Boston Losing Two Broadcasting Titans In Back To Back Nights, Jack Edwards and Mike Gorman, Would Be Too Much For Other Cities To Handle, But Not The City of Winners
This was Tuesday night after the Bruins (yet again) failed to close out a team on home-ice. That's the Bruins home telecast announcer Jack Edwards. And he's arguably one of the greatest to ever do it.
And by "do it", I mean call a game so perfectly that he adds to the entertainment value of the actual game, and spells out and explains things that are both, fundamental so the novice fan can enjoy, and nuanced enough that the die-hard expert appreciates.
Non New Englanders might know Jack from wayyyyyyy back in the day. When SportsCenter was enjoying its "Golden Era". When early morning Sportscenter reruns on loop were must-watch TV. Jack was one of the murderers' row of Sportscenter anchors.
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Edwards left ESPN and joined NESN to call Bruins games almost 20 years ago. Which is insane to believe. 19 years now he's been the voice of the Boston Bruins.
One thing I really love about life, is watching and witnessing people truly enjoy what they do. It could be as simple as watching a guy mow a lawn while signing too-loud with his headphones on, with some extra pep in their step, and a giant smile on and the sun in their face. Or it could be the biggest rock-star in the world choking up while thanking the massive sea of people in the crowd for coming out to see them. It's hard to hate on that person. Because I think it's every one of our's dream deep down. Seeing people happy, grateful for what they have, and knowing they would do that job for free because it's not a j-o-b to them, warms your heart. Unless you're a hating dickhead like the Grinch.
And you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody who enjoys what they do for a living more than Jack Edwards.
Which makes his story so sad.
Edwards isn't being pushed out. He's not retiring because he's too old. (He's 67). He's not retiring because he's sick. He's (being forced) to retire due to some bizarre neurological issue that has left the best doctors in the country dumbfounded. As the game has sped up more and more, Edwards has began slurring and stuttering his words. But he suffered no stroke, doesn't have cancer, and didn't get in any accidents or anything, so it makes no sense.
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To call him a homer would be disrespectful to Tommy Heinsohn. But nobody got more excited than Edwards genuinely did on a monster Bruins goal.
Which was always the knock by New England sports fans who can always find a reason, no matter how small, to not be happy or like somebody.
People disliked Edwards because of his eloquence. The guy carries a Shakespearean-level vocabulary, gets overly-excited routinely, and loves to drop history lessons into his calls.
How can you listen to that and not crack up laughing? The guy is nuts. But he'd be the first to admit it and blame it on how much he loves the sport of hockey, and the Boston Bruins.
That guy is always good in my book.
Then last night, the Celtics lost an icon of their own.
Gorman began his career way back in 1982.
Taking the torch from a Hall of Famer like Johnny Most, ("and there's the steal by bird") is no small feat in itself. But Gorman was also paired alongside (first, the aforementioned Gil Santos), and then the wildcard of all wildcards, Tommy Heinsohn.
(Sidebar - Tommy Heinsohn walked so Hawk Harrelson could run.)
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(Sidebar - on the TNT broadcast last night Stan Van Gundy told an amazing story about a time he was at a Celtics game and Tommy Heinsohn got so heated the refs, he stormed out of the building. He was calling the game with Gorman.)
For anybody who ever found fault in Jack Edwards for "taking away from the game", Mike Gorman was their Sir Lancelot. Gorman always did an incredible job of making his color man the star. Not that making a ham like Tommy Heinsohn shine was a tough thing to do. But once again, you could tell Gorman got just as much of a kick out of Heinsohn that we the listener did. If not more. And towards Heinsohn's own end of the run, when you didn't think his and Gorman's chemistry could get any better, Gorman found a way to really get Heinsohn riled up and on tilt. If he wasn't stoking the fire, he was pumping Heinsohn for his most legendary, greatest hits of first-hand accounts of Celtics glory days. The stuff fans go nuts for.
Knowing the story of how Gorman, post-military, began his career makes you like him even more.
SI - Mike Gorman’s career nearly ended in a parking lot. It was in the mid-1970s and Gorman, fresh off a five-year stint in the U.S. Navy, was still trying to figure out a post-military future. He loved sports and had an itch for broadcasting, so one day he decided to take a chance and pop into the offices of WBZ, a Boston-area radio affiliate, and try to speak to Gil Santos, then a legendary local play-by-play man. If Santos wouldn’t meet with him, his next stop was Weymouth (Mass.) High School, where a friend said he could get him a part-time gig as a substitute teacher.
When Gorman arrived, he was stopped at the security gate. He was asked by the guard if he had an appointment. He didn’t. He was asked if he had a résumé or a tape to leave for Santos. He didn’t. Puzzled, the guard suggested Gorman get some experience and come back.
When the guard opened the gate for Gorman to turn his car around, he noticed a hat in the backseat. Stitched onto the front was VP-44, the naval squadron Gorman flew with. The guard, it turned out, used to fly with VP-8. After a few minutes chatting about planes, the guard called Santos. After hearing Gorman’s story, Santos agreed to meet with him. The two talked for 90 minutes. When they were finished, Santos called a small regional radio station and set Gorman up with a job as a public affairs director.
“That was it,” says Gorman. “That’s how it all started.”
Gorman suffered an eye injury that required him to miss considerable amount of time a couple seasons ago, in which he came to the conclusion this would be his last season.
He went out like a champion, and hopefully, the Celtics can make it official and win the title.
The Celtics and TD Garden faithful did Gorman solid sticking around post-game to wish him goodbye and say thanks.
New Englanders truly don't comprehend how lucky we/they've been getting to enjoy the talent we've had calling our hometown teams.
Very, very few cities can point to a legendary broadcaster in a single sport. Boston has had multiple, in every sport. Has the drop-off from Gil Santos to Scott Zolak, and the soon-to-be-discussed Mike Gorman to Brian Scalabrine been a 90 degree, pencil dive off a cliff? Sure has. But it's better to have lived and loved than to never love at all.
You don't appreciate incredible announcers, that annoy you a little bit, until you've heard some of the dog-shit announcers these teams out west and down south have. They're not only fucking terrible, but they annoy you A LOT. Be grateful.
p.s. - it would be so Bruins it hurts if they blow game 6 in Toronto and have to head back to Boston for Game 7. And Jack Edwards is forced to do this all over again. Slam the fucking door on the Leafs and let this man enjoy his moment in peace. You heard the man at the end of his signoff,
“Send them home crying from Maple Leafs Square!”
p.p.s. - beyond a classy move for Edwards to take his final moment on air to be gracious and thank his "teammate" Andy Brinkley. Damn it's dusty in here.