Jeanneret predicts that he will retire after next season.

[Eleven]

Ugh.  Even though he's not the same as he was, he's still the greatest PBP announcer in any sport that I ever have heard.  The way he describes what's going on--or maybe the way he used to--is/was sublime.

A quote:

 

Ever the optimist, he expects the Sabres to be in position to make the playoffs next season for the first time since 2011.

“Well, they better or I won't come back for 51,” cracked Jeanneret before turning somewhat serious. “I got a feeling there won't be a 51 anyway. It has to come to an end.”

Why?

“I'm getting older, I'm getting slower, I'm getting all kinds of things that are slowing things down a little bit,” said Jeanneret. “You’ve got to come to grips with this. You know you can't go forever.”

 

The link:  https://buffalonews.com/2020/04/10/buffalo-sabres-rick-jeanneret-announcer-future-jim-lorentz/

[darksabre]

I love Rick. Like, real love. When he retires I'm going to cry. His voice is a piece of my soul. 

We're never going to be satisfied that the Sabres didn't win a Cup with him on the call. Hopefully they manage to at least win one in his lifetime. He deserves to see that happen. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

9 minutes ago, darksabre said:

I love Rick. Like, real love. When he retires I'm going to cry. His voice is a piece of my soul. 

We're never going to be satisfied that the Sabres didn't win a Cup with him on the call. Hopefully they manage to at least win one in his lifetime. He deserves to see that happen. 

If this team makes it that far in the next few years (not holding my breath) and the sabres don't in some way include Rick (a partial game call, day with the cup, something) then I will wash my hands of the organization. 

[PASabreFan]

My first reaction was an eye roll. If he feels that way, why not retire now? I also harken back I don't know how many years where Rick has said some variation of this after a season. He's a touch on the dramatic side. However, this does sound as definitive as he's ever been. Still, my prediction remains... the only way he's coming out of that booth is on a stretcher. Wait...

[#freejame]

He should have retired when Jim Lorentz retired. Listening to those old broadcasts it’s JL who made them for me. 

[Eleven]

59 minutes ago, #freejame said:

He should have retired when Jim Lorentz retired. Listening to those old broadcasts it’s JL who made them for me. 

Lorentz was great and I think he was the best of Jeaneret's various broadcast partners.. It was a sad day when he left.  Was it Neale who was his replacement initially?  Because Neale wasn't horrible, but he wasn't Lorentz.  And now we have Shrek.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Eleven

[nfreeman]

So it’s probably going to be Dunleavy, right?

Meh.  

[OverPowerYou]

6 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

So it’s probably going to be Dunleavy, right?

Meh.  

Paul Hamilton did a few games and I thought he was great. 

[#freejame]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Lorentz was great and I think he was the best of Jeaneret's various broadcast partners.. It was a sad day when he left.  Was it Neale who was his replacement initially?  Because Neale wasn't horrible, but he wasn't Lorentz.  And now we have Shrek.

Neil with Robie filling in on occasion until his car crash (?)

[Taro T]

It'll be sad seeing him step away full time, but IMHO it would be even sadder for him to go out as Van Miller did - a true shell of himself.

We can't have all 3 announcing legends leave after they significantly passed their prime.  (Fortunately for Chuck Healey, the Braves left before he went to pot.)

[Eleven]

5 hours ago, OverPowerYou said:

Paul Hamilton did a few games and I thought he was great. 

He was great.

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

It'll be sad seeing him step away full time, but IMHO it would be even sadder for him to go out as Van Miller did - a true shell of himself.

We can't have all 3 announcing legends leave after they significantly passed their prime.  (Fortunately for Chuck Healey, the Braves left before he went to pot.)

Come on.  You're not old enough to really remember Healey!

[nucci]

9 hours ago, nfreeman said:

So it’s probably going to be Dunleavy, right?

Meh.  

they need to replace Ray

[That Aud Smell]

Happy trails, Rick.

And a stick tap to @darksabre for real love and RJ’s voice being a part of his soul. Same.

[PASabreFan]

6 hours ago, Eleven said:

He was great.

Come on.  You're not old enough to really remember Healey!

Taro's knowledge spans all epochs, it is timeless, endless and bottomless.

[Taro T]

6 hours ago, Eleven said:

He was great.

Come on.  You're not old enough to really remember Healey!

Remember Chuck more as Channel 4's primary sports anchor and Strikes, Spares, and Misses host; didn't watch all that much basketball but did watch a few of their games on Channel 4.  

He didn't retire until the late '70's and the parents always watched the evening news on Channel 4, though usually caught the 11 o'clock on channel 7.  (Still remember seeing the guy stuck on the flagpole at City Hall that Eyewitness News decided to show.  Don't know if that would make it on the air or not nowadays.)

[LTS]

I grew up loving Ted Darling.  I had no love for RJ.  There was something about his voice on the radio that initially just turned me off.  I couldn't deal with it.

Then, you rifle through a slew of just absolute PBP hacks.. and they adopt the dual-broadcast... RJ is suddenly my favorite.  Now, I can't imagine a game without him and I don't want to.  I don't dislike others that have done the job and I am sure, at some point, I will come to grips with RJ not calling games, even with his mistakes these days. But for me, RJ is to PBP and the Sabres to what Anthony Bourdain was to me for travel/culture/food TV.  It's in their sincerity and their delivery, it's how real they are.

