Scratch my back with a hacksaw, Mike Lange is returning to the Penguins. I know this is semi-old news, but I needed to touch on it.
I’ll be the first to admit that Steigy and Errey combined don’t make up half of Mike Lange. Mike Lange is Pittsburgh Penguins.
I was stunned when he was fired from FSN Pittsburgh prior to last season. He signed on to broadcast the radio-version of the games shortly after. Honestly, that was a horrible move by FSN. There was even an online petition to keep Mike Lange.
In Pittsburgh, we have the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins. Each team has had a signature announcer who basically defined the team. The Pirates had Bob Prince. The Steelers had Yoi-tacular Myron Cope. FSN denied Mik Lange a chance to continue his claim as “Voice of the Penguins.” The guy called games for 30 years, and is a Hall of Famer (he won the Foster Hewitt Award in 2001).
I’m happy that Lange will be back, at least in radio-only version. Many a Steelers fan would mute the television to hear Myron Cope’s radio broadcast, and I tended to do the same with the Pens games last year. Steigy and Errey aren’t all that bad, but I’d rather listen to Mike Lange and Phil “The Old Two-Niner” Bourque. Plus, Steigy and Errey comment on Jordan Staal’s “long stick” way too much.
Lange’s deal is for one year, and he said he hasn’t entertained offers to join television crews elsewhere. Lange was hoping for a multi-year deal, but plans to just take it one year at a time.
Its unfortunate that FSN “beat him like a rented mule.”
