which always annoys no matter who does it.

DC wasn’t especially good when he first started, but really worked at it and got a lot better. Kayte could do the same. I do feel she has a longer uphill climb, though. I’m willing to exercise a little patience to find out if she is able to do it.

Having said that, I also understand those that have already cast their final judgement like my wife. There are a myriad of factors that cause people to like or dislike an announcer/analyst that go beyond their knowledge and experience in the game.

IMO one great example is Bill Walton. His playing experience, background, connections and accomplishments prove that he has the knowledge for the gig but a lot of people would argue that he‘s not very good at it. His presentation and ways of communicating are, to put it mildly, an acquired taste.
 
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KINGS win again, though.

I’m not expecting the winning to continue to the point of re-capturing interest and excitement of the majority of KINGS fans that have already thrown in the towel, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens if it does.

What will the fan reaction and feedback be to the current on-air voices when there are games that matter?

Mark, Kyle and Kayte don’t seem to evoke the same reaction out of fans that the previous voices did. Part of the lack of interest and excitement is fan fatigue from the team being disappointing and/or awful for so long now.

So it’ll be a nice litmus test if the team keeps winning and starts playing meaningful games.

Mark Jones is absent far too much and Kyle doesn’t seem to resonate well with the masses far as I can tell and Kayte’s addition is still controversial if this thread is any indication.

Hopefully this team keeps winning so we can all find out.
 
I’ve been a fan of Kayte and defended her on this board, but that was some of the worst announcing I’ve heard at the end of the hornets game. She totally had no clue what was going on, rambling on at the end about the coach’s challenge as Fox raced down court for the win. Then concludes Fox missed the second free throw on purpose because of….the clock?!?. You’d think given the amount of timeouts and reviews at the end of a close game she would have understood the score for the critical winning free throws. She was totally off her game tonight.

I can’t believe I’m more annoyed at her announcing than the kings performance tonight, but that was bad.
 
I'm more than willing to to give KCH more time to improve her abilities. I wasn't a big fan of Christie when first came on, but I thought he vastly improved the second season and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him at that point. Speaking purely on Grant and Jerry's skill as broadcasters, I thought they had excellent rapport with each other and called the games great. They also had decades of experience, but skill-wise it is a huge drop off.

Draper is just not the answer. He doesn't resonate well with the fans and his play-calling is lackluster, at best. He needs to go.
 
Her social media dropped the Hunter now.

So now that it's more public, I was actually surprised she got the color job. I heard back in the summer (from a good source) her husband divorced her for infidelity.
I've heard this same thing. Apparently one of the people involved was a former assistant coach. This is all alleged though.
 
Yes. If it was a random joe then who cares, but someone within the organization is noteworthy.
Ignoring the morality regarding adultery, it is only noteworthy depending on chain of command and such along with timing. It is the small details that could be damning. If she got the job after the other person was gone? I don't see the scandal implied.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
Ignoring the morality regarding adultery, it is only noteworthy depending on chain of command and such along with timing. It is the small details that could be damning. If she got the job after the other person was gone? I don't see the scandal implied.
Indeed. And, if the other person was not her direct report, someone in her chain of command, or someone who had direct influence over her promotion, then it's not a scandal, either way.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
she actually did something last night i have never heard an announcer for a team do. when talking about the issues with defense. she actually suggested a trade be made and Jones cosigned it. I think thats the difference that has gotten me. Grant and Jerry made you enjoy a crappy team and were always optomistic. Kayte and Mark constantly point out flaws and have really made me not like anybody on the team. Like there isn't one guy that i couldn't do without. I blame the announce team for that lol.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
she actually did something last night i have never heard an announcer for a team do. when talking about the issues with defense. she actually suggested a trade be made and Jones cosigned it. I think thats the difference that has gotten me. Grant and Jerry made you enjoy a crappy team and were always optomistic. Kayte and Mark constantly point out flaws and have really made me not like anybody on the team. Like there isn't one guy that i couldn't do without. I blame the announce team for that lol.
Are we certain that's a good thing?
 
she actually did something last night i have never heard an announcer for a team do. when talking about the issues with defense. she actually suggested a trade be made and Jones cosigned it. I think thats the difference that has gotten me. Grant and Jerry made you enjoy a crappy team and were always optomistic. Kayte and Mark constantly point out flaws and have really made me not like anybody on the team. Like there isn't one guy that i couldn't do without. I blame the announce team for that lol.
I suppose it's simply a matter of taste, whether the listener wants a spoonful of sugar as a way of making the medicine of each loss go down easier or a less rose-colored approach that might spotlight the reason for the losses. I think Kayte has a ways to go before she fully settles into the role, but that's always the case with first-time color commentators. Personally, I have great appreciation for her analytical approach to the game. It's rare that a broadcast can make me feel as if I am actually learning something about the action on the court in real-time, rather than in post-game analyses, but Kayte's color commentary manages to do that. I think she will become a real asset on the broadcast team as she gains experience.

I also think it will be essential for the franchise to find a proper partner alongside Kayte. I don't think Kyle Draper is likely to be an effective long-term pairing with her, and while I've got a lot of love for Mark Jones and his absolute professionalism, I do think the Kings need a full-time hire on the play-by-play so that their broadcast team can develop chemistry. I was among a certain cohort of Kings fans who had grown incredibly weary of Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds, but their on-air chemistry was undeniable after decades of calling games together. Reynolds' aw, shucks, dim-bulbed persona appropriately balanced Napear's acerbic, fast-talking New York demeanor. No matter where you fell on the spectrum of Napear/Reynolds enjoyment, they were obviously an effective team.
 
Supposing, for the sake of argument, that's true, what's one thing have to do with the other?
We disagree a lot. But this is something I fully agree with you on.

Her personal life is separate from her work. I get that morals are important, but if fans can't separate profession from personal they're never gonna be able to follow or enjoy anything.

Think about it. On a 53 man football roster, not even including members of the front office and coaching staff, there's bound to be people that have done things that cross a fans personal threshold.

When going to watch a movie, hundreds and hundreds of people (maybe more) are involved in the making of that movie and, again, someone involved has done something in their past (or even recently) that has crossed a moral line.

Unless the person has done something really over-the-top horrible, such as an OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein, Bernie Madoff, or Bill Cosby -- I tend to not let these things affect how I view them professionally nor prevent me from enjoying something to which they may have an affiliation.

In this rumored case, even if true, it's her own issue to deal with and doesn't have anything to do with her ability to do her job. It also doesn't influence how I view her performance. If people are being fair, it shouldn't influence them either -- unless they happen to be close personal friends with any involved.
 
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I watch most of the games with the mute on. Much more enjoyable to cut out the non-stop babbling and let the action speak for itself.

It's interesting how much more your eye can pick up, without needless annoying chatter
I usually listen to the away announcers on league pass. There is much more talking on King's broadcasts compared with most other announcer/pbp teams. It's a matter of personal preference. I believe less is more.
 
It's a tower of babble too often, Kings in-game broadcast booth. The worst part is often that babble going on (and yes, Kayte worst offender) middle of a dynamic play when should have been describing "it" not miscellaneous carrying-on discussion or just keep mouth shut, let in the moment action speak for itself. But otherwise Kayte very good with her analysis, just needs to shorten it up. TV mute button my savior if gets too chatty and then turn on radio for G-Man call - heaven!
 
I'm getting to the point where I'm gonna have to mute the game because of Kayte. They show a replay (in slow motion) on a rebound play where idiot Buddy literally faces up Reeves and pushes him. Yes, Reeves embellished a bit but it's an obvious foul. She says that's a flop and deserves a "fine."

A couple of minutes later, they show a replay (again, in slow motion) of the low IQ'er Bagley getting completely stripped clean (for like the 4th time this game) and acting like somebody cut off his hand and she claims that is a foul.

I get being a homer but you really just lose all credibility when you can't even watch a replay and intelligently assess the play. This has been consistent with her the entire year.
 
I'm getting to the point where I'm gonna have to mute the game because of Kayte. They show a replay (in slow motion) on a rebound play where idiot Buddy literally faces up Reeves and pushes him. Yes, Reeves embellished a bit but it's an obvious foul. She says that's a flop and deserves a "fine."

A couple of minutes later, they show a replay (again, in slow motion) of the low IQ'er Bagley getting completely stripped clean (for like the 4th time this game) and acting like somebody cut off his hand and she claims that is a foul.

I get being a homer but you really just lose all credibility when you can't even watch a replay and intelligently assess the play. This has been consistent with her the entire year.
On the contrary, I think she's improving every game and I enjoy her dynamic with Mark Jones being more Hollywood.

(EDIT: Oh I got it now. We saw those fouls differently. Those are obviously fouls on Bagley, twice. And Reeves been flopping all-game long.)
 
On the contrary, I think she's improving every game and I enjoy her dynamic with Mark Jones being more Hollywood.

(EDIT: Oh I got it now. We saw those fouls differently. Those are obviously fouls on Bagley, twice. And Reeves been flopping all-game long.)
No, they weren't fouls. The defenders hit the ball, and even if they hit his hand it is considered to be part of the ball. Marvin literally gets stripped about 3-4 times a game like this.
 
No, they weren't fouls. The defenders hit the ball, and even if they hit his hand it is considered to be part of the ball. Marvin literally gets stripped about 3-4 times a game like this.
Agree to disagree, then. I supposed.

The 2nd one, LeBron literally made an "oops" face and snuck his eyes up to see if he got called.