Mike Gorman's Last Year

ifmanis5

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Good write up in the Athletic/NYT by Jared Weiss.

View: https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1684277506994495493

From @TheAthletic: He temporarily went blind. Now he’s back broadcasting NBA games. Longtime Celtics broadcaster Mike Gorman opens up about his health scare and why this season will be his last. https://nyti.ms/44EsIeU

https://theathletic.com/4704413/2023/07/26/with-health-scare-behind-him-mike-gorman-is-ready-for-one-last-season-as-celtics-voice/?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes

“I was having lunch with my brother and sister and I remember distinctly looking down at my plate, putting something on my fork and then looking up,” Gorman recalled. “All of a sudden, my sister was gone from my field of vision.”

He looked to his left, and everything seemed “a little squiggly.” Then he veered to his right and was met with darkness. There was no pain, no injury. Just sudden, perplexing blindness.
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“You look down and one second later, everything’s gone. It’s frightening because I thought for sure I was having a stroke, to be honest with you,” Gorman said. “As I was walking up Atlantic Avenue, I couldn’t walk in a straight line and it was like one of those expressions where you’re blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other. People were looking at me like I was drunk or whatever.”
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Gorman and his wife walked to the ER at Mass Eye and Ear, where doctors eventually told him he had a detached retina and should rest at home while they scheduled his surgery. He would be fine, but doctors warned if he had waited a week, it could have been life-threatening.

“I ended up a little more than one day from sitting there at lunch to laying on an operating table with someone going into my eye. I had no choice it turned out. I called my doctor and he said, ‘Sit right where you are and say yes to everything they ask you.’”
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Gorman is excited for one last hurrah, hoping a retooled Celtics team can finally deliver one last parade as he walks off into the sunset. He’ll still be glued to the games, but the best part of retirement will be sitting down with a new audience.

“Opening night two years from now, I’ll probably be in Phoenix sitting there with my granddaughter and I’ll be able to talk to her about games,” Gorman said. “That will be pretty cool.”
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Kliq

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I love Gorman, Celtics games will not be the same without him. Grande likely will take over, although I hate to break out Grande and Max and take Grande off of radio.
 
JCizzle

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Dim13 said:
Watching C's games just won't be the same once Mike is gone. What a legend. I absolutely love listening to him.
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We've lost a ton of great talent across the local broadcasts recently. Remy, Eck, Orsillo, Tommy, and now Gorman. We were spoiled I guess.
 
bigq

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I have genuine affection for the guy and I love it when he joins T&R. He was heartbroken about losing Tommy and his comments about the big man after he passed nearly brought me to tears. I hope he goes out on top with a Celtics championship.
 
Light-Tower-Power

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Crazy to think that I'm about to turn 30 and have been listening to Gorman call Celtics games my entire life, but there are posters ten years older than me who can say the same.
 
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reej

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Kliq said:
I love Gorman, Celtics games will not be the same without him. Grande likely will take over, although I hate to break out Grande and Max and take Grande off of radio.
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I would bring Max over to the TV side and fire Scalabrine out of a cannon
 
Patriot_Reign

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It's completely selfish for him to think of himself when so many enjoy his untouchable broadcasting ability.
 
Y

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One of the greats. Hope he has a great final season.

Completely second the above notion that Grande, while great, is best paired with Max -- I wouldn't want to break that up, and wonder if they can both go to TV if that's the preference.
 
MiracleOfO2704

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JCizzle said:
We've lost a ton of great talent across the local broadcasts recently. Remy, Eck, Orsillo, Tommy, and now Gorman. We were spoiled I guess.
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Don’t forget Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti for Patriots radio, plus Dave Goucher from Bruins radio. The last 15 years or so really altered the timbre of Boston Sports Radio PxP, and Grande going to TV would add to that.
 
mikeford

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Kliq said:
I love Gorman, Celtics games will not be the same without him. Grande likely will take over, although I hate to break out Grande and Max and take Grande off of radio.
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Best solution would just be move them both over. Nothing is lost by throwing Scal overboard, IMO.
 
