 I think a lot of people, sports fans, were taken aback when Phil Musnick of the Post reported yesterday that Doc Emmerich was going to retire. To paraphrase an old cliche, I wasn't done listening, but obviously it's Doc's choice and he seems comfortable with it. He's nice enough to join us now on the K Show. Doc, it's Michael, Don and Peter, how are you today? Michael, I'm fine and your baseball team has played more recently than mine yet again. Yes, unfortunately for you guys, too. My sad pirates did it again. They won 19 out of 60. Oh my. Not good. You're used to better in New York and so congratulations to the Yankees for pushing it as far as they did. I know it wasn't as far as they liked, but anyway, I'm doing fine and it's great hearing from you and also Don and Mr. R. So wonderful to be on with you. Usually, I don't want to make you uncomfortable. People that are at the top of their profession in our profession, Doc, sometimes are not the nicest people in the world. It's a dog eat dog world and obviously you hurt people as you climb to the top. You, incredibly enough, never did that. People love you. Forget about as a great broadcaster, they love you as a person. How much does that mean to you? Well, that they would say that is heartening. I, you know, I don't want to take that on myself as anything that I necessarily did. It's just I'm glad that they do. Let's put it that way. I'm very, very happy that they do. And I had a lot of people that were very influential to me at various times in my life, including some in New York. And one of them was named Marty Glickman, who you all undoubtedly heard of. He was he was our broadcasting coach at Sports Channel when I first joined the Devils in second time in the in the early 1990s. And, you know, there were Tuesdays with Maury that Mitch Alvam wrote and there were lunches that I had with Marty. And all we talked about was sports announcing. And he had such marvelous stories. And from those stories, you wind up learning a lot about the business, too. And so they're they're just innumerable people that have helped me along the way to stay in the business and enjoy it in these past 47 years, too. But I guess I don't have an answer or or anything that I can say about your statement. I'm very happy that people feel that way. And I thank you for bringing it up. But I don't know really what the answer is. Doc, you know, getting to know you and being around you, the thing that blows me away is your enthusiasm never wavered ever. And we're talking about a sport where the travel is ridiculous and the hours are long and the morning skates. I mean, there's a lot of things where you can kind of understand somebody showing up to work and just maybe not stop being in the right mood. You were always in a good mood. Where did that come from? I guess it was a love of the sport. And you know what? We're all fortunate to work in this business, aren't we? And I often get to talk to students in sports broadcasting classes back when we could do that in person and actually be in the classroom rather than doing virtual. And I didn't have to really share that with them because if the class was small enough, I would ask each of them to stand. And if we had time in the class and talk about the very first event of any significance that they had ever seen, a sports event. And it was amazing how much they would recall accurately about it to them and who was there, who they went with and what was most striking about it. And invariably, it would be something that would involve the colors, maybe of the field or of the uniform or something like that. But anyway, at the end of all of that, they would have the biggest smile on their face almost universally when they were talking about that. And all I would punctuate it with was, after the last person had spoken, think about doing that for 40 years and getting paid for it. And you'll still have a smile on your face like you did at the very first event. Maybe it'll be removed to the odd time when you do get tired or I did eight games in 10 days in 10 different towns at one time because I was doing devils as well as OLN and NBC games. And I don't know that that proved anything. I will tell you for sure that I know that the first game out of the eight that I did was far better than the eighth one. Because you can't beat yourself up like that and still be sharp enough to deliver something that's really of highest quality compared to the first game out of a batch like that. But the other thing that I said was, if you choose this line of work, there are upsides and downsides to it. But if you love going to work each day and having a fairly pleasant work experience, you get a good seat for the game. You get in free. You get to work with famous athletes, some of whom are really nice. And I've always been spoiled by hockey guys, Don. You know that. And twice a month you get something in the mail. And it's a really terrific way to go through life, especially if you have somebody that you go through life with that understands that that's what you enjoy doing. And so I've been lucky all the way around, but that's part of why it was easy to