Paul McCann: Gene Hart and Weekend Randoms

"Welcome back to the airwaves George Plaster…"

Puke. He, and the other dolts on 104.5, is the reason I got Sirius XM. Yeah, yeah yeah, he did the "Save the Preds" back in the day. And he reminds everyone of that fact every 7 seconds.

mmm...butterscotch krimpets. Gotta rub em on your jeans to keep the icing from sticking to the wrapper.

Let's not forget Lou Nolan, Dave Zinkoff and Dan Baker.

Paul McCann: Gene Hart and Weekend Randoms
- pmccann

Paul, great memories of Gene Hart. I was one of the kids who he helped educate on hockey. That first decade or so of the Flyers was an incredible time, and he was a big part of it

"Welcome back to the airwaves George Plaster…"

Puke. He, and the other dolts on 104.5, is the reason I got Sirius XM. Yeah, yeah yeah, he did the "Save the Preds" back in the day. And he reminds everyone of that fact every 7 seconds.
- FoxMulder

Same here. He wanted to talk about the most random college sports that only he seemed to care about, got old really quick on the drive home hearing that whole show.

Nice blog Paul...it brings back memories of growing up in Silicon Valley before it was called Silicon Valley and before computers as we know them had been born. Back then it was all orchards and farmland and the large employer was Lockheed, with Moffett Field Air Force/Navy base next door..with P3 subhunters, C131 cargo planes, F4 fighters and the very large and very loud C5A. The Blue Angels came every year and if you were on the 9th hole at Sunnyvale Muni they would fly 30 feet above your head.

I had a GE clock radio and would see who I could listen to around the West Coast and points south and east. I had little pen marks to listen to the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trailblazer, the then San Diego Rockets; the Lakers with Chick Hearn when Jerry West sunk a 70 foot shot at the buzzer to beat the Knicks in Game 6. For those who missed out, one of the best was Bill King who was the Voice for the Warriors and the Raiders and was a true Hall of Famer. One night, while broadcasting a contentious Warriors/Supersonics game in which he was greatly perturbed by the poor officiating, a whistle blew and an angry Bill emphatically said "Time Out Warriors!! The next words the listening audience heard clear as a bell were "You Mother F***er!. After a long pause Bill intoned somewhat quietly "That was the voice of warriors coach Bill Lee." Oh the perils of live radio back then,
I was able to listen to the final Chicago Montreal regular season game in around 1971 when the Canadiens were battling the Rangers for the last playoff spot and it came down to this game where they either had to win or score 5 goals to make the playoffs. Chicago with Bobby Hull scored 5 goals in the first period and Montreal played most of the rest of the game with an empty net in a fruitless attempt to score the 5..they failed.

Joe Starkey was the last of my California Golden Seals announcers (Oh What A Bonanza! was his catch phrase. He's best known as the voice of the Cal Bears football team and everyone should listen to the last 5 minutes of his call (and the refs review) of The Play (Oh! The band is out on the field!)..one of the 3 greatest calls of all time radio. I smile and pump my fist and say Yes! every time I see or hear that call.

Baseball was Russ Hodges (There's a long fly ball, it's gonna be, I believe..The Giants Win the Pennant! The Giants Win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant!...the 3rd best call in all of sports) and Lon Simmons with his dry with for my now 3 time World Series Champion Giants. But you couldnt miss Vin Scully with Jerry Doggett for the Dodgers and Richard Enberg with Don Drysdale with the Angels..especially when Nolan Ryan was pitching. I still have that clock radio....Great Memories, Thanks Paul

Oh, the best call ever? "Do You Believe in Miracles? Yesss!! I still get goosebumps to that call every time I hear (along with a fist pump or two.)

Paul McCann: Gene Hart and Weekend Randoms
- pmccann

Very nicely done Paul. Thanks!

And also thanks for the excellent post hockeygm.

Moments like these help define why we are sports fans. I'm glad there are those like many of you who remember everything so well (hi to Pete Weber too) and remind us of what's been forgotten or was never known before.

Thank you for the Gene Hart post... it was wonderful. Growing up in the Philly area myself and still a fan of the teams, I realize now how lucky we were to have such great announcers all at one time and for such a long time.

Same here. He wanted to talk about the most random college sports that only he seemed to care about, got old really quick on the drive home hearing that whole show.
- Hockeytown4life

Ditto