Top echelon where Mama hides the cookies!
Jun. 8th, 2012 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogWe interrupt tonight's scheduled Met-Yankee subway series game, which was apparently a forfeit, to bring you happier news from the north and west.
I've been blessed in my sports-fan career to have had not one, or two, but three legends giving voice to the highs and (face it, more numerous) lows of my favorite teams. Each of them held down the mike through all or part of five different decades, becoming far more iconic than anyone to ever wear the uniform. The Mets' Bob Murphy was the first to retire, and the only of the three to pass on; the Bills' Van Miller brought "fandemonium" into the language and covered every moment from the AFL to the four straight AFC championships; and, still, Sabres mikeman Rick Jeanneret gives voice, but also life, to both the television and radio calls of every home game, every playoff game (if we ever get back), and so many moments of team history.
Holy mackarel! Roll the highlight reel!
Those moments are now even more important, since word came today that Rick has been named to the broadcast wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame-
When the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame named Rick Jeanneret as one of its newest members this week, there was really only one line left to fill on his honor sheet. The Sabres' longtime announcer, who already has been inducted into the team's Hall, had an open space for the ultimate honor -- the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The space was filled today. Jeanneret has been named as this year's recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster, a a prize that grants him a spot as a media honoree in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"I’m excited, there’s no doubt about that whatsoever," Jeanneret said by phone this afternoon. "You can try and act blase and try and say, 'Well, it’s just another day in RJ’s life,' but it’s not."
Jeanneret, who started covering the Sabres in 1971, is the longest-tenured announcer in the NHL. He is the second Buffalo play-by-play man to earn the honor, joining the late Ted Darling (1994).
"It’s a chance to be among some pretty exotic company," Jeanneret said. "I’m not only talking about the people I’ve worked with like Ted Darling, but somebody that I admired when I was growing up and that was Danny Gallivan."
Gallivan, an inaugural winner of the Foster Hewitt award, called games for the Montreal Canadiens and "Hockey Night in Canada." Jeanneret will be enshrined alongside him in Toronto in November.
Last month, I got my first glimpse of this temple of hockey history-
I'm glad I didn't make a token appearance inside; that voice, those May-Day and Jimmy Hoffa moments need to be there when I get my ticket punched. Congratulations to a true gentleman and fan among fen. Your reputation couldn't get out; Sabres are keeping it in:)
I've been blessed in my sports-fan career to have had not one, or two, but three legends giving voice to the highs and (face it, more numerous) lows of my favorite teams. Each of them held down the mike through all or part of five different decades, becoming far more iconic than anyone to ever wear the uniform. The Mets' Bob Murphy was the first to retire, and the only of the three to pass on; the Bills' Van Miller brought "fandemonium" into the language and covered every moment from the AFL to the four straight AFC championships; and, still, Sabres mikeman Rick Jeanneret gives voice, but also life, to both the television and radio calls of every home game, every playoff game (if we ever get back), and so many moments of team history.
Holy mackarel! Roll the highlight reel!
Those moments are now even more important, since word came today that Rick has been named to the broadcast wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame-
When the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame named Rick Jeanneret as one of its newest members this week, there was really only one line left to fill on his honor sheet. The Sabres' longtime announcer, who already has been inducted into the team's Hall, had an open space for the ultimate honor -- the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The space was filled today. Jeanneret has been named as this year's recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster, a a prize that grants him a spot as a media honoree in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"I’m excited, there’s no doubt about that whatsoever," Jeanneret said by phone this afternoon. "You can try and act blase and try and say, 'Well, it’s just another day in RJ’s life,' but it’s not."
Jeanneret, who started covering the Sabres in 1971, is the longest-tenured announcer in the NHL. He is the second Buffalo play-by-play man to earn the honor, joining the late Ted Darling (1994).
"It’s a chance to be among some pretty exotic company," Jeanneret said. "I’m not only talking about the people I’ve worked with like Ted Darling, but somebody that I admired when I was growing up and that was Danny Gallivan."
Gallivan, an inaugural winner of the Foster Hewitt award, called games for the Montreal Canadiens and "Hockey Night in Canada." Jeanneret will be enshrined alongside him in Toronto in November.
Last month, I got my first glimpse of this temple of hockey history-
I'm glad I didn't make a token appearance inside; that voice, those May-Day and Jimmy Hoffa moments need to be there when I get my ticket punched. Congratulations to a true gentleman and fan among fen. Your reputation couldn't get out; Sabres are keeping it in:)