do what you described because I just love my job. It was a it was a great job and that NBC has allowed me to stay on and get a team jersey and do some essays and videos now and then whenever it seems necessary is nice to because it still keeps me on the squad. Well, obviously, everything that you just said in that answer, we'll talk with Doc Emmerich here on the Michael K Show. You love what you do. You enjoy the games. You're at the top of your profession. You haven't slipped at all. Was this a slam dunk decision or did you agonize over it? And do you worry that when hockey is played again, maybe next January or February that you're going to regret that you made the call? No, it's a very good question. And it's it's it went through my mind off and on as I made the decision and afterwards there is an iron five people in my life. And they've been with me for some time and they're rather quick to name. So I hope you don't mind my wife, Joyce, my brother, Dan, who lives in Indiana and is one of my greatest enthusiastic supporters. Lou Oppenheim, my business representative, Sam Flood, who for 15 years has been my boss at NBC Sports and Eddie Olchak, who for 14 years has worked alongside of me and sadly has turned me into a gambler. So not on horses, thank God, I only follow his lead on horses. But we we do do friendly wagering of 50 50 draws at these various arenas. And we did hit one night. It is described in the book, the night that we hit a Joe Lewis arena in Detroit, but all of that money that we want has been sacrificed to other 50 50 draws since. But between the second and third round of the playoffs this year, I was working from home and NBC was so wonderful to me to build a studio and to go to the extra expense. As you know, working with satellite technology, there is a there is a gap of time from what you see to what actually gets out sound wise. And they were able with technology to close that gap down to practically nothing so that it wasn't entirely wasn't noticeable, especially by the time the last two rounds were played. And I was reconnected directly to the truck in Edmonton. So it was during that time that and I realized this is a long answer was during that time that in the back of my mind were other retired people who either in the last year or years before had told me you'll know when it's time. And it was during that period of time that I really began to know. And then it was a matter of conditioning myself to make sure that not only if this is it in your mind that you don't coast your way through the conference final and the Stanley Cup final that you give it, you're all right through to the end. And so I conditioned myself to working just as hard if not harder than I ever had before because I wanted not only to be in doing that to be assured of the decision that I'd made when I passed it on to NBC a week ago, but also to feel right in my mind that I had done it the right way to finish rather than just being sloppy because I already had it in my mind what I was going to do. My wife, my business representative, two of the iron five were the first to know NBC last week and Eddie Olchak and my brother, the last two members of that group on Sunday before it happened Monday. Doc, do you know what your greatest call is? No, I have no idea. I leave that up to other people that listen to it because everyone that might have listened would have remembered something. And if it made if it made them appreciate the athletes on the field or on the ice, then that was that was my most famous call to them. So no, I don't know. I remember being in a lot of very exciting atmospheres like you guys do because you're spoiled like I am. You get you get in free and you get to go to work and a job that you enjoy and you get to in most circumstances in all of our lives, you get to listen to the roar of the crowd. And that was something that we all missed this year. And you guys will get to hear that again, hopefully sometime in the very near future, but you get all of those exciting things wrapped up in your work. And so, no, I don't I don't know what my most famous call is that depends on the person that might be listening. I just know that I've enjoyed a lot of evenings or afternoons in in the out of doors and winter classics doing this job. Well, I can tell you what was big for me, even though I grew up a double fan worshipping you. But this is such an odd game and it can't and it connected with my career is Game Seven, Vancouver, Calgary 89. All right, Joe, you remember that one and I remember watching it on sports channel. I actually bought it on VHS a few years later, so I still have it and you and JD with the call. And I said to myself, if I could ever do that for a living and be and be there because like, where's Calgary when you're growing up in Hawthorne, New Jersey might as well have been on Mars. And to be in the Saddle Dome and be in that, you know, gondola, you know, call and arrange your flame game. And I just remember thinking, God, this is this is amazing. This is and it's in the history of you. It's probably a very nondescript game because you've scored Stanley Cup files, but it was a