Doc Emrick Retires

(Photo: Getty)

This wasn't the post I was going to write today. 

That idea has been "WAFFLEBOARDED AWAY!"

That's the funny thing about play-by-play: you can do all of the preparation in the world and it can all fall apart.

The same goes for talk shows and, to an extent, writing. You've prepared to do something else but you have to be ready to adjust.

A play-by-play announcer has made me adjust today, as Doc Emrick -- the best hockey announcer I've heard and one of the top play-by-players ever -- has announced his retirement.

Mike "Doc" Emrick had a long career, calling 22 Stanley Cup Finals, among many other accomplishments. He was also known for calling Devils games, as well as Flyers games, along with being a backup on Rangers radio broadcasts in the 1980s.

He earned his nickname upon receiving a Ph.D. from Bowling Green University but he brought a studious presence, a quick wit, and great humanity to the National Hockey League.

Smart? He essentially created and updated the NHL's pronunciation guide.  I usually kept a copy nearby in case I needed it for the morning sports reports on WGCH.

He also famously used 153 different ways to describe passes in a single game.

While all of us in the play-by-play biz should shoot for originality, I can't deny that a few "Doc-isms" snuck into my descriptions.

Every time I say "corralled," I can't help but think of Doc. Or, where Doc would count down the end of a penalty or a period, I would do something similar. Doc might say "down to two and one and the penalty expires," I might utter "the period is down to three and two and horn sounds..."

Last one: Every time I say, "One hundred seconds remaining in the period/quarter," or, "Down to the final 100 seconds," well you get the idea.

Guilty as charged.

How could one not? Truly, to not like Doc Emrick, it means you're a fan who thought he was biased against your team or you simply didn't like his style. Bias-wise, I'll always point you to his work in Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. 

As for style, well, I can't help you there.

He didn't go for exaggeration. He reacted. There was true joy and amazement when he would see a great save or a great play, thus his "My goodness!" or "What chaos!" exclamations in particular moments.

He would chortle with glee during those moments as well. You could tell he was in his element.

You could hear it when he'd cry out on a shot that "rings off the pipe!"

He brought a sense of humor (he and Bill Clement lose their minds during the Easter Epic in 1987).

And, like Vin and other greats, he knew how to report and get out of the way, whether to allow analysis to break the play down or to let the crowd fill in.

When you'd expect him to lose his marbles over the team winning the Stanley Cup, Doc would sometimes simply say "the (team) wins the Stanley Cup" in a mostly understated manner. It had a sense of poetry and of timing. He did this when the Bruins won the Cup.

He did more than the NHL, by the way. He did Olympic hockey (men's and women's), the NFL (that's him on Brett Favre's debut), college basketball, Olympic water polo, and his other favorite sport: baseball.

He still did exemplary work from his Michigan home during the Stanley Cup Finals but not being there hurt him. I would have preferred to have him do one more year under "normal" circumstances but Doc is smart enough that he might be telling us that "normal" is a long way off and, more to the point: he has nothing left to prove.

Doc Emrick is 74 years old. He has his beloved wife, dogs, and horses. He will stay at NBC Sports to do some writing and video essays.

But the travel drags after a while. Vin Scully could tell you that.

Too many hotel rooms and planes and bus rides. Too much room service and hotel restaurants. Most of all, more often that not, no family. Intense loneliness.

I've never met Vin Scully and have only been in the same building as him once to my knowledge (1985, Yankee Stadium). However, I have a personal account with Doc.

Again, it was at Yankee Stadium (the new one). I was there for the Stadium Series game between the Rangers and Devils. I had a media credential, but I had actually been assigned to a conference room with a view of 161st St and a TV monitor.

Frankly, it was bull, and Paul Silverfarb agreed. To that end, I met up with him in the main press box.

"I was waiting for you," he said. "I just saw Doc Emrick."

I'm no stalker but, sure, it would have been nice. I'd eventually see his partner, the great Eddie Olczyk, in the media dining room as well as Kenny Albert, Linda Cohn and on and on. Pretty cool, no doubt.

Paul found an empty seat next to him in the main press box as we watched the Rangers wallop the rivals from New Jersey. They knocked Martin Brodeur out of the game, and even scored a penalty shot from left to right in my view from behind home plate.

The game ended and, as Paul and I made our way to the elevator, I noticed a shorter man with white hair and glasses.

Doc. The hockey GOAT.

I held the elevator door open.

"Thank you," he said in the perfect voice of his.

"You're welcome, Doc," I replied.

He looked at me and smiled. He and Eddie O were talking about needing a car to whisk them away from the Bronx.

I had a brush with greatness.

Doc Emrick is hockey broadcasting in the United States. Canadians will argue other voices, of course, as they're passionate and protective of such things. Up north, they'll speak of Bob Cole, Danny Gallivan, Jim Hughson, and Foster Hewitt (who essentially invented hockey play-by-play).

Here in the States, we'll tell you about Fred Cusick, Gary Thorne, Dan Kelly, Jiggs McDonald, Sam Rosen and some others.

There's only one Doc.

He's my number one.

He's probably in my top five of any play-by-play announcer, with Mel Allen, Red Barber, Dick Enberg and (duh) Vin.

He's that good.

If you had the pleasure of hearing him, smile because you did. If you didn't, we're blessed to have plenty of examples on the interwebs.

He now sashays away to Michigan. We can only hope he pitchforks back so we can hear him ladle his writing and audio essays to us.

We'll be waiting.

Thanks, Doc. 

My goodness but I will miss the chaos that you brought into my world so many times.