Radio Voice of The Blue Jackets Bob McElligott

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He is the radio voice for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

(00:03):
Bob mcgelligate joining us.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Now, what were you gonna say, I'm just going to say,
there's excitement in the air over what happens in twenty
four hours. I'm actually like big hockey minded right now
just because of what's happening tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Well, Bob, welcome to the show man.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm excited based on what the Jackets went up into
Little Caesar Arena last night and Detroit and did. That
was very, very fun to watch. And I don't know, man,
the five to two win. It felt like it was
closer than that most of the game and then towards
the end the Jackets just sealed the deal. But man,
what a great crucial win for the Jackets going into

(00:38):
this game tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
I mean, when you go into a home and home
series with somebody, getting that first win just makes it
so much better, right, I Mean, that's a no brainer.
Because now you have a chance to sweep the series.
Your desperation is not at the same level it would
be if you had lost the first game. Just like Detroit,
They're going to be really desperate tomorrow to get those

(01:03):
points back. So it just makes all the difference in
the world. And you know what, Blazer that game, I'll
tell you. When Detroit went up one to nothing, it
was early in the second period. First been into the
second period. I was like, oh, I don't like this.
But then the Blue Jackets started to score and they
got four in a row, and it really wasn't close.

(01:23):
I'll be honest with you, it wasn't close. And the
Blue Jackets locked that thing down in the third period
last night. For a team that early in the year,
we talked about the troubles they had closing out games
and especially on the road. They did it to perfection
last night.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Man, it was a lot of fun to watch. I
watched every second of it, and.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
Bob and I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
And I'm telling you, man, I felt like they could
probably hear me from from Delaware screaming. I was, I'm
like yelling, and you know, and you think also, by
the way, one of one of three goals only counted
that went in for the Jackets. One was they blew
the whistle before it slid across the line. The other one,
of course, Kraally, he didn't celebrate because he ended up

(02:05):
kicking it in you can't have the kicking motion. And
you saw where he was just like yeah, but the
other one involving him, he kept celebrating. He knew right
away they were gonna over, you know, reverse that because
they ruled it no goal at first. But when you
start looking at what could have been with regard to
the score and so on, had that whistle been blown.
Just a little bit later, the puck creeps over the
line and that's a goal. I never understood exactly why

(02:28):
they blew the whistle on that one or whatever, but
that was unfortunate as well. But hey, all's well, that
ends well.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
Well.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
The rule is if the referee loses sight of the puck,
his shob is to blow the whistle. So there are
times you're not gonna like it, like in that game
last night. But I'm trying to figure out, what what
do you want? You want eight or nine goals a game?
Look enough for you winning?

Speaker 5 (02:49):
Good God?

Speaker 4 (02:49):
What three more?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
We might see eight or nine tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
I don't think there's any possible way the Jackets lose
to both. They go in there, Oh, don't say that,
ninety thousand people.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
Wait se corally, Hey, Mark Blazer is so pissed that
you kick that because we needed at least three more goals.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
No, what I'm saying is I wanted there you know
what knocked in the dirt mcgelligan.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
And you know what, I'm oh, no, I know, Oh,
I know, I know. But it was just great because given.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
And look on a side note, and you know, as
a Buckeye fan, and then obviously as a Jackets fan,
and boy, the Jackets are really catching up to my
fevered pitch that I have for the Buckeyes as well.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
I'm really it's getting neck and neck. But to see
what they put.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
On the the uh the screens there or whatever in
the arena about Michigan U of M and the Buckeyes
and you know, when was the last victory and all
of this stuff, I was just like, oh my god.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I was like, man, I hope they beat them ten nothing.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
You know, obviously it would have been impossible to do
that scenees how they'd already scored when I thought that,
but but it was uh.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
And then I also heard TV saying, uh, you know
when the when the Wings score for the when they're
first to score.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
In the game, they're eighteen five and one, they gave
some stat like that.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
I go, no, no, no, no, don't say that.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Don't say that. I don't want to hear that, you know.
So anyway, but it was, uh, it was beautiful to mistake.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
I'll say where you're making your mistake, where you can
watch it on TV. It turned down the sound and
put the radio sound on because I never say that stuff.
You will never hear me say anything that he's going
to be pro the other team. I don't care what team, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, LA,
I don't care. I hate them all. Yeah, so you'll
never hear that stuff from me.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
And you hate them all. And that's why I love
you too.