great game to me. It's a memory emboldened in me and you and JD did a tremendous job. And and that's all I ever wanted to do after watching that game. Isn't that something? Well, I'm glad that that that example inspired you to this career. And I'm that's part of the reason that I like listening and to to there's there's one kid that's nine who lives near Cleveland. I've heard his work and with with kids that are high school age or younger. I'm always either on the phone with them, with their parents listening in or or copied on any emails. But I do I do listen to a lot. I think last August, it's usually in August when I do this, I listened to 40 of them. And of all things, not because I had anything to do with it. But one of the cassettes that I listened to one summer is is was submitted by an Alaska Aces, ECHL announcer that for the last seven years has done the Edmonton Oilers. And another of the CDs that I received. Yes, you're right. And another of the CDs I received was of a guy working in Hershey, Pennsylvania, who for the last, I think decade has done the radio call of the Washington Capitals and John Walden. And so I keep those as souvenirs because I can say I knew them when had nothing to do with them getting the job. But I I always encourage people to save their early work because they'll look back at it and smile, realizing that they've improved a lot since that time. But it was also an exciting time in their life. I occasionally how much time do we have? Oh, go, don't worry, go as long as you want. OK, I don't I don't want to run through commercials here. I occasionally will ask famous sports people about the first job they ever had. And I remember being at a baseball game in Fenway Park during the during one of the Stanley Cup playoffs two or three years ago. And Chip Kelly was there. And I said, tell me about your first ever job in coaching. And of course, what almost always what happens is a smile. And he recalled being an assistant coach at Columbia. And it was for a very modest salary. And he said, we got to eat one meal in the school. I don't know what you'd call it, cafeteria or mess hall. We got to eat one meal a day there and they let us styrofoam another one back to our room. And and he had a big smile on his face as he talked about it. And you could tell that it was a part of what matured him into the coach that he later became. But it was it was fun to look back on it. And I look at the 14 hour bus rides between Port Brown, Michigan and Des Moines, Iowa or Portland, Maine and Halifax, Nova Scotia. And I look back on them and smile because they're mentioned in the book, of course. But they're they're part of why I appreciate not only what I've been given by so many people and the opportunity, but also the fun times that occurred at the end of those trips. When you got inside a rink and in the first intermission, there was a wedding on the ice in Des Moines. Or when you got into Halifax and the game took over three hours and 30 minutes, because a guy named Chris Nyland, who I get to talk with tomorrow afternoon on his show in Montreal, decided to raise the ruckus a little bit. He later played for the Rangers and Bruins, of course, and a lot of other places you knew. Those are all things that are fun for me to recall and look back on, which I'll be doing a lot of in the weeks ahead. Now, you have a book off my account. A kid from basketball crazy Indiana became America's NHL voice. Is this pretty much your journey? The book is that what it's about? Yeah, that's a lot of it. And I hope people feel good about buying one of those books because 100 percent of whatever I get on it goes to the hands on care of animals. My wife and I are very, very much. We don't deal with a lot of big organizations, not for any reason that we don't like them. It's just that we know of a lot of circumstances in the region of Michigan, where we live that people need help with that bills or or there. There is a care of animals that needs to be helped out sometimes anonymously. And so that's what we like to do without tantrum at all. So we've just decided that the book money goes to that. And also, I've got if you've seen the storage wars, you know what one of those roll up storage places looks like? I have one of those and it's got a whole bunch of analog guides in it from way back into the 70s of almost every team until they discontinued doing the analog guides. And they're not worth very much individually, but collectively, it struck me that maybe an Islander fan might want to if I choose a platform like eBay or something, might want to spend some money on all the guides that go all the way back. And then they can look at what Lauren Henning looked like or or one of their favorites through and have in their possession all the guides from their team and then anything that I would get from doing that would go directly toward that same cause. Doc, I just want to ask one hockey question before you go. You've seen so many greats and I assume and you can correct me if I'm wrong that Gretzky is number one. But besides Gretzky, who jumps out is just the most magical players you've you've gotten to