Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
No issue if he is slow to call the play. My issue is with his complete love affair with McDavid.
I get the guy is good, but he isn't so far above everyone else this year that you simply don't talk about a single different player during the entire course of the game.
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Someone brought this up in another Bob Cole related thread, but Bob Cole calls the play from the perspective of who the person made the play. He doesn't have favorites; it just seems that way when you're losing. The other team's kicking #### out of yours, and his call is indicative of that.
If Gio makes a great play to break up a 2-on-1, Bob Cole is excited from Gio's POV. If it sounds like Cole is falling all over himself praising McDavid, it's because McDavid is doing a whole lot to take notice of. Which he is.
This man called Paul Henderson's goal on the radio. He has witnessed the careers of Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux, Sakic, Yzerman, Jagr, Ovechkin, Crosby, Bure, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Bourque, Roy, Hasek, Brodeur, all of them. Bob Cole was at most of the defining moments of their careers. He's seen all of that and he's in awe of Connor McDavid. Because of course he is. I'm in awe of Connor McDavid. I've never seen a hockey player who scared me if he touched the puck anywhere on the ice. If McDavid has the puck, the other team is not safe. It's tough to find that.
It's not like Cole calls a ton of Edmonton games, or has the chance to watch that many. He's 85 years old, he spends the week in Newfoundland, which is three and a half hours ahead of us. It's possible he wakes up and cues the western games on his tablet, but I doubt it.
Kevin Quinn and Drew Remenda watch Connor McDavid every night. Jim Hughson is a star####er. For most guys, I agree there's no need to pump his tires with every spare ounce of dead air.
You know Bob Cole hasn't been handed some directive from Kevin Lowe or MacT to talk the kid up. Nobody's telling him what to say. He loves the game, and he calls it like he sees it.
I will admit, that this most recent game was not Cole's strongest. Hamonic/Hanifin gave him a ton of trouble, and he was mixing up a lot of things. It was the first time in a while I found it truly distracting. But again, 85. He's gonna have off nights.
But oh, that voice.
Both my grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side have/had Alzheimer's/dementia. Barring a cure, I fully expect to lose my mind in about 40 years. As the disease progresses, patients can think they're back in their 20s, or teen years, since those are the only memories they can access.
If for some reason someone manages to place me in an Alzheimer's ward, I'll want the 2002 Gold medal game on loop. To fall asleep every night in hopes that 'surely, that's gotta be it'.