Speaker 5 (04:36):
Man.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
I'm telling you because I know, I know you bleed
CBJ and I love it.

Speaker 5 (04:40):
Man.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
I think it was Steve that said that. I don't think.
I don't think it was Jody. But look, I get it.
They got to try to I guess they got to
try to be a little more middle of the road.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
They can't be too homer. But let's face it, they're
they're they're the blue Jackets call. So anyway, I heard
that and went crazy.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
I was like, no, no, no, no, I don't want
to hear that, I don't want to hear that.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
But look again, all's well, that ends well. That was
fantastic to go in there and do that.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Especially knowing look the Red Wings they're not rolling over,
They're right in the mix as well. They're trying as
hard as they can. They had a couple more wins
than us. They were goal and a half favorites last
night in Las Vegas. So that's the thing that I
love the most. The Jackets are so gritty playing right now,
doing what they need to do, and it is just
so fun to watch and so great to cheer for

(05:26):
them right now. I would run through a wall for
these guys. They're trying so hard and look, we're on
the cusp. I think of getting to Branson back, aren't we?
And maybe even Chinakoff. I was seeing they're skating as well.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
See a Koff was skating before we left. I don't
know what the status on that is. Good Brandton is skating,
but that's still gonna be a couple of weeks away.
But yeah, hopefully there's some help, but I you know,
if there is, there is, if there's not, there's not.
The way this team is rolling right now, that's the
beauty of it. Hey, Chuck, by the way, I sometimes
you have to have me show you the message I

(06:00):
get texted by Blazer. Uh. They're not for radio, by
the way, Can I tell you that they're in all caps,
like if I was, if I was a gen z,
I would think he's yelling at me and I'd have
to take it to somebody and my feelings to be hurt.
They're all capps all the time.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
What's funny is he never puts a thumbs up or
anything with him, but I know he's thinking the same thing.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
And he's going he's going.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
The locker room to do interviews, and I'm looking at
this going just I don't know how deep and how
deep this guy is and how many whiskeys or whatever
you have. Hero, this is not the time.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
I'm completely straight, by the way, Just so you know, dude,
I I especially through the week. There's no way I can't.
I can't pull that off. But I'm just so passionate.
You know that, man, And I'm telling you I know,
I know. And then when we're in Dallas too, I
can't help it. You know, we can go back to
the Dallas Stars game too, the Jackets with three in
a row since the break, and this is this is

(06:52):
just so special what feels like it's going on now,
And I don't want to jinx it by talking too
much about it, but it is just really fun. It's
really fun to watch the guys look like they're playing lose.
They look like they're having a lot of fun, and
they're putting the hammer down when they have to.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
You can see it. It's really cool to watch man
really neat.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
So, yeah, they are having a good time, and of
course winning is fun, but I tell you where I
really give them a lot of credit. And again, we
were just talking to some of the guys in the
football locker room before they go out for practice here
this afternoon at the stadium, and I talked to Sean
Crowley and I said, you guys, like coming out of
that break starting last Saturday, you know you have to
win and you have to get points, but you also

(07:31):
know that this game tomorrow is coming up and it's
finally going to be here, and it's such a spectacle
and so many people around town are talking about it
and it's been there for a year. You've been kind
of waiting to play this game, and yet they have
been so disciplined and taking care of the business that
they had to take care of every day up until today.

