Editor’s note: This story was originally published on May 15, 2017.
A guy walked into the former Wren Haven bar in Scott Township where Penguins announcer Mike Lange was having lunch and said to the bartender “Buy Sam a drink and get his dog one, too.”
“It made me smile … because there was no dog at the end of the bar,” says Lange, known for that saying as well as many other catchphrases used during broadcasts. “It made me happy. Hey, we play 82 games a year, plus exhibition and playoffs, so you have to do things to keep it exciting and new and different. So I took it and decided to use it.”
He wrote it down on a napkin. And what are now known as “Lange-isms” began. The 69-year-old Ross resident injects the always appropriate phrase at the perfect time — after one of the Penguins scores. The words roll off his tongue smooth as silk.
“Buy Sam a drink, and get his dog one, too.”
But there is plenty of behind-the-scenes composition and thought that goes on before a phrase makes the list.
“I spend a lot of time deciding if and when I want to use a phrase,” Lange says. “And if I do use it, I want to really use it. The fans probably have a favorite, but they are all my favorites. It gives me a thrill to use the phrases at the right time.
“My fear is I will use one back-to-back. I could do that in the old days, and no one would really know, but now with all the social media and all the television and video coverage people know or can just Google it and find out. When I started, not many games were on TV. Radio was king. So now, I find myself cheating a little bit. I write them down, so I don’t repeat them. That might be showing my old age.”
He’s certainly not slowing down when it comes to connecting with listeners and the players. Lange’s broadcast partner — former Penguin Phil Bourque — says the sayings are well thought out.
“They have deep meaning to him,” Bourque says. “It is kind of like when people have tattoos. Each means something to that person. He thinks about what he is going to say. He doesn’t just yank the words out of thin air.”
Bourque says the players know about Lange’s “Langeisms,” even though they might not always talk about them. There are times they will approach Lange and say to him, “I heard I got a ‘Get in the fast lane grandma’ when I scored that goal.”
“Get in the fast lane, Grandma. The bingo game is ready to roll.”
His history with the team is impressive, says Penguins goalie Marc Andre Fleury.
“He is such a great man to have around,” Fleury says. “He is encouraging and his sayings are funny, catchy and entertaining. And his timing is right. He has it down to a science.”
He definitely does, agrees Penguins coach Mike Sullivan.
“Mike is so articulate, and our players get a kick out of him and his sayings,” Sullivan says. “He is a legend. He is definitely his own personality. He is second to none. He is one of the all-time greats.”
“Mike is the kind of guy who doesn’t need to be talked about,” Bourque says. “He does it because he loves the game, not for the recognition. There is definitely an unspoken respect for him from all of us.”
That respect is mutual. Working with the Penguins and alongside Bourque makes announcing easy, Lange says.
“Phil is an accomplished broadcaster whose work ethic is at the highest level,” Lange says. “He loves Pittsburgh and so do I. We make a great team, even though I never played hockey.”
Lange and Borque call Max Talbot’s goal in Game 2 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals against the Flyers.
He did suit up one time.
Lange challenged his broadcasting partner at the San Diego Western Hockey League team, the Gulls , Al Nicholson, who had a unique voice to sing the theme song from Jack-in-the-Box, a restaurant chain.
Nicholson says he would do it if Lange put on goalie gear and let Nicholson shoot three penalty shots.
“I didn’t stop a shot,” says Lange, who has been in broadcasting since 1971. “But he sang the song, so it was a fun challenge. Having awesome broadcast partners is so important in this business. It’s important to work well together.”
“He beat him like a rented mule.”
Pittsburgh has been the perfect landing spot for Lange. He came here in 1974 when the World Hockey League swooped in and the Western hockey league disbanded. The Penguins gave Lange a shot. Pittsburgh has had some of the best sports announcers, including Rosey Rowswell, Bob Prince and Myron Cope, Lange says.
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“God sent me here … and I am blessed to be here,” Lange says. “I try to make it as entertaining as possible. The Penguins have always made it easy to be a broadcaster, because they have some of the best and the nicest players I’ve ever met.”
After only a few seasons broadcasting for the Penguins, the sayings caught on and with Lange doing television, a lot of people recognized him. When fans spotted him, they would say, “You gotta hear this one, Mike,” so he would tell them to write it down and he would consider it. He keeps all the suggestions in a shoebox. One of the first was “Call Arnold Slick from Turtle Crick,” which a bookmaker named Quay from the South Hills gave him. Quay also created “Get in the fast lane, Grandma, the bingo game is ready to roll.”
He overhead “Look out, Loretta!” in a bar; a waitress gave him “The kitchen is closed,” and a stockbroker once said, “He beat him like a rented mule.”
“Elvis has just left the building.”
One of his most repeated catch phrases is “Elvis has just left the building.” Lange says “everyone knows that one.”
Lange tried to trademark his words and was in the process of marketing T-shirts when the first NHL lockout happened, so he dropped the idea.
But when people hear the phrases, they know they are Lange’s.
In a recent story in the Players’ Tribune, Lange talks about when former player Jaromir Jagr found out the announcer was known for his catchphrases he’d yell out after goals. Jagr started calling Lange “Michael Michael Motorcycle,” and then just “Motorcycle” for short.
Jagr’s suggestion was, “He smoked him like a bad cigar.” That one is still in Lange’s shoebox.
Former player Mark Recchi, who Lange says should be in the NHL Hall of Fame, was given the name “the Recchin’ Ball” by Lange. He got the idea from an old blues song and watching Recchi play hockey.
“I didn’t know he was going to start calling me that, but I started hearing fans talk about it,” Recchi says. “It’s pretty cool. It’s still going strong 30 years later. When Mike says something, it comes out so smoothly. He has perfected it.”
“He is one of a kind, says Penguin left wing Scott Wilson. “I have heard lots of stories about his sayings. And he uses them in the right situations. He is super unique.”