Doc Emrick, Pittsburgh, and Jordan Staal

God knows enough has been written about Doc Emrick in the last couple of days. The broadcasting legend called it a career earlier this week, riding off into retirement bliss at 74 years young. If the situation was judged by the temperature on Twitter, you would have thought he died sword fighting an actual COVID monster at the top of some mountain while Enya played.

Most Yinzers know that Doc is an avid Pirates fan, notably trying to sneak in a reference anytime he is calling a Penguins game. He called just one baseball game in his career - a Pirates 8-4 victory over the Cubs. Doc famously said it was such a perfect experience he'd never call another game again. Nice way to say it bored him out of his skull.

The point is...Doc always sort of felt like he wanted to be a Yinzer. That's an incredibly self-centered thing to say considering his gregarious nature made him feel like every hockey fan's grandpa. But damn, did that son of a bitch sure sound extra excited on some of those 2009 goal calls.

I've written about hockey fandom and the bandwagon before - but just to quickly reiterate, I didn't begin living and dying with the Pens until 2006 - 2007. Doc took the lead on Versus / NHL on NBC in 2005, so his manic screams are the only soundtrack to the biggest Penguins goals of my lifetime. Doc is a goddam legend, and I don't care what some of my other moronic friends or jaded bloggers say. In his honor, a handful of highlights from my favorite game he ever called - The 2009 SCF Game 4 vs. Detroit (plus a couple others for good measure).

Jordan Staal, 2009 SCF Game 4 (Shorthanded): This blog will be one of many where I find an excuse to post my favorite Penguins goal of all time. Good job by Edzo - he waits a full 30 seconds after Doc's SCORE!!! to start talking again, letting the weight of the moment settle in. Mellon Arena nearly exploded as black-and-gold Woodstock took place just outside it's gates. No Cup without this goal from Staal. Monumental.

Tyler Kennedy, 2009 SCF Game 4: Tic-tac-toe, bitch. Again, Doc's mounting exuberance as the play develops is first-class. Kennedy punches the puck away from Zetty at the blue line, and Doc knows what's about to happen. TK took a lot of shit over the years but that MF'er brought it in a few big games, man.

Crosby from Malkin (The Goal) 2009 SCF Game 4: On second thought, maybe this one is my favorite ever. You can hear Emrick's boner hit the underside of the table as Malkin crosses the blue line with Sid on a 2-1. Tough call for Doc since the initial pass was blocked, but he buttered that biscuit no problem.

There is so much happening in this clip. Letang spearing Crosby and terrifying everyone. Osgood throwing up his stick on the net at 0:25 as if to say "How the fuck am I supposed to stop these guys?" The Troy Crosby stone face at 0:27. What a moment. And even though Doc is the focus of this blog - it's Edzo of all people that delivers the chills at 1:07 as the camera switches to Fifth Ave pandemonium: "And I gotta think Detroit's gotta slow this game down, Doc. If you're Mike Babcock, slow the game down, maybe use your timeout. *8 second pause* Because right now.........everybody is out of their seat...there's momentum, there's belief...going on here...in Game 4." Hoo baby.

Kunitz Double OT Winner - ECF Game 7 2017: Hey - remember what winning in the playoffs felt like? Remember when Ottawa was somehow good that one year? Remember when we had multiple clutch veteran wingers? Somewhere....Ryan Whitney weeps.

"PENGUINS WIN IT - AND THEY GO TO THE FINAL!" Maybe not Doc's most creative overtime call of all time, but a glorious one nonetheless.

Sheary OT Winner SCF Game 2 2016:

That series was way too easy, man. What are the Sharks doing these days? At least help is on the way with Marleau.

Great catch on that pass from Sheary. I'm pretty sure everyone claimed this was a "set play" by Crosby/Letang, which sounds nice but is probably some rumor Josh Yohe made up after the fact. Either way - simpler times.

Crosby OT Winner ECF Game 2: OK, so I admittedly didn't see this one when Doc called it. That's because I was at the game, bub. When Crosby scored, the booze and ecstacy of the moment combined to cause a 10 second blackout, but I remember 'coming-to' on top of my friend who I had just speared into the people next to us. I'm pretty sure this is the game everyone was jammed up because Roenick said something about Crosby not working as hard as Drouin, right? Admit it - you were nervous. People remember 2016 as a cake walk, but this series had all of us shitting our pants.

Cheers, Doc. I'm sure I missed a shit ton but it's getting late and I can't be this fired up before bed. If COVID ever fucks off, I'm sure we'll see you at PNC for a Pirates blow-out loss and Primanti's cheesesteak. Just don't bring Pierre.