There's basically nothing that we all agree upon anymore -- that's not exactly breaking news. Doc Emrick might be the exception to that rule. The Hall of Fame hockey announcer is calling it quits after nearly 50 years, most notably with the Devils and then, most recently, as NBC's lead play-by-play broadcaster.
The man with a doctorate in communications is best known for his incredible vocabulary, in which the words "pass" and "shot" are substituted for a seemingly endless list of verbs and adjectives. Having called so many games and so many moments it's hard to narrow down a "Best Of" list, and that's not necessarily what this is. Instead, it's just a sampling of some of the great moments Emrick called over his legendary career.
2014 Olympics: In a press conference Monday afternoon, Emrick was asked to pick out his favorite call. While he couldn't pick just one, the first one he brought up was the finish to the shootout between Team USA and Russia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. You probably remember it as the game in which T.J. Oshie single-handedly won it for the Americans.
2010 Olympics: Emrick has been involved with some of the best Olympic hockey games of the last 40 years, none greater than the 2010 gold medal game between Canada and the USA. Go and find Zach Parise's game-tying goal with 24 seconds left in regulation (Doc obviously nailed that call, too). The lasting highlight from that game, of course, is Sidney Crosby's overtime winner to give the Canadians the gold medal in Vancouver.
Other great Olympic moments include: the first women's gold medal game in 1998, the insane Canada-USA women's gold medal overtime game in 2014 and the Sweden-Canada shootout in Lillehammer in 1994.
2013 Stanley Cup Final: One of the most insane regulation finishes to a game - let alone one that clinches a Stanley Cup - you'll ever see. In Game 6 of the 2013 Final the Bruins led the Blackhawks 2-1 with under two minutes to play, about to force a Game 7. Then Chicago scored twice in 17 seconds to steal the game and win a second Cup in four years.
Martin Brodeur's first NHL goal: Goalies scoring goals is very rare, only happening 15 times in NHL history. Marty Brodeur leads the way with three of them, the first of which came against the Canadiens in the 1997 playoffs, with Doc on the call.
2017 Eastern Conference Final: There's nothing quite as exhilarating as overtime of a Game 7 in hockey, where one bounce can turn someone into a hero. Doc's final such instance came in 2017 between the Penguins and Senators, when Chris Kunitz's netted the game-winner in double OT to advance Pittsburgh.
Brett Favre's 1st pass: It's a great bit of trivia that Brett Favre's first NFL completion was made by... Brett Favre. But did you know that the Hall of Fame quarterback's first professional football moment was called by Doc? Emrick called a handful of NFL games in 1992 and 1993 for CBS, including Favre's first start with the Packers against the Cardinals.
Hockey is generally accepted as the hardest sport to call - the puck moves so quickly, players change on the fly and everything is continuous. While the ending to this fairly random Bruins-Penguins playoff game from 2013 won't make any lists, take a listen below to how controlled, passionate and energetic Emrick is as Pittsburgh furiously attempts to tie the game in the closing seconds. It's a mess of bodies on the ice, and yet Doc makes it all the more exciting, but with perfect measurement. There will never be another.