Is Rick on notice?

[Stoner]

Sabres VP of media and something or other Mark someone or other told Alan Pergament that as long as Rick keeps calling the games at "the same level, he'll be around."

I dunno, I found it interesting. I hope it lights a fire on Rick's pillow. If it does, and the Sabres are actually an exciting team to watch this season, we could be hearing something closer to Vintage Jeanneret.

[Randall Flagg]

I don't have much to say on that particular topic, but do you have The Athletic, PA? They did a nice article on RJ a couple days ago. 

[Eleven]

Judging from what I saw from Vogl in The Athletic this morning, RJ is going to be around as long as he can perform.  If his mind starts to slip or he loses his voice or something, he'll be done.

[Hoss]

8 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Sabres VP of media and something or other Mark someone or other told Alan Pergament that as long as Rick keeps calling the games at "the same level, he'll be around."

I dunno, I found it interesting. I hope it lights a fire on Rick's pillow. If it does, and the Sabres are actually an exciting team to watch this season, we could be hearing something closer to Vintage Jeanneret.

I don’t think this is a dig or threat, at all. I think everyone knows age changes things and RJ knows eventually he won’t be able to do this anymore. That’s all this is.

[pi2000]

9 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Judging from what I saw from Vogl in The Athletic this morning, RJ is going to be around as long as he can perform.  If his mind starts to slip or he loses his voice or something, he'll be done.

I love RJ, but there are times where it sounds like he's confused as to why something was called the way it was on the ice.     They show a replay and it looks obvious, but he just sounds lost.... you get that "watching a game with my grandfather" feeling.     I have Center Ice, and find the opposing team broadcast is much much more informative and tuned in to the game/calls, so I often go that route.   And it's interesting to hear how the rest of the league perceives the Sabres.  

[LGR4GM]

Do you write for fox news? Or at least there headlines? I am asking for a friend. 

[Doohicksie]

19 minutes ago, Hoss said:

That’s all this is.

Come on now, this is PA.  That's *never* all this is.  There's always something more to it.

[That Aud Smell]

7 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

you get that "watching a game with my grandfather" feeling.

You're right - that does happen from time to time.

And I love the experience of listening to Rick even more for it.

[Eleven]

26 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

I love RJ, but there are times where it sounds like he's confused as to why something was called the way it was on the ice.     They show a replay and it looks obvious, but he just sounds lost.... you get that "watching a game with my grandfather" feeling.     I have Center Ice, and find the opposing team broadcast is much much more informative and tuned in to the game/calls, so I often go that route.   And it's interesting to hear how the rest of the league perceives the Sabres.  

He would benefit greatly by having a real analyst next to him in the booth rather than Rob Ray in between the benches.

[pi2000]

23 minutes ago, Eleven said:

He would benefit greatly by having a real analyst next to him in the booth rather than Rob Ray in between the benches.

Yep, agree 100%.    I liked Brad May, what happened to him?

[Kruppstahl]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Judging from what I saw from Vogl in The Athletic this morning, RJ is going to be around as long as he can perform.  If his mind starts to slip or he loses his voice or something, he'll be done.

That process began several years ago.  He's nothing close to RJ at peak performance.

I agree though; as long as he doesn't slip beyond a certain level of competence, he'll be around.

For now, he can keep on doing it.

 

 

 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

No

[IKnowPhysics]

I remember reading that line in the article and knowing that PA would start a thread about it.

 

Predictable trash.

 

Rick will have this job for as long as he wants it.  My only hope is that Rick gets to call a Sabres win in the last game of the season before it's too late.

[Eleven]

50 minutes ago, Kruppstahl said:

That process began several years ago.  He's nothing close to RJ at peak performance.

I agree though; as long as he doesn't slip beyond a certain level of competence, he'll be around.

For now, he can keep on doing it.

That's a better way of putting what I was trying to say.

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

Yep, agree 100%.    I liked Brad May, what happened to him?

He got the analyst job in Las Vegas.

[TrueBlueGED]

Rick has been pretty bad for a couple of years now. If he hasn't been canned yet, I don't think there's anything to worry about. 

[Doohicksie]

45 minutes ago, Eleven said:

He got the analyst job in Las Vegas.

How could we *not* protect Brad May in the expansion draft???