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radsoxfan

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mikeford said:
Best solution would just be move them both over. Nothing is lost by throwing Scal overboard, IMO.
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I agree. Let Scal do radio with some up-and-comer if he wants.

He's got other stuff going on anyway and Grande/Max together for a TV trial run would be my preference too.
 
luckiestman

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I love and will miss Mike G. Listening to Tommy and Gorman was a highlight of my sports fandom. I hope he has a long and rewarding retirement.
 
wade boggs chicken dinner

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Gorman is great; will really miss him when he's done. I hope broadcasters who listen to him realize that sometimes - a lot of times - less is more.

But I'm surprised people here don't like Scal. Scal watches a TON of basketball; he's conversant with analytics; and he understands actions and matchups and tries to explain them better than just about any other color commentator. I mean he actually tries to analyze stuff instead of saying things like, "They need to play with more physicality" or "they need to get an easy bucket here."
 
the1andonly3003

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found it surprising this was broken by The Athletic and not by the team

I am a fan of Scal. I don't agree with the part described in the article where Mike/Tommy made Scal more TV friendly and less inside basketball
 
bankshot1

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Scals ok but he can be a pompous know it all who doesn't. He ain't Gorman. Smart funny and perspective. He's going to be missed. Losing him and Heinsohn hurts the product

I like Eddie House, (as analyst) he's unpolished and not real slick but he knows the game, is very honest, tells it like it is and I found him listenable when he subbed last year. He's a no BS guy. Maybe he can spend some time with the Albert family and some NBA announcer DNA may rub off on him. And maybe a larger role could be found for him
 
lexrageorge

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Scal seems like he tries too hard to be Scott Zolak, who is even more irritating. I was hoping he would grow into his sideline role some but I haven’t seen much improvement.

No idea why Perkins is being kept around and it would be a totally unjustified move to add him to the sideline crew. There must be far better options among the ranks.
 
Humphrey

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the1andonly3003 said:
found it surprising this was broken by The Athletic and not by the team

I am a fan of Scal. I don't agree with the part described in the article where Mike/Tommy made Scal more TV friendly and less inside basketball
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Other than Scal's constant urging the Celts to do a "two for one", I think he's pretty good.
 
sonofgodcf

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The toilet.
I'm just happy we get another year of Mike, he's a master at knowing when to just let key moments play out and not talk over them. Class act to boot.

Mugsy's Jock said:
Could Grande/Max do TV/Radio simultaneously, like Chick Hearn did back in the day?
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God, I hope not. Grande on TV is unlistenable for me, he is just awful. Calls it likes it's radio and we're not watching the action, and is constantly forcing stupid catch phrases. I also find him arrogant and almost disdainful of the team much of the time. I really hope the C's pull in some outside talent instead of just elevating him.
 
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luckiestman

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radsoxfan said:
Maybe I missed where this is being discussed.... but they announced Gorman's successor.

Surprised it's not going to be Grande and they are going with someone so young.

Borderline shocking this kid is walking into this gig actually, but maybe he is some rising star I am unaware of.

https://www.boston.com/sports/media/2023/10/04/nbc-sports-boston-names-drew-carter-to-be-mike-gormans-successor-on-celtics-broadcasts/
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Thanks for posting this; I find it very very strange. Hope he is good.
 
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radsoxfan

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luckiestman said:
Thanks for posting this; I find it very very strange. Hope he is good.
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Super strange.

They could have just said he is joining the broadcast team, will call some road games this year, and see how it goes. But they went out of their way to already declare him the full time successor for 2024-2025. He graduated college in 2019 and his big claim to fame (as far as I can tell) was calling the Toy Story alternate broadcast for the Falcons/Jags London game on ESPN+.

Is this guy in that much demand they had to promise some 25 year old kid the full time gig in a year right now? Is his Dad buddies with someone at NBC Boston? Does he have compromising pictures of someone? Why not Grande? So many questions....

It's all very odd, but in the end I just hope he doesn't suck too.
 
nattysez

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I thought he did a very good job on the football game last week. He had to work in some hokey lines and had to work with Booger as his color man, while also providing strong play-by-play because the animation was not always super-clear.

