A Doctor's Visit That's Always Good

Pro hockey, once one of the major sports in the United States, has many problems and probably no longer generates the type of mainstream, widespread interest to keep it on par -- at least nationally -- with other sports.

In fact, the NHL might have lost its spot in the one-time "big four" with baseball, basketball and football to auto racing, college football or even mixed-martial arts in terms of national TV interest. (And, really, there was never all that much national TV interest in hockey anyway -- aside from the 1980 Olympic team, and that was more a cultural issue more than a sporting event.)

Still, during the Stanley Cup playoffs the NHL gets a bit more attention and love.

Best of all, the playoffs provide a slightly bigger forum for the sport's best play-by-play man, and one of the best on-air talents in any sport these days, Mike Emrick.

He's entertaining and informative, never misses a play and provides a comfort level that allows casual fans, who might try hockey only in the postseason, to engage while at the same time does not turn off hard-core fans, who know their sport, its nuances and personalities because they follow the NHL all season long.

Emrick, 63, got his nickname, "Doc," because he earned a doctoral degree in communications from Bowling Green in 1976. Before that, he taught speech communications at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa., briefly and covered the Pittsburgh Penguins -- his first NHL experience -- as an unpaid correspondent for the Beaver County Times.

He later moved to full-time (and paid) broadcasting jobs, working up from the IHL and AHL to jobs with the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils.

During the regular season, he handles Devils games on MSG Plus. He's been with the team since 1994 and has emerged as the preeminent voice of hockey in the United States because of his postseason work with Versus and NBC.

Maybe it's because of his Midwest roots (he was born in La Fontaine, Ind.), but he just sounds like a comfortable -- and, at times, appropriately excitable -- friend when he's at work. No matter who he has as a color commentator, the mood seems conversational and professional. He capably allows room for them to make points and sets them up for success.

For years, TV analysts, network honchos and on-air types were unanimous in their assessment that legendary NFL analyst John Madden brought people to the TV. They argued that he alone in terms of on-air talent "moved the meter" for ratings because people usually do not tune in to hear announcers at work. But they believed people did watch for Madden.

It's my belief they were partially correct -- people do not tune in for announcers, including Madden. After all, he always worked A-list games -- from the week's best games on CBS and later Fox to "Monday Night Football" on ABC and then "Sunday Night Football" on NBC. A true test of Madden's ability to bring in games would've been to assign him to lesser games and see what happened to the ratings.

With Emrick no such test is possible because national NHL ratings rarely draw huge numbers. But, a sports fan able to spend time spent with "Doc" surely gets an enjoyable experience. Any game he's working is worth watching, even if it does not involved your team or even if you're not a hockey fan in general.