Mike Lange has been the voice of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey since his arrival to the Steel City in 1974. The Sacramento native arrived in Pittsburgh after spending time in the Western Hockey League with the San Diego Gulls and the Phoenix Roadrunners. After his first season in Pittsburgh, he left to call Washington Diplomats soccer for one season and then returned to Pittsburgh the next season and has been with the team ever since. Mike was the lead voice on Penguins radio and television broadcasts from 1975 to 2006. He was briefly replaced by Paul Steigerwald after his contract was not renewed, but returned in 2006 to once again call the Penguins on the radio, pairing with former Penguin Phil Bourque on the broadcasts.
Mike has also called NHL games for the ESPN network while also calling Pittsburgh Pirates baseball on cable television. He also appeared in the Jean Claude Van Damme action movie Sudden Death alongside Paul Steigerwald, appearing as himself in 1995. He won the Foster Hewitt Award for excellence in hockey broadcasting in 2001.
Mike is one of the most unique personalities to ever call a sporting event because of his use of colorful expressions to describe what he sees on the ice. This approach is wildly popular with Pittsburgh hockey fans in particular and hockey fans in general. Some of these colorful phrases include " Scratch my back with a hacksaw, " "Get in the fast lane, Grandma, this bingo game's ready to roll", " He beat him like a rented mule", " Michael, Michael, motorcycle", and "Eddie Spaghetti" to name just a few.
Here are some of these vintage calls of Mike in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXSzyQtWmhE
And a clip of Mike calling Pittsburgh's Game 7 win at Detroit to clinch the Stanley Cup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU0rIy5Zhhg
To tune in to Mike on the call of Penguins games, their flagship station is 105.9 FM in Pittsburgh (WXDX). The stations on the Penguins radio network can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Penguins_Radio_Network
You can also search for and tune in to these stations on the TuneIn Radio app for your mobile devices.
No comments:
Post a Comment