Gary Thorne

[froot loop]

I didn't get to grow up with Gary Thorne broadcasting games, but that didn't stop me from enjoying his great calls through YouTube. About 3 years ago, I saw that there weren't any compilations of Gary Thorne's hockey calls except for a poorly made 2 minute fiasco (that I believe has since been deleted). So I put up the first video not expecting much, but I am so thankful that it recently passed 100k views. I don't have near enough subscribers to monetize anything (plus I couldn't anyways because of copyright claims) so I just do it for fun. But being able to share Gary Thorne calls, something I have learned was a big part of people's childhoods, means a lot to me. Thank you to Air Budd Dwyer for the kind words about my videos earlier in this thread. I have since made a nearly 2 hour video of only Gary Thorne calls, with about 80% of that being hockey. Here's the playlist of all the 5 Gary Thorne videos I've made if any of you would like to check it out.

 

[quoipourquoi]

I didn't get to grow up with Gary Thorne broadcasting games, but that didn't stop me from enjoying his great calls through YouTube. About 3 years ago, I saw that there weren't any compilations of Gary Thorne's hockey calls except for a poorly made 2 minute fiasco (that I believe has since been deleted). So I put up the first video not expecting much, but I am so thankful that it recently passed 100k views. I don't have near enough subscribers to monetize anything (plus I couldn't anyways because of copyright claims) so I just do it for fun. But being able to share Gary Thorne calls, something I have learned was a big part of people's childhoods, means a lot to me. Thank you to Air Budd Dwyer for the kind words about my videos earlier in this thread. I have since made a nearly 2 hour video of only Gary Thorne calls, with about 80% of that being hockey. Here's the playlist of all the 5 Gary Thorne videos I've made if any of you would like to check it out.

Fantastic work. I try to forget any time has passed since 2005, so having these available has been incredibly beneficial.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

One of Arne Hegerfors most famous ones was the unintentional "It looks dark on Cameroons bench"... Still makes me laugh

This never happened, though. He never said it! There’s no proof he ever said it. Most likely someone made it up, then this quote has been making rounds among people for years, thanks not the least to a book by Lasse Anrell, and then all seem to recall hearing it said live during the 1990 World Cup, or was it 1994, or was it 1998, or was it in a qualifier, or was it perhaps Bosse Hansson who said it and not Hegerfors? Fact of the matter is, it most likely never happened.

There was a huge Flashback thread where people dug deeeeeeep in order to find proof of this quote, going to the library and basically rewatching every single Cameroon game that was aired by SVT until 1998. Once, my uncle said the quote and I told him about this. He told me the story of him hearing it said, naming the game and where he was and all, and got pissed off when I tried to tell him it didn’t happen, thinking I was trying to rewrite history in the name of political correctness or something. It hurts to think that a silly, unintentionally racist goof-up you believed to be real wasn’t, but it just wasn’t.

 

[Hobnobs]

This never happened, though. He never said it! There’s no proof he ever said it. Most likely someone made it up, then this quote has been making rounds among people for years, thanks not the least to a book by Lasse Anrell, and then all seem to recall hearing it said live during the 1990 World Cup, or was it 1994, or was it 1998, or was it in a qualifier, or was it perhaps Bosse Hansson who said it and not Hegerfors? Fact of the matter is, it most likely never happened.

There was a huge Flashback thread where people dug deeeeeeep in order to find proof of this quote, going to the library and basically rewatching every single Cameroon game that was aired by SVT until 1998. Once, my uncle said the quote and I told him about this. He told me the story of him hearing it said, naming the game and where he was and all, and got pissed off when I tried to tell him it didn’t happen, thinking I was trying to rewrite history in the name of political correctness or something. It hurts to think that a silly, unintentionally racist goof-up you believed to be real wasn’t, but it just wasn’t.

I know it's in dispute but I mean the man himself remembers saying it. Now this could be A) He said it but not during the actual match but during one of breaks which is often edited out in the archives or B) the mandela effect.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I know it's in dispute but I mean the man himself remembers saying it. Now this could be A) He said it but not during the actual match but during one of breaks which is often edited out in the archives or B) the mandela effect.

I say B, most likely. It’s been years since I browsed that Flashback thread, but did those people going through the archives say they ultimately couldn’t find recordings of the intermission talk or something? Might be the possible last straw to grasp for, at this point, but I do believe it’s a planted memory.

I’ve experienced similar phenomena at other times. Weird example, but: I went to a seminar where we were shown “Ferdinand the Bull” as it’s supposedly a short but excellent example on how story archs are used to tell a compelling story. “Ferdinand” was also extremely familiar to everyone in the class as it’s been aired every christmas eve since forever, here in Sweden.

However, after showing the film, our teacher realized that it was missing something needed to get her point across regarding story archs, and that either she had remembered the story wrong, or she had accidentally shown a shortened version of the film. People in the class started chiming in on how they seemed to recall another scene which was cut from this version, but which used to be in when we were children, or maybe it’s always been the shortened version that’s been aired on christmas, but many knew that they had later seen the full version on Youtube and they remembered it the same: there’s something like a scene of Ferdinand then being cheered by the public for not engaging in the bullfight. In this version he was just dragged out of the arena and transported back to his flower fields, without a triumphant moment in between.

