Thursday was Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. One of the opening day games was between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. Former Detroit Tiger (and personal favorite of mine) Curtis Granderson hit a home run to right field. The next day I heard John Sterling’s radio call of the homer and Sterling referred to him as the “Grandy Man”. The video here is how he sounded like saying it but it wasn’t the actual call from Thursday.
So I set out to find someone in hockey who is like John Sterling, with wacky, entertaining broadcasting calls. I am a big fan of broadcasters like Sterling, guys such as Rod Allen (Detroit Tigers television), Dan Miller (Detroit Lions Radio) and Gus Johnson (CBS football and basketball). And the guy who is unique in his own in the hockey world is Randy Moller of the Florida Panthers.
I understand I am late to the party learning and writing about Moller, but as someone who only sees the Panthers television broadcasts and not radio, this was a good discover. Moller has been the voice of the Panthers for four seasons. He has been with the organization longer as he’s held varions media and broadcasting roles including Vice President of Broadcasting and Alumni. He has spent 13 years in the NHL as a player where he played for Quebec, New York Rangers, Buffalo, and Florida. In 815 games, he was known more for his penalties than putting the puck in the net. He scored 45 goals, 180 assists and recording 1692 penalty minutes. For those keeping score at home, he averaged a minor penalty every game.
As for his goal call, after he screams “HE SCORES!”, he will chime in with a different music, movie, or popular culture reference. For example, when the Panthers scored he said “Pour some sugar on me”, in reference to the Def Leppard song. Other references he has said after goals include rap music “L.A. face with an Oakland booty”, movies “It’s in the hole!”, and television commercials “I’m on a horse.”
Last March, he did an interview with San Jose television station KPIXwhere he talked about his goal call. He said the origin came from the afternoon drive show on the flagship station with Dan LeBatard, where he asked Moller if a fan could suggest a goal call for him. After it caught fire and became viral, it sorta stuck. He has repeated a call only once and that was because he forgot he already used it. One thing he won’t share is his goal call should the Panthers ever get to the Stanley Cup finals and the Cup-winning goal is scored. By the way it looks for the Panthers, he might be taking that to his grave.
For your viewing pleasure, here are a collection of his best goal calls in segments, courtesy of the Dan LeBatard show.
Part One– where my personal favorite is “Who is your daddy and what does he do” from the movie Kindergarten Cop.
Part Two– where my personal favorites are “We got ourselves a bleeder!” from the movie There’s Something About Mary and “Oh My God They Killed Kenny” from the television show South Park.
Part Three– where my personal favorites are “Beyonce had one of the greatest music videos of all time,” when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards and “Bow to your sen-sei” from the movie Napoleon Dynamite.
Part Four– where my personal favorites are “Pants on the ground, Pants on the ground” from American Idol and “You are not the father” from the television talk show Maury.
