Lorentz on the genius of Rick: Jim comes close to nailing it

[PASabreFan]

I've always bristled a bit when the praise heaped on Rick focuses on his wild goal calls and fight calls. His passion. His energy. You know what everyone says. All valid, of course. But the top line praise should be his ability to bring a game to life during the mundane moments, the 99.9% of what comprises a hockey game. Rick's baseline temperature was always high, sure, say about 99.8. We got used to icings and offsides sounding exciting (which, of course, to a real fan, they were, and are). What we all really learned, of course, was to listen for the feverish spikes. 100.5 vs. flat out 105.1. You listened and you had the same command of the flow of the game as those in the arena or watching on TV. Remarkable.

Jim told Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald: “What always amazed me was he could turn an ordinary game and turn it into a very exciting game, and to me, that’s a real gift of a broadcaster.... People tend to gravitate toward all the great calls, and there’s so many of them, but for me, I look at the full body of work, and it was just superb, night after night of excellence."

I hope tonight they play two and a half minutes of the back and forth of a Sabres-Bruins playoff game from 1993. No goals, no fights. Just the to and fro and pushes and pulls and, yes, the dump ins and still not outs.

[Weave]

He painted a picture like no other.  I could envision the play in my head during the years he was at his peak.

[JustOneParade]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I've always bristled a bit when the praise heaped on Rick focuses on his wild goal calls and fight calls. His passion. His energy. You know what everyone says. All valid, of course. But the top line praise should be his ability to bring a game to life during the mundane moments, the 99.9% of what comprises a hockey game. Rick's baseline temperature was always high, sure, say about 99.8. We got used to icings and offsides sounding exciting (which, of course, to a real fan, they were, and are). What we all really learned, of course, was to listen for the feverish spikes. 100.5 vs. flat out 105.1. You listened and you had the same command of the flow of the game as those in the arena or watching on TV. Remarkable.

Jim told Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald: “What always amazed me was he could turn an ordinary game and turn it into a very exciting game, and to me, that’s a real gift of a broadcaster.... People tend to gravitate toward all the great calls, and there’s so many of them, but for me, I look at the full body of work, and it was just superb, night after night of excellence."

I hope tonight they play two and a half minutes of the back and forth of a Sabres-Bruins playoff game from 1993. No goals, no fights. Just the to and fro and pushes and pulls and, yes, the dump ins and still not outs.

Great call @PASabreFan. The game last night was blacked out for me on ESPN+ so I listened to the first period on the radio. Got absolutely none of what you described in your first paragraph. I realize it can't be the same as listening to RJ but still. It was so hard to listen to that I turned it off.

[Marvin]

Quoting Hockey Stars again: Rick could "...make a boring game sound exciting and an exciting game sound like a life-or-death struggle."

As @PASabreFan said in another thread and as @Weave says here, it was like he announced the game and what he saw was converted by the circuitry, transmitted by the radio waves, reassembled by my radio, emitted through the air into my ear and became this crystal clear picture in my head.  No one else has his gift.  I am honored and humbled to have partaken in it.

[PASabreFan]

2 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Quoting Hockey Stars again: Rick could "...make a boring game sound exciting and an exciting game sound like a life-or-death struggle."

As @PASabreFan said in another thread and as @Weave says here, it was like he announced the game and what he saw was converted by the circuitry, transmitted by the radio waves, reassembled by my radio, emitted through the air into my ear and became this crystal clear picture in my head.  No one else has his gift.  I am honored and humbled to have partaken in it.

If Rick ever said left post or right post, I'd be shocked. It was post. Or pipe. Did it matter which post? No, but I saw it.

[Andrew Amerk]

“STILL not out!”

In my head, I could see the puck moving along the boards like a wounded duck, and being held in by the opposing defense. I could see the Sabres players on the ice starting to get tired. 

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Andrew Amerk

[JustOneParade]

3 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

“STILL not out!”

In my head, I could see the puck moving along the boards like a wounded duck, and being held in by the opposing defense. I could see the Sabres players on the ice starting to get tired. 

 

I used to call it the RJ Drinking Game. Every time RJ uttered that phrase you had to do a shot. Blind by the first intermission most nights.