(07:51):
Because now it doesn't matter. Now they can just embrace
all this thing. They're going to practice this afternoon starting
at four point thirty. The guys where they came over
here around two thirty this afternoon, they all ran down
onto the quote unquote field to go down and look
at the rink, and so now they can just kind
of let it go. Now tomorrow they're gonna have to
get zoned in and focus and play the game. But

(08:12):
they've done such a great job, honestly, and I don't
throw these kind of compliments around a lot, but this
team has impressed me so much, so much in the
way that they've handled themselves, the way that they you know,
the adversity they went through before the season is one thing.
But early in the year they were losing. They couldn't

(08:33):
win on the road. Now they're getting huge wins on
the road. They couldn't close out games. Now they're closing
it out in the third period. Guys are getting hurt,
other guys are stepping in. Honest to god, this is
this is not a line. It's not because it's a
three game winning streak and you're going into the stadium
series game. This is one of the best teams I've
ever worked around in my life in any sport because

(08:53):
everybody's in it for everybody else and that's why they're
having fun.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
So beautiful, so beautiful man, to witness you were right,
and man, that's saying something when you're saying what you're
saying as far as best teams that you've ever worked with,
what you're witnessing right now, and you're right, man, it's
next guy up while people are hurt and people are stepping.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Into roles, and you know what.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
A credit to Everson, coach Everson and the whole staff
figuring this out, getting people figuring it out on the fly.
By the way, it felt like was it last night
or versus the Stars? When I think it was Sollinger
went out right last night?

Speaker 5 (09:26):
Was it? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (09:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (09:27):
And he switches some stuff around and then that starts
gelling It's just like it's just so fun.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
It's amazing to watch this man. Guys compliment each other,
working as a unit, all of those things. Where are
you calling the game from tomorrow?

Speaker 4 (09:41):
I'm on the camera deck right below the press fox.
In fact, i'm there right now. Well, they're doing some
rehearsal stuff and they were blasting the PA system, so
I had to walk out back on this scariest crap
stairwell that looks right down into the parking lot on
the west parking lot here, which is you know, I mean,
the game goes really bad, you know, don't come out
this way. But oh yeah, so we're we're on the

(10:06):
camera deck. And today is that Marshall was given the
weather and it's so nice. It's very very windy over
here in this stadium by the way, right extreme windy,
and it feels great today. And I was listening to
Marshall and do the weather and I was like, crap,
I thought I was gonna wear? Is now what I'm
gonna wear?

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (10:25):
More than that.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, you're you're you're going to be in a not
climate controlled area calling the game.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
And uh, these people, these these NHL people, they've said this,
they give me that I've never been on the camera deck.
I've never been in the press box in this place
until last week. I've only ever been here as a fan.
And they're like, oh, there's heat. It's a heated camera
deck and uh. And my son who does video stuff here,
he goes to Ohio State, he does in house video
stuff and he goes, Dad, where are you doing the game?
I said, the camera deck. They said it's heat and

(10:51):
he goes, a good luck with that, right, And it
makes me think, and Plazer Centre, a Steeler fan, you
can appreciate this. I remember when I used to listen
to the Steelers and Myron Cope was doing the color
commentary back a whole three River Stadium and it would be,
you know, December game, and he would say.

Speaker 5 (11:08):
They say that this place is heated. But when I
look up the heaters on the ceiling the last time
I checked heat rises, I expect to freeze.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
So great, man, so great. That is, unfortunately the way
it's gonna be. So dressing Lamer.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Flora Blazer in the club, in the club tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, I'm in. I'm in the couch club as in
my house, the couch.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
Come on, you're not coming to the game.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Not as of right now. You got some tickets you
can flip me and then maybe I'll come down.

Speaker 4 (11:39):
Any tickets for cryingell out, this is the one I
can't get freebies for it.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Maybe I'll try to Maybe I'll try to figure it out.
Last second, Never say never. As they say, he's.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Open the wallet, there's some things in there to call dollars.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
He's the radio voice for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Who
will be on the camera? Is the camera?

Speaker 5 (11:58):
Well?

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Is that what it's called? The camera?

Speaker 4 (12:00):
And don't forget don't forget? Well, I think this game
is on ESPN to borrow, so the only Blue Jacket broadcast.
You get his mind?

Speaker 1 (12:06):
That's right, that's right, very cool radio voice for the
Columbus Blue Jackets.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
Bob.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Thanks for giving us a couple of minutes. Brother, I
know you're busy and appreciate it. Go Jackets will be
watching man.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Thanks, boys, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Thanks