Well, last night at 11:23 was the last time legendary Boston sportscaster, Bob Lobel, signed off the air. He once said, “thousands of sportscasts, and none of them went the way they were supposed to.” I guess last night began about the same. A little after I got home last night, Bob was sitting on top of the Sox dugout, practically in a puddle on Ch. 4. “I’m sitting in America’s most beloved ballpark, in America’s least beloved weather.”
Bob Lobel started at Ch. 4 in 1979 and covered everything Boston sports related, right down to the high school sports. Through all the pain of the Red Sox, the Celtics’ ’80s dynasty, the rise of the New England Patriots, and the legendary 2004 Sox season (which I got to personally chat w/ Bob about once a week for a couple minutes). Some things I remember from broadcasts: He was literally in Carlton Fisk’s kitchen in 2000 when Fisk got the call from Cooperstown. In 2002, he re-enacted Adam Vinatieri’s Snow Bowl game winning kick against the Raiders, in the studio. They had a goal post set up in the studio, Vinatieri kicked it…., right into a overhanging light, which exploded. If you goto YouTube, you’ll find tons of outtakes and funny stuff.
When I was 4 or 5, my father took me to the Newington Mall in Newington, NH to see Bob Lobel and Bob Neumeier (former GM of the Pats) do their “Calling All Sports” call-in show. To me, growing up watching Lobel, he was the icon of Boston sports, when you’re a kid, you don’t realize there’s other broadcasters out there. In 2004, Bob Lobel became a regular of mine at Houston’s restaurant, right through the whole legendary 2004 Sox season when they broke The Curse.
New England will certainly miss you, Bob. Hopefully we’ll see you on NESN sometime soon.
EDIT: Right after I posted this, I found this article on Bob Lobel. Funny how the couple anecdotes I mentioned are in here too, as well as others. Plus some other great info on him.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Lobel, shmobel. I won’t miss him at all. He (along with Zolak) made Patriots 5th Quarter unbearable for me, no matter how badly I wanted to hear Belichick or Brady talk. I hope this new free time means he won’t be on WEEI more because he’s even worse on radio than on TV.
I, for one, have had a hard time finding the right words to say now that Bob is gone. He will be forever missed. May God have mercy on his soul. Wait. Did he die? Or just retire? Regardless, goodnight sweet prince.
No, his tenure at Channel 4 came to an end, along w/ a couple others that were on that channel alongside him for a loooong time.
The channel execs decided to go the route of “out w/ the old, in w/ the who the fuck is this on the air?!”
I hope it seriously bites them in the ass for firing those people.
Those people who would knock Bob Lobel are the same people who would knock Ted Williams, Red Auerbach, Larry Bird…get my point?
Bob Lobel is definitely a legend in Boston Sports reporting along with Will McDonough and few others. Not only that but he is a great human being reaching out to help countless people who needed it. and all without fanfare. His sports show with UPTON BELL (not Bob Neumeier) I still feel that Bob Lobel will never be gone and we will hear lots more about him in the future. God Bless…..