The Athletic - Boston How Chicago’s own Judd Sirott landed his dream job calling hockey games in Boston

[Fenway]

Miles: How Chicago's own Judd Sirott landed his dream job...
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Now in his third year as radio voice of the Bruins on 98.5 FM The Sports Hub, how does Sirott compare the fan bases of these two Original Six cities?

“Really very similar in many ways,” he said. “The only thing that’s different are the accents. Deeply, deeply passionate about their teams. Incredibly knowledgeable about their teams. Have been fans for a long time.”
Sirott said he, his wife and two daughters are loving life in New England. Like many whose dreams take a long time to become realized, he said he enjoyed the journey and never doubted himself.

“Our family loves it in Boston. It’s a magical place. Both Boston and the entire region of New England – to be a stone’s throw from Rhode Island and Maine and New Hampshire and Vermont. Our family has been fortunate enough even in the short amount of time we’ve been there to go visit and spend time in all those places. It’s a tremendous place. I got to tell you, what makes it even more special is the quality of the people. These are tremendous people with some great character. We are so happy to be able to call that home.”

Fast forward to 1:38.55
Bob Sirott Full Show 02.05.20 | Can’t We All Just Get Along?​

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[jgatie]

His play by play is fine, his goal calls suck. No need for the "Goooooooaaaaaaaal" crap, hockey isn't soccer.

 

[Amorphis]

When I'm in the unfortunate situation of having to listen to a game in the car, I can often be heard yelling "WTF is going on?!" at my radio. Judd doesn't exactly paint a clear picture of what's happening. Another thing that drives me nuts is when he gives you the score of the game. He emphasizes the wrong word all the time. For example, if the Bruins are up 3-2 over Toronto, he'll say "Bruins three, TORONTO two." So by putting emphasis on Toronto, you would expect both teams to have three goals. So he should say it as "Bruins three, Toronto TWO." A little thing, but it's maddening.

They really screwed up by letting Goucher go to Vegas. They should have done everything possible to put him in Jack's spot and then I could tolerate a low end radio play by play. As it stands, both TV and radio broadcasts are terrible.

 

[Gordoff]

There was another fellow(I'm sure someone here will remember his name) who was up for the job and everyone thought that he would get it. Don't remember the story but Judd took the job from under him. I don't dislike Judd but he isn't Boston.
Then again, I still miss Bob Wilson and Fred Cusick. God Rest Their Souls.

 

[TCB]

There was another fellow(I'm sure someone here will remember his name) who was up for the job and everyone thought that he would get it. Don't remember the story but Judd took the job from under him. I don't dislike Judd but he isn't Boston.
Then again, I still miss Bob Wilson and Fred Cusick. God Rest Their Souls.

I can still here Bob Wilson voice calling Bruins games, when I think back on it. He was outstanding!

 

[SPB2776]

We had two of the absolute best here with Cusick and Wilson.

Judd is OK, but he had a very tough act to follow. Whenever I hear Gaucher on NHL Network, I instinctively think it's a Bruins game.

 

[TD Charlie]

Nobody is Dave Goucher. That’s not a negative on Judd.

i forget who else was up for the gig, but of the final three i remember thinking Sirott was a close runner up. Maybe Ryan Johnston and another guy? I forget who i liked the best though.

 

[smithformeragent]

There was another fellow(I'm sure someone here will remember his name) who was up for the job and everyone thought that he would get it. Don't remember the story but Judd took the job from under him. I don't dislike Judd but he isn't Boston.
Then again, I still miss Bob Wilson and Fred Cusick. God Rest Their Souls.

Ryan Johnston, who hosts the Hockey Show and other weekend programming on 98.5 was in the running.

 

[crimsonace]

IIRC, Judd, Ryan Johnston, Jon Abbott in Vancouver and one other person whose name escapes me were the finalists.

I listened to all, and Judd's broadcast was to me the best of the bunch, but he did get a game where the Bruins were facing the Blackhawks, a team he knew *really* well having been the Hawks pre/post/intermission host. Johnston had by far the most difficult - the first game when a lot of the minor leaguers are playing for both teams - and I can tell you from experience that it's difficult to do a game when you don't have a great handle on both teams' rosters (and preseason Game 1, you'll never have a great handle on the rosters). Abbott is a solid broadcaster and his game was pretty good, but I wasn't surprised when Judd got the job. He seemed to have good chemistry with Bob Beers and you could tell did his homework on the Bruins.

When I was in college and he was just starting out, Judd gave me an interview for a story about the Chicago Wolves as they were starting out (that was when IHL teams were starting to nose into NHL markets, and I was doing a piece on the Wolves and Detroit Vipers). I've followed his career since. It's tough to follow someone who was as good as Dave Goucher, who is a top-shelf broadcaster who was here for some of the greatest moments in Bruins history - his 2011 Stanley Cup call & 2013 Bergeron! Bergeron! calls are iconic.

However, setting that aside ... as someone in his mid-40s who does minor pro hockey PXP, I love reading about guys getting a big-time job at this age.

 

[crimsonace]

Whenever I hear Gaucher on NHL Network, I instinctively think it's a Bruins game.

When the Bruins play the Golden Knights, I *always* watch the Vegas feed on NHL.tv. It just feels right to hear Dave call a Bruins game (and that's no slight on Jack Edwards, whose work I really enjoy).

 

[Bmessy]

He's fine but when they score I cringe cause it's like a OT game 7 winner every time. Judd, it's game 12 in November, let's dial it back a little.

 

[RoccoF14]

When I'm in the unfortunate situation of having to listen to a game in the car, I can often be heard yelling "WTF is going on?!" at my radio. Judd doesn't exactly paint a clear picture of what's happening.....

That's a fair critique and I can see your point. However I'd argue that its almost impossible for any Boston radio PbP guy to paint a clear picture as long as that idiot Beers is doing the color commentary and interrupting you every 8 seconds with some inane comment. To this day, I cannot figure out how Bob Beers has a job in radio.

The brilliance of Goucher was that he could still be great at his craft DESPITE having Beers constantly stepping on the call....

 

[Midship]

His play by play is fine, his goal calls suck. No need for the "Goooooooaaaaaaaal" crap, hockey isn't soccer.

The goal calls are offensively bad. Bad enough that it taints the overall presentation/how I feel about him as a PBP guy overall. I would rather listen to just about anyone else.

 

[RoccoF14]

The goal calls are offensively bad. Bad enough that it taints the overall presentation/how I feel about him as a PBP guy overall. I would rather listen to just about anyone else.

Not a fan of his goal call either, but lets be honest here......The crop of NHL radio announcers out there isn't exactly murderer's row.

There's about 5 really good NHL radio calls out there, the rest range from mediocre (where I'd put Sirott) to god awful.....

Just listen to a Tampa Bay Lightning call ONCE, and you'll get my drift.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Is the Athletic worth it as a B's fan?
Been debating dropping some bucks on it

 

[Saxon Eric]

Wasn't there a big "Name" that was interested and was waiting for his contract elsewhere to run out, apparently had local ties
Anyone? Anyone?

 

[RoccoF14]

Is the Athletic worth it as a B's fan?
Been debating dropping some bucks on it

I'm a subscriber and I love it. If you are thinking about joining ONLY for B's coverage, then I wouldn't. However if you miss good sports writing over a wide variety of sports, teams and topics, then I think its well worth the subscription price.

My 2 cents.