John Saunders dead at 61
- Thread starter tims4wins
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That's awful. He was one of the best at ESPN, if not the best.
And he loved hockey which is always a plus.
And he loved hockey which is always a plus.
Was he sick? I feel like I hadn't heard anything about it. Regardless, awful news. Always seemed to be a thoughtful and non-hot take guy.
So young. Very sad. One of the original guys at ESPN, right? And if not original, one of the really early guys.
Yes early, but not original. Wiki says he joined in 1986. A real class act who did a great job of carrying the torch from Dick Schaap on the Sports Reporters. His love of hockey makes sense since he played in Juniors and at Western Michigan. He had a great story about meeting Bo Schembechler while on a recruiting visit to UM.
EDIT: Hannah Storm also had to announce Stuart Scott had passed. That's just brutal.
As much about ESPN that I can't stand, he definitely wasn't one of the reasons. Really liked that guy. Sad.
In an era where so many seem to need a hook, a gimmick or catch phrase, for my money John Saunders was the best that ESPN had to offer. I hope other's see this and strive to be more like John.
It goes to show how far ESPN has fallen that I can't really remember the last time I saw or thought about Saunders and I almost would have said he had retired or moved elsewhere, but I truly did respect and enjoy him when I was a more frequent consumer of ESPN programming, and I have particularly fond memories of his work on Big East basketball - certainly the move to FS1 was not an insignificant cause of change in my viewing habits.
According to this article, he had a book scheduled for release next April about his long battle with depression.
https://www.google.com/amp/heavy.com/sports/2016/08/john-saunders-cause-of-death-how-did-the-sports-journalist-die/amp/?client=safari
https://www.google.com/amp/heavy.com/sports/2016/08/john-saunders-cause-of-death-how-did-the-sports-journalist-die/amp/?client=safari
Damn it. I rarely watch ESPN anymore for a number of reasons, but he was absolutely not one of them. A great voice and temperament, and from my best recollections someone who did not get bogged down in any of the stuff that turned me away from the network despite often having to be on air with Bob Ryan and Mike Lupica.
Speaking of which, did anyone see that clip of Chris Mortensen at the HOF ceremony? He looked thirty years older than he did before his diagnosis.
Really? When someone reasonably young dies, out of nowhere, your first question isn't "how did he die?"
I didn't know he was sick from anything and he just suddenly died. Sorry for wondering what the cause was
There is a HUGE difference between asking the question "how did he die?" and speculating about the cause, especially if all you have to go on is that they haven't yet publicly identified a cause of death.
If I asked "How did he die" I'm sure someone would bring up what I did (no details released and he wasn't sick , that I knew of)
I'm not gonna make a huge issue since the guy just passed but 99.99% of the time when the story is "person X died, no cause of foul play" and no cause is released (e.g. "he was diagnosed with cancer 4 months ago") it's a suicide or an OD. I didn't know if ESPN announced he was sick recently and I missed it, or something of the like.
He was certainly one of the best left at a quickly declining network.
Apologies if this is in the ESPN article (blocked at work) but Hannah Storm's breaking of this news is a great tribute to him. R.I.P.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/08/10/hannah-storm-gets-emotional-on-air-with-news-john-saunders-death.html
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/08/10/hannah-storm-gets-emotional-on-air-with-news-john-saunders-death.html
Yeah, I remember Hawk Harrelson announcing Don Drysdale's death during a broadcast. For all of Hawk's flaws, that was very real.
She pulled this duty (/honor?) when Stu Scott passed as well, IIRC. Amazing to get through these without being reduced to a blubbering mess on air.
Dick Schaap, his predecessor as host on the Sports Reporters also died young, at 67, of complications after hip replacement. Don't take the job, Mike Lupica or Bob Ryan.
Saunders was one of my favorite sports announcers, on any and all networks also.
Saunders was one of my favorite sports announcers, on any and all networks also.
Having a son die young is worse to me than dying in 60s so Bob Ryan is good to go. Can't hurt him worse.
Edited on cause of death which I'm not positive about
Somehow, I don't see Ryan for the host job. Lupica has often filled in in the past. Mitch Albom or Israel Gutierrez, who are often on the show, might be fine.
Not to make light, but Ryan looks absolutely terrible these days. I know he's 70ish but he's lost a lot of weight and looks quite frail.
I've had this show in my "Record Series" DVR list for as long as I can remember. I don't think I missed an episode in over a decade. I absolutely loved Saunders (and fwiw Schaap was my favorite non Boston sports media journalist of all time). This is terrible news.
AZ is correct, I'd say in the past five years or so, Lupica has been the fill in host 90% of the time. Maybe it goes to someone else but I'd be surprised. Lupica seems to really enjoy hosting and he's the safe pick to replace Saunders especially since they've already been using younger media guests as of late.
Perfect. I really like him...always seems very well prepared, doing all the homework required for an interview, etc. in fact he did one with Julian Edelman for E:60. Said he was offered a gig to do an interview with a Jewish NFL player that was no bigger than him and how could he pass it up?
Thanks for the link, probably shouldn't have watched that while my girlfriend was chopping onions on the other room...............thoughts and prayers to his family, very sad news for sure.....................
Your reply seems more assholeish because nothing he said was out of line. He's just stating what a lot of people think when no cause of death is reported and no known health issues were obvious. It also doesn't have to be that reason but it's a common thought to many
To quote RedHawks:
There is a HUGE difference between asking the question "how did he die?" and speculating about the cause, especially if all you have to go on is that they haven't yet publicly identified a cause of death.
It's that difference that makes the supposition of suicide or drugs out of line, and the poster who just wings that speculation out there come off as inappropriate
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