call? Yeah, Gretzky was the guys that I called. Gretzky and Mary Elamue right after him were were probably two. And then the next era, a Crosby and four electrifying performances. Maybe maybe Pavel Burry, although he never was successful in a team sport. And Alex Ovechkin now that he's one. But the players that influenced me, I think the most were ones who, though I was broadcasting at the time, I was not able to call their games were Gordy Howe and Bobby Orr. And the reason for that, I think, or revolutionized the sport in the way that a defenseman plays. And I think Gordy Howe won me over to the sport by the way he played because he had all of the elements of brawn and brains and and class like Orr and Gretzky had off the ice and being an ambassador for the sport. So those are those are among my favorites. There are so many now that are so much faster than those guys of old because skating has developed so much more. And and you guys have seen the difference. One quick one. I'll never forget sitting walking through the hallway at the spectrum in Philadelphia at a time that Bill Barber, that legendary left winger for the Philadelphia Flyers, was an assistant coach for them. And he was watching a game that was 20 years old. It was a mid 70s tape that he was playing in. It was between the Rangers and the Flyers. And it was recorded at the spectrum, just like the games that we were doing at that time in the mid 90s. And I said I watched it for a little while and he sat in the chair was watching it. And I said, you must be the telecaster or something. The game looks slow. And he said in my day, the guy who could skate stood out. Now it's the guy who can't. Yeah. And now everybody can. It's all together different now. I want to play this one game with you before we let you go. And we we just off the air. The would you game? OK. Yeah. So you're retired now. You're ready, you know, you're ready to enjoy other things in life and you get a phone call from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Doc, we want to do 50 home games in the television booth. Would you do it? No. And chapter 13 of the book tells why the one game I got to do with Bob Costas was so perfect that I would never try to replicate that again, because it was it was one of I think 19 games. The Pirates played the Cubs that year and we won and we only won four times all year. And Mark Malanson, of course, one of one of several great players to have left Pittsburgh since came in and saved the game. And and Bob let me do as much as I wanted to do, which turned out to be the middle three innings. And then he brought me on in the top of the ninth because he sensed the Pirates were going to win. And would I ever do it? No, but do I have the memory of one game working alongside him? And do I smile and recollection? I sure do. Well, you can smile tonight, guys. On game one, because a guy with pirate blood, Tyler Glass, now is getting a start for the race. Another good trade for the Pirates. I know. Yeah. Oh, my. Isn't it? There are four guys. Charlie Morton saved their bacon, didn't he? There's another one. Yeah, there are four. It's it's the pirate alums. But you could say that about a number of teams in baseball. There are a lot of guys that have gone from there. And I keep having hope and maybe someday. Now, Don, I'm going to let you have the last word on this because I know that doc means so much to you. Yeah. Well, quickly, Nancy's pacing up and down upstairs because Amazon was supposed to deliver the book. And I was going to have it on camera and they said they were going to deliver it like at three thirty and it hasn't come to the house yet. So unfortunately, up to the camera. But just if you don't get one by tomorrow, I will stand. No, I will definitely have it and I will read it cover to cover. All I would have to say is, is that. I enjoyed you as a fan. You you electrified my ears every time I watched the game, even in games where the team I was rooting for lost. I picked up as many pointers as I could, not only watching you on television, but also getting the absolute glorious opportunity to speak to you at morning skates and interviews between periods and and talking after the game. And you were always so humble and you're always so accommodating to a young guy and then a middle-aged guy and now an old guy looking for any advice that I can get on the sport and just a good conversation. So thank you, Michael, for giving me the opportunity directly to say to Doc Emmerich, thank you so much. Oh, my well, well, thank you. And thank you for the work that you continue to do. And now without any conflicts, I will get to sit at home and hear you on nights that you are on. That'll be fun for me, too. Well, please enjoy the many, many years in front of you and your wife and please do everything that you've always wanted to do, but the schedule said no. So we only wish you happiness because you've given people so much happiness. Thank you so much, Michael. I just appreciate everything you guys have done. And I thank you so much for this. Take care of yourselves. You guys do well. You work with everything. Thank you. OK. Thank you. Bye.