I would rather hear a Sabres game with no announcer, than someone other than RJ at this point.  

I do have one hope, that when players have something extremely emotional and tangible to play for there tends to be a way to get more out of themselves than usual. I would hope, hope like hell, that whomever is on the roster next season finds a way to dig deep and give RJ a proper season.

 

[Broken Ankles]

15 hours ago, Taro T said:

It'll be sad seeing him step away full time, but IMHO it would be even sadder for him to go out as Van Miller did - a true shell of himself.

We can't have all 3 announcing legends leave after they significantly passed their prime.  (Fortunately for Chuck Healey, the Braves left before he went to pot.)

I fear it’s already too late.   The broadcast, like the product on the ice is lacking.   As noted by others, Ray, while a fan favorite and Sabre great does not provide superior insight and knowledge that other color analysts offer.  And Rick’s mistakes have steadily increased over the past few years.   The only improvement to the Booth I’ve seen was the addition of Marty Biron.  The  Covid epidemic coupled with his already questionable health, should be the formula for retirement. maybe come back if/when the Sabres make the playoffs as a special guest.  

[Taro T]

18 minutes ago, LTS said:

I grew up loving Ted Darling.  I had no love for RJ.  There was something about his voice on the radio that initially just turned me off.  I couldn't deal with it.

Then, you rifle through a slew of just absolute PBP hacks.. and they adopt the dual-broadcast... RJ is suddenly my favorite.  Now, I can't imagine a game without him and I don't want to.  I don't dislike others that have done the job and I am sure, at some point, I will come to grips with RJ not calling games, even with his mistakes these days. But for me, RJ is to PBP and the Sabres to what Anthony Bourdain was to me for travel/culture/food TV.  It's in their sincerity and their delivery, it's how real they are.

I would rather hear a Sabres game with no announcer, than someone other than RJ at this point.  

I do have one hope, that when players have something extremely emotional and tangible to play for there tends to be a way to get more out of themselves than usual. I would hope, hope like hell, that whomever is on the roster next season finds a way to dig deep and give RJ a proper season.

 

Am very much in the same boat with respect to the bolded.  And preferred it when Darling did radio games to Jeanerret.  But have come to appreciate RJ even more than Ted.  (And Ted even came to my school's 7th grade career day!  Which was very cool.)

[Huckleberry]

Last two years he has been making mistakes , and they have been heard by many of us during games.    One more year of RJ seems fine for me.

Let him enjoy retirement and if we do end up in a stanley cup final have him come back for it ?

Edited April 11, 2020 by Huckleberry

[Tondas]

22 hours ago, nfreeman said:

So it’s probably going to be Dunleavy, right?

Meh.  

A while back, Dunleavy's made a cryptic comment about broadcasting his last game of the season?  It made it sound like he was leaving.  Or did I misinterpret his comment?

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, Tondas said:

A while back, Dunleavy's made a cryptic comment about broadcasting his last game of the season?  It made it sound like he was leaving.  Or did I misinterpret his comment?

That's how I read it.

[Eleven]

8 hours ago, LTS said:

I grew up loving Ted Darling.  I had no love for RJ.  There was something about his voice on the radio that initially just turned me off.  I couldn't deal with it.

Then, you rifle through a slew of just absolute PBP hacks.. and they adopt the dual-broadcast... RJ is suddenly my favorite.  Now, I can't imagine a game without him and I don't want to.  I don't dislike others that have done the job and I am sure, at some point, I will come to grips with RJ not calling games, even with his mistakes these days. But for me, RJ is to PBP and the Sabres to what Anthony Bourdain was to me for travel/culture/food TV.  It's in their sincerity and their delivery, it's how real they are.

I would rather hear a Sabres game with no announcer, than someone other than RJ at this point.  

I do have one hope, that when players have something extremely emotional and tangible to play for there tends to be a way to get more out of themselves than usual. I would hope, hope like hell, that whomever is on the roster next season finds a way to dig deep and give RJ a proper season.

 

This is very well written, LTS.  I, too, preferred Darling to Jeanneret when I was little.  He was on TV!  TV was the pinnacle, right?

But when it came to bedtime, there was no TV.  It was the late 1970s and early 1980s, and televisions in bedrooms were a luxury for parents.  We kids didn't have them (unless we were really really sick, like chicken pox or something, in which case the portable B&W came in).  But radios were ok, so I grew up with Jeanneret.  Well, until Mom came in shut off the radio and took the earphone out.

True story:  I thought the Bruins had a player named "Dork."

[gomper]

On 4/10/2020 at 9:29 PM, OverPowerYou said:

Paul Hamilton did a few games and I thought he was great. 

Please. Why not bring in Kevin Sylvester while your at it. Pegs should just write a  monster check to Chris Cuthbert and be done with it.

[nfreeman]

14 hours ago, Tondas said:

A while back, Dunleavy's made a cryptic comment about broadcasting his last game of the season?  It made it sound like he was leaving.  Or did I misinterpret his comment?

 

12 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

That's how I read it.

Interesting.  I must've missed it.

[Zamboni]

10 hours ago, gomper said:

Please. Why not bring in Kevin Sylvester while your at it. Pegs should just write a  monster check to Chris Cuthbert and be done with it.

Agree. Hamilton is a terrrrrrible PxP and so was K-Sly. Just awful. 
I was hoping they could find a mid to late 20’s diamond in the rough. I personally want an enthusiastic young RJ/Robitaille type.