I didn’t remember this, so I looked it up: and apparently, it really was the full version we were shown, there was no scene missing. But it made sense and appealed to us enough that we collectively began filling in the blanks with false memory.

Sorry for the sidetrack.

Anyway, know Arne says he remembers it, as clearly as anyone, but I’m sure he’s also said that it was something he didn’t reflect on during the broadcast—as he only meant it as a reflection on the players’ dejected expressions—but rather afterwards as people started reminding him of it. Which I think is because it’s a factoid that found its way to Lasse Anrell who popularized it: it just made a lot of sense to Arne that he’d done it, and since he could pinpoint the time and place and the events of the game unfolding, he’s always known the quote to be true.

And like most people, I can practically hear his voice uttering the words, I still feel as if I’ve seen the clip dozens of times.

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

I didn't get to grow up with Gary Thorne broadcasting games, but that didn't stop me from enjoying his great calls through YouTube. About 3 years ago, I saw that there weren't any compilations of Gary Thorne's hockey calls except for a poorly made 2 minute fiasco (that I believe has since been deleted). So I put up the first video not expecting much, but I am so thankful that it recently passed 100k views. I don't have near enough subscribers to monetize anything (plus I couldn't anyways because of copyright claims) so I just do it for fun. But being able to share Gary Thorne calls, something I have learned was a big part of people's childhoods, means a lot to me. Thank you to Air Budd Dwyer for the kind words about my videos earlier in this thread. I have since made a nearly 2 hour video of only Gary Thorne calls, with about 80% of that being hockey. Here's the playlist of all the 5 Gary Thorne videos I've made if any of you would like to check it out.

Thanks for the compilations! You’re the hero we need but don’t deserve lol.

 

[froot loop]

Thanks for the compilations! You’re the hero we need but don’t deserve lol.

Haha thank you! That video's been getting some more attention now after the news of Doc retiring. I've heard a lot of people say they want Gary back.

 

[ShelbyZ]

Growing up a Red Wings fan in the years that preceded the lockout, Thorne is iconic in my view. After all the playoffs games, Finals, Cup wins and Avs and Wings rivalry games, it took a long time for watching hockey to feel the same for me.

As far as favorite calls, I can't ever forget:

-Yzerman's '96 Game 7 OT goal against the Blues
-McCarty's Cup clincher in '97
-Draper's OT winner to cap the comeback in game 2 against the Caps in '98

Among others of course.

Another fun one:

Late in the 02-03 season, he called a Wings and Blues games with Clement and John Davidson that got a bit out of hand with the Blues sending a message after the score got lopsided. During a line brawl in the last minute of the game that started with multiple Blues assaulting Tomas Holmstrom, then assistant coach Joe Kocur tossed a folding chair onto the ice before getting into a shouting match with Joel Quenneville. While discussing the likelihood of Kocur getting punished by the league, Thorne quips, "Who does he think he is, Bobby Knight?" Which causes Clement and JD to crack up and laugh out loud.

I thought it was because he worked for ESPN, and the league went to a different channel after the lockout. I haven't heard anything stating he didn't want to call hockey games anymore.

IIRC, his contract with ABC/ESPN was pretty lucrative with him taking on baseball and football as well. I kind of remember an interview with him maybe a couple years after the lockout where he said he would've loved to stick with the NHL but couldn't because of some competition thing in his ESPN contract... which kind of tells me OLN wasn't going to pay the bills like ESPN did.

It almost seems like perhaps ESPN/ABC tried to lock down their most recognizable NHL faces/voices (Thorne, Clement and LOL Melrose) in hopes the NHL would value fans returning due to familiarity vs. taking the bigger offer from Comcast/OLN that ESPN/ABC didn't want to match. Or they banked on the NHL running back to them after a year or two because they figured hockey on a channel for fishing and the Iditarod would bomb with the fans or do little to attract new ones.

I also remember an interview that came sometime a little bit after he settled into his regular gig with the Orioles (and pretty much only regular baseball work) where he was asked about calling hockey and said something like he missed the games, players, colleagues, playoff excitement, etc., but didn't miss the travel. Considering he still has to travel for his O's job, I'm guessing he meant the more sporadic schedule from being a "national" broadcaster not tied to one team, and/or, considering he lives in CA in the offseason, traveling during the winter months.

I haven't closely followed his career or anything since then, but it appears as though he's been divorced from ESPN/ABC since 2009, so I'm surprised he hasn't done more with the NHL than just the one Kings game since then.

My dream would be to have another Red Wings vs. Avalanche outdoor game with Thorne and Clement calling both the NHL and the Alumni game.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I haven't closely followed his career or anything since then, but it appears as though he's been divorced from ESPN/ABC since 2009, so I'm surprised he hasn't done more with the NHL than just the one Kings game since then.

My dream would be to have another Red Wings vs. Avalanche outdoor game with Thorne and Clement calling both the NHL and the Alumni game.

Would love to see Thorne back in the booth. He oozed emotion and knowledge. Not to discredit Doc, but with Thorne he paints a picture beautifully of the game. I could listen to commentary of a game between two last-placed teams and he'll bring the excitement.