Phil Esposito Performs The Worst Hockey Song Ever Written : The Hockey Sock Rock

This clip of Phil Esposito performing “The Hockey Sock Rock" on Alan Thicke’s Thicke of The Night Show in 1980 really should have been immediately bulk erased by the production company and the fact that someone actually taped it for posterity sakes absolutely frightens me.

It’s not that Espo’s voice is unbearable, it’s the lyric’s which include such as lines like “You’re My cookie, You’re my rah-rah rookie.” that simply have you wondering what they were smoking when they wrote this colossal piece of schlock.

Adding insult to injury the performance, the video has three backup singers that join Phil. Alan Thicke himself and two other pioneers of late 70’s early 80 cheese, The Unknown Comic of “Gong Show” fame and Gil Gerard who at the time starred on NBC’s “Buck Rogers in the 25the Century”

This an all-timer as far as what used to pass as entertainment In the early 80's.

Rangers Revisit Mausoleum Tonight : Mouth Revisits Awful Islander Mausoleum Carnival.

I saw it fit to air the outake footage of my most commented clip here at Ranger Crisis in lieu of The Rangers first regular season game against the Islanders tonight. The original clip can be seen on Ranger Crisis Show #50.

If you want to find Show #50 quickly just look on the red sidebar of this page under the Radio Player. Just Click the picture of Brian Trottier eating nachos and you can view it.

These clips came to be when I couldn’t resist going to the Islanders John Tavares draft party over the summer. The Mausoleum I knew would be comedy central and I just couldn’t turn a blind eye to all that comedy fodder that the Isles building and their fans provide.

Any event the Islanders put together has the look and feel of an awful traveling carnival, complete with defective rides, crappy prizes and creepy carny folk. All the vital components that "excite" the 50 person Islander fan base to intermingