Snoop Dogg was "invited into the broadcast booth" for FS West's broadcast of Penguins-Kings on Saturday night, and it quickly became clear he was "born to do hockey play-by-play," according to Liz Roscher of YAHOO SPORTS. There were "many, many highlights" from this appearance, including him saying, "I've drunk out of Stanley before." During a first-period fight, Snoop said, "Get it cracking then, let's go! Snoop Dogg in the house, let me see something." Later, during a Kings power play without many shots, he said, "Somebody gotta be willing to take a shot. It can't be all passes, somebody gotta want that money. Who wants that money? Who wants that money?" Roscher wrote Snoop was "essentially acting like the best hockey dad you've ever heard while delivering some of the most fun and evocative play-by-play you'll hear all year" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/13). CBSSPORTS.com's Pete Blackburn noted Snoop was "all business once he got that headset on, and he went into full play-by-play mode." He was "hilarious and electric." This seemed to have been Snoop's "first time taking a crack at commentating the sport, but it shouldn't be his last" (CBSSPORTS.com, 1/13). USA TODAY's Jace Evans wrote Snoop "produced more funny moments than we can count in a way only he can." Evans: "Here's hoping Snoop finds his way into more NHL broadcasts soon" (USATODAY.com, 1/13).
ONE OF A KIND: Kings play-by-play voice Alex Faust said that the team's FS West broadcasts have had "other celebrity guests for their Hockey Night in LA Saturday shows, but they had no idea Snoop would be so into doing game-calling during the game." Faust said, "We didn’t know what to expect, whether he wanted to do a serious interview about being a hockey fan, whether he wanted to be in character, so to speak, or had something else planned. The end result was totally spontaneous and I had to be careful not to burst out laughing. It was that much fun." He added, "It became clear he wanted to talk about the action, so [analyst Jim Fox] and I laid out for a bit and he just ran with it. With about three minutes left in the period, my producer said our time was up, so I started to thank him and say goodbye. At the same time, the Kings were going on a power play, and Snoop insisted on staying in the booth to watch it. So I told him if he wanted to stay, he had to jump in and do play-by-play. The rest was pure gold” (THEATHLETIC.com, 1/14).
