It is only fitting that one of the greatest play-by-play announcers in the history of sport is going to be paraded into the sunset.
Sportsnet has announced that Bob Cole will return to the broadcast booth for his final season of calling National Hockey League games.
The 85-year-old Cole will call 10 games in what will be his 50th season on Hockey Night in Canada.
The network has not revealed which games Cole will call, but we do know that his first game will be the Oct. 6 contest between Montreal and Pittsburgh.
Sadly, though, all 10 of Cole’s broadcasts will be in the first half of the season.
However, the network says a tribute is being planned in Cole’s honour, with details coming at a later date.
Cole was the voice of hockey in this country for millions of Canadians and coined some of the most memorable phrases in sports broadcasting, from his trademark “Oh baby,” to “Everything is happening,” during the 2011 Eastern Conference quarterfinal between Montreal and Boston, and, “They’re going home,” when the Broad Street Bullies literally ran the Soviet Red Army out of the Philadelphia Spectrum in 1976.
Sports announcer Bob Cole discusses his new book
Cole is one of the reasons I wanted to get into broadcasting. I wanted to be like him.
But I’m fully comfortable admitting that I will never get to Cole’s level because there is only one Bob Cole.
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