Funny that after all these years, Syracuse is still turning out play-by-play guys.
 
JCizzle

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Based on how the clips sound that they played on T&R, he sounds like the most cookie cutter of Syracuse voices. Bleh. Hopefully he's more natural in the actual broadcast.
 
wade boggs chicken dinner

wade boggs chicken dinner

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radsoxfan said:
Super strange.

They could have just said he is joining the broadcast team, will call some road games this year, and see how it goes. But they went out of their way to already declare him the full time successor for 2024-2025. He graduated college in 2019 and his big claim to fame (as far as I can tell) was calling the Toy Story alternate broadcast for the Falcons/Jags London game on ESPN+.

Is this guy in that much demand they had to promise some 25 year old kid the full time gig in a year right now? Is his Dad buddies with someone at NBC Boston? Does he have compromising pictures of someone? Why not Grande? So many questions....

It's all very odd, but in the end I just hope he doesn't suck too.
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Interesting. I don't know a thing about Carter but in some ways, he sounds like Grande back in 2001, when Grande was recruited to BOS. https://theathletic.com/719816/2018/12/19/sean-grande-never-expected-to-become-a-celtics-icon-now-its-hard-to-see-franchise-without-him/

I wonder if it's a money issue. I'm sure Carter is a lot cheaper than Grande would be.

I think Grande really wanted the position (I think he came to BOS believing he'd eventually have it). But for those who missed it, here's the CsBeat podcast with him talking about the future.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoToxlTWEok
 
The Social Chair

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I'm shocked Grande wasn't offered the position. However, radio does allow you to call the big moments. Grande called the 2008 finals and Gorman didn’t.

The Patriots have 3 titles with Scott Zolack (screaming over the call) that will always be used in highlight packages.
 
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radsoxfan

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wade boggs chicken dinner said:
Interesting. I don't know a thing about Carter but in some ways, he sounds like Grande back in 2001, when Grande was recruited to BOS. https://theathletic.com/719816/2018/12/19/sean-grande-never-expected-to-become-a-celtics-icon-now-its-hard-to-see-franchise-without-him/

I wonder if it's a money issue. I'm sure Carter is a lot cheaper than Grande would be.

I think Grande really wanted the position (I think he came to BOS believing he'd eventually have it). But for those who missed it, here's the CsBeat podcast with him talking about the future.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoToxlTWEok
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Then why not hire Carter for radio and elevate Grande?

Maybe money issue. Or something else behind the scenes, who knows.

But a very atypical decision to replace someone like Gorman in a high profile NBA play by play job with a 25 year old kid with very little experience.

Bizarre.
 
teddykgb

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This replacement is on the first pre season broadcast and my god how is he getting this job over Grande? He’s mentioned Syracuse like 4 times already
 
mostman

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Was wondering where we were discussing this. I wasn’t following when the news came out this week. This feels very weird. Now you have no veteran anchoring the booth. Suddenly Scal is the senior broadcaster? That’s just…not ideal.
 
wade boggs chicken dinner

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Mystic Merlin said:
Are they really that desperate to cut costs?
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Would rather have them pay a large luxury tax bill or have a great broadcaster?

I'm only 2/5ths serious as I know the salary is a small percentage of costs but assuming ownership pays for the big 4 going forward, I'm okay with a downgraded broadcast.
 
Light-Tower-Power

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Gorman was a young, relative unknown who broke in to the NBA after calling local college games, so we can only hope that Drew follows the same path to success. Of course, Mike had Tommy and Drew has Scal. I actually like Scal a lot, but he's no Tommy.
 
Spelunker

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Light-Tower-Power said:
Gorman was a young, relative unknown who broke in to the NBA after calling local college games, so we can only hope that Drew follows the same path to success. Of course, Mike had Tommy and Drew has Scal. I actually like Scal a lot, but he's no Tommy.
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Was Tommy Tommy in 1981? I don't have any memory of early Mike/Tommy: I assume they both grew into it.

Whether Scal will get better is...unknown.
 
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