Nov 12, 2009 8:32 pm US/Eastern
Mike Lange's Preparations To Call A Game
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Penguins radio announcer Mike Lange has long been a fan favorite with his unique expressions that have become known as "Lange-isms!"
KDKA
With all the new faces skating for the Pittsburgh Penguins due to injuries and offseason acquisitions, the radio voice of the team, Mike Lange, has a lot of extra preparations to do before games.
KDKA's Bob Pompeani tagged along with the Hall-of-Famer when the Penguins took on the Montreal Canadiens during their last homestand.
Lange begins the broadcast from high above Mellon Arena, but that's not where his day begins.
It begins below where he does his pregame work.
"You have to do your due diligence, you have to do your work. You have to find out what is going on with that team, how much they have changed? They could have a coaching change. What's the philosophy?" Lange said.
After watching the morning skate for both teams, Lange goes home, showers and returns as the game gets closer.
"When I work the pregame skate, that's a time they could set off a nuclear bomb and I wouldn't even know it. I watch both teams. I watch what they have. I watch their line rushes, which they'll give me. I watch tendencies to see if I think anybody is hurt. I watch goaltenders. I watch a lot of things," Lange said.
Then he puts the preparation into the play-by-play, but there is a method to his madness and his famous Lange-isms after the Penguins score.
"It's a little bit of everything.. I would be quite frank about it. As I go along, we have probably 30-to-35 of them now, so my biggest fear is that I repeat one immediately after I just call one. We don't want to do that. What I have done is put a mini list down on my sheet of potentials, I put them down. It doesn't mean I'm going to use those that night," Lange said.
On that night, Lange needed six of them as the Penguins won 6-1 and the fans won by getting to listen to a Hall-of-Famer.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Penguins Compete On International Stage
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