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#3 retired for Magnuson and Pilote

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by writing irish, Nov 11, 2008.

  1. Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.

    Corky Ramirez up on 94th St. Well-Known Member

    there's an biopic I'd like to see: The Life and Times of Derek Sanderson.

    Check this out:

    A treat is listening to John Peirson, who soon teamed up with Fred Cusick to provide one of the best broadcast duos in any professional sport. Going through the clips, there are lots of clips from WSBK TV-38.

    I think it's safe to say the Bruins and Blackhawks were not best of friends in 1970.
     
  2. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    It was the start of the "Big Bad Bruins" era - they had no friends at all in 1970.
     
  3. Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.

    Corky Ramirez up on 94th St. Well-Known Member

    If I could go back in time, I'd have season tickets to the Boston Garden between 1969-85.

    Just going through some of the clips on youtube, it seems like there was a fight a night during that era.

    Makes you wonder what the NHL would be like if it still was just a 12-team league.
     
  4. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member



    No, I didn't. He had and has my respect, but he doesn't belong in the same phrase as the other four.
     
  5. Clerk Typist

    Clerk Typist Guest

    Peirson was amazing. Low-key but spot-on. Love the line in one clip about "more than the required number of players on the ice." First to use a telestrator during a period, rather than intermission, and did so on the fly. Ran a furniture store (or chain of them) in real life, and always seemed to miss the start of the playoffs because he was at a furniture trade show or something.
     
  6. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Funny thing about Johnny Bower.

    He is probably the most beloved ex-Leaf. Kids whose parents weren't born when he played all know about him.

    He is, by all accounts (I think Flash may have interviewed him) a genuinely nice man.

    Lives in a modest neighbourhoold in Mississauga, just outside of Toronto. Has a park named after him which he goes to every day and picks up any litter.

    He also has a new book.

    And I just remembered I was going to go to an autographing last night for it. Damn.

    http://www.amazon.ca/China-Wall-Timeless-Legend-Johnny/dp/1551683504/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226602469&sr=8-1
     
  7. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Upon reading some of the posts here, I suspect I have relied too much on the accounts of 1970s Chicago partisans regarding Magnuson, his play and overall worth. Perhaps he was, in fact, a douche and/or a liability.

    Oh well. I became a sentient hockey fan right at the end of Magnuson's career and fell in love with the team- as only a 10-year-old boy can- when he was head coach. The Magnuson of my pre-adolescent days is more of a symbol than a man...a personification of Old Time Hockey as played in Chicago. That mythic Magnuson can exist side-by-side in my mind- harmoniously- with the real Magnuson, who seems less admirable.

    Perhaps it's fitting that the Hawks lost to the B's in a shootout on Pilote/Magnuson night.
     
  8. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    I've mentioned this before but the Hawk's David Bolland is a Mimico guy. His family lives around the corner from The Goose.

    Chicago's in town at the end of the month. David will probably have to buy forty or fifty tickets.
     
  9. Fly

    Fly Well-Known Member

    I can attest to the fact that JB is a genuinely nice man. He has been wonderful to me in our several meetings, including at said Missy home. Don't recall his playing days, unfortunately, as I came along just at the tail end of his career. Just don't let him drive on the 401 while you are in the same car.
     
  10. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    Bower, improbably, also had a hit record in 1965: "Honky the Christmas Goose" went to No. 29 on the all-important CHUM chart, which was THE music chart in Canada for a long, long time.

    I can't think of a more popular athlete in the city's history, other than maybe Mike "Pinball" Clemons of the Toronto Argonauts.

    Here's something weird, for those who believe coincidences are based in something a little deeper than chance - the same week Bower's single peaked on CHUM, a Montreal rock band was also peaking with its first hit single. "Poor Anne" by J.B. and the Playboys, which is really a great song, stopped at No. 45.

    The lead singer of J.B. and the Playboys later became more famous as an actor. His name is Allan Nicholls, and he played Chiefs captain Johnny Upton in "Slap Shot." True story. :)
     
  11. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Remember Honky well.

    And here it is:

    http://honkythechristmasgoose.ytmnd.com/
     
  12. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Never met the man, but he was the epitome of cool in an era when hockey players weren't necessarily that.

    Own an official copy of his 1960-61 contract, signed by commissioner
    Clarence Campbell and Hawk GM Tommy Ivan . . . suspect it's the one from the Blackhawk files,
    from that time. Won't say how much he made, but the fine print called for a munificent $500
    bonus if he scored twenty goals.

    Don't follow the NHL nearly as closely, now. Professional priorities must take precedence. But six teams and 16 men on a team . . . fantastic.
    it's still the best team sport to watch live, from a good seat, when the individual game matters.
     
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