To Absent Friends - Mike Lange

 

Legendary Pittsburgh Penguins play-by-play guy Mike Lange died yesterday at the of 76.  Yes, I said "legendary" and for once this is not an exaggeration.   A case can be made that the popularity of the Penguins as a sports franchise in Pittsburgh can be attributed to Lange every bit as much s it can be assigned to Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby. 

As my friend Fred put it on a text last night, "Lange was the last of a dying breed of announcers, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, who's allowed to be as much of an attraction to the fans as the team was. It is why people organized a parade for Bob Prince when he was fired.  Today the teams and the media outlets will not allow that - they want guys (and they are pretty much all the same guys)who will just say what the producers whisper in their earpieces."

Lange's was famous for his catchphrases, such as.....

• "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh".  Said at the beginning of each broadcast and still played over the PA system just before face-offs at PPG Paints Arena.
• "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building."  Said as the final buzzer sounded after a Pens win.
• And, of course, all of the ones after a notable play or a Penguins goal: "Oh scratch my back with a hacksaw", "You'd have to be here to believe it". "He beat him like a rented mule", "He's smiling like a butcher's dog", "Oh, he wants to sell my monkey", "Get in the fast lane, Grandma, the bingo game is about to begin", "Shave my face with a rusty razor."

I could go on, but it would be selling Mike Lange short to say that he was guy with nothing but funny taglines.  He was as good a play-by-play guy as we have ever seen in The Burgh, and he did it describing the most difficult game of all to broadcast.

I myself never had an encounter with Mike Lange, but well before I knew Linda - who we all know is a Hockey Fan Supreme and a former season ticket holder - she would often see Lange at the Civic Arena's Igloo Club during post games, and had this encounter with him at Monte Cello's Restaurant on Babcock Boulevard, sometime in the mid-2010's, which she noted on her Instagram page yesterday:

As she noted, there will never be another like him, and for Pens fans everywhere Elvis has now truly left the building.

RIP Mike Lange.