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, pi2000 said:

I love RJ, but there are times where it sounds like he's confused as to why something was called the way it was on the ice.     They show a replay and it looks obvious, but he just sounds lost.... you get that "watching a game with my grandfather" feeling.     I have Center Ice, and find the opposing team broadcast is much much more informative and tuned in to the game/calls, so I often go that route.   And it's interesting to hear how the rest of the league perceives the Sabres.  

I agree.  "Vintage" RJ from a decade ago or longer is/was great. Sometimes on the game now though, there is a definite difference.  At first I didn't like Dunleavy at all, but now, I wish Dunleavy would actually be doing a few more games.

[LTS]

For the most part, since I am watching on TV, I don't mind that RJ is doing the calls.  I can see what is going on and I know when he's made a mistake.  I just don't care.

However, when I am trying to listen on the radio it's a very different story.  Dunleavy and RJ are both bad for that.  The radio requires a picture to be painted and at this point RJ's brush has lost a lot of bristles and Dunleavy is still using his fingers.

 

[pi2000]

They should let Dunleavy call the play-by-play, except for goals... let RJ do the goals... and let him jump in with the "HALFWAY! through the first period...".   

[Kruppstahl]

53 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

I love the guy, but he doesn't see the game very well anymore.  It happens, he's an old guy and I don't advocate pushing him out.  Particularly not for Dan "Milque Toast" Dunleavy. 

I hope we don't end up with a Harry Kalas situation.  That was sad.  Only upside was Harry got to see and call the Phillies winning the World Series again.  He died in the booth  preparing for a game in April of the following season.

It is common for old, famous broadcasters to stick around way too long.  They all seem to love to do it forever, and the first thing the goes is their mind.  They just lose the mental sharpness to be able to do it correctly at a certain point.

Recently we saw this play out with Bob Cole.  

Once RJ crosses that line and is flat out horrible or straight up can't do it anymore, the organization will be in a tough situation.  As much as I love RJ, I hope he retires before it gets to that point.

And boy, once RJ is gone, I am not looking forward to 20 years of Dan Dunleavy.  

You nailed it; he's milquetoast and boring.  Very competent, does his job well enough...but he just does nothing for me.  

Go to youtube and pick out your favorite brawl or "ugly incident" in Sabres history.  Those always brought out the best in RJ!  He loved that stuff!  Something from the '90s perhaps; maybe one of the brawls with Philly.  Listen to his voice, the sharpness, how connected he was to the action; the passion.  The guy was freaking fantastic. 

He's far removed from that now.  But I'll still take aging RJ over "prime" Dunleavy!

 

 

 

[Stoner]

4 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

I remember reading that line in the article and knowing that PA would start a thread about it.

 

Predictable trash.

 

Rick will have this job for as long as he wants it.  My only hope is that Rick gets to call a Sabres win in the last game of the season before it's too late.

No, he won't have the job as long as he wants it. He'll have it as long as he can stay at least at the level he's at. That's exactly what the Sabres' brass was saying. But, yes, let's live in a world where words have no meaning.

Anywho... he sounds pretty good so far.

[Stoner]

7 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

I don't have much to say on that particular topic, but do you have The Athletic, PA? They did a nice article on RJ a couple days ago. 

I don't. Was any new ground broken? Because I think I've read the same Jeanneret feature about 50 times over the years

[Randall Flagg]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

I don't. Was any new ground broken? Because I think I've read the same Jeanneret feature about 50 times over the years

I would guess not, but I haven't read much of anything on RJ ever, so I can't tell. 

[Eleven]

10 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I don't. Was any new ground broken? Because I think I've read the same Jeanneret feature about 50 times over the years

No.  It was the usual pre-season RJ fluff piece that we've seen since  about 1998. 

He's still good; he no longer is great.

But be careful what you wish for if you want him replaced.  The John Murphys and John Gurtlers are out there.

[Stoner]

21 minutes ago, Eleven said:

No.  It was the usual pre-season RJ fluff piece that we've seen since  about 1998. 

He's still good; he no longer is great.

But be careful what you wish for if you want him replaced.  The John Murphys and John Gurtlers are out there.

I don't. I'm still hopeful he can be better than he's been though. A lot of that is the team, of course.