It’s not time to hang up Mike
Lange recalls magical moments, but eager for Penguins to make more
Like the rest of us, legendary Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange is going a little stir crazy these days. To the point where some of his greatest characters have sprung to life, like something out of “Toy Story.”
They’re all clamoring for playoff hockey.
“Arnold Slick from Turtle Creek is kind of [ticked] off,” Lange says. “Sam and his dog are going thirsty; they need a drink. The monkey’s gone nuts. I might want to sell that monkey now. And Elvis, I need to iron his clothes again. We gotta get things going. I can’t just put ’em all in the trunk.”
Meantime, Lange is keenly aware of the health risks at hand.
He turned 72 March 3 and had a major bout with pneumonia last spring. He still succumbs to the occasional cigarette, but his iconic baritone, while admittedly “not as pristine” as it once was, sounds gameready over the phone.
Lange vows to be primed for the next faceoff, be it this season or next. He has reduced his schedule to
mostly home games but has no plans to hang up the “Mike” anytime soon. Next season would mark his 46th with the Penguins and 50th in hockey.
“I have a contract that goes year to year, by my choice,” he says. “That makes it simple. It serves me well, and I think it serves them well. It’s been like this for a number of years. Next year, we’ll talk again. As long as I’m healthy enough and feel like I’ve got the wherewithal and the brain to go with it — that’s an important part — and the voice, I’ll keep doing it as long as they’ll have me.”
I wondered if Lange might engage in an exercise designed to cheer up hockeyhungry Penguins fans. How about picking five special moments (no particular order) from his career?
He quickly obliged, enthused to the point where he called back with a sixth.
Off we go …
• First game: (Lange replaced a man named Joe Starkey, no relation to yours truly): “This one will always stand out. It was [Oct. 9] 1974, the Met Center in Minneapolis, over on KDKA radio. I was a little nervous that night. In those days, the games were basically on the radio, not on TV, and it went to 38 states and a lot of Canada, something like 50,000 watts. I can remember Pierre Larouche scoring his first NHL goal on a breakaway against Cesare Maniago, and we were off and running. That one felt good.”
• Mario in Mt. Lebanon:
“This one might surprise you, but I would think it’s certainly in my top five. We had a ‘Black-and-Gold Night’ at Mt. Lebanon, training camp of Mario’s rookie year. Intrasquad scrimmage. The Pirates were playing the Cubs at Three Rivers, and the Cubs had a chance to clinch [their division]. It was drizzly and cold. They had around 3,500 that night. Well, we had close to that many wanting to see Mario for the first time up close and personal. I’ll never forget it. People from everywhere trying to get a glimpse of the big boy. He simply transformed the franchise.”
• Flying with the Cup: “I think the arrival from Minneapolis that night [May 25, 1991, after the Penguins won their first Stanley Cup] was the most eye-opening experience any of us ever had. I remember during the flight [thenGM] Craig Patrick telling us we wouldn’t be able to get to our cars because of the crowds. Yeah, right. Well, he comes back later and announces, ‘I’m dead serious. We’re not going to be able to get to our cars. There’s 25 to 40,000 people waiting for us, and the Parkway is closed.’ Then it hit home. He’s serious. They were all lined up when we landed. We celebrated with them. Then they put us on school buses. People rocked the buses and climbed on top. Just that moment of coming home and seeing the joy on the faces, and seeing the players, too, just beside themselves. It was amazing.”
• Mario’s comeback: [He scored 10 minutes into his return game, Dec. 27, 2000] “I never expected Mario to come back, ever. Even when I was told he was talking about coming back, I went, ‘Are you sure?’ Lo and behold, there he was. You know what the arena was like. It was deafening, to say the least. I had to go into regular-game mode and call the game, but he did what he did so many times: He just stopped me in my tracks. He had the unique ability to know the moment, feel the moment and take the moment. He did all of it that night.”
• Badger Bob tribute: [The day after their beloved coach died of brain cancer, the
Penguins held a 10-minute pregame ceremony Nov. 27, 1991. Fans were given battery-operated candles, which illuminated the arena as a soloist sang “The Lord’s Prayer” followed by Linda Ronstadt’s “Goodbye, My Friend.”]: “I have never been as moved emotionally. I was usually pretty calm in calling the games and everything, but that brought me to tears. And not only me. It brought an entire building to tears. It brought the players to tears. Seriously. [Johnson’s] wife was there. The family was there. You could feel it all through your body. When I say it was ‘joyous,’ it’s because we were celebrating his life. I honestly believe they were happy tears for him and everything he brought. And those players absolutely adored him. I don’t think the players or myself knew what was coming that night, and then the lights went down. … That’s one that will never leave me.”
We finished there, or so I thought. Lange called back five minutes later …
• Sid in San Jose: “I have to talk about Sidney, because I’ve just never seen anybody handle everything as well he does. It’s incredible. I’ve told this story, but I’ll tell you again: It was after the Cup win in San Jose, and I’m late, waiting for the bus, and I see three players come out. Right behind them, the last guy out is Sid, and he’s got the Cup. So we’re waiting, and up on the ramp above us, there must be 300 fans going, ‘Let’s Go Pens!’ as loud as they could. Well, Sid goes around the bus after it arrives, walks up that ramp and lets everybody touch the Cup. I was just moved by it. They were so appreciative. I said to myself, ‘He gets it. He absolutely gets it.’ “And you know what? When we got to the hotel, there were a bunch more people cheering, and Sid was last off the bus, and he did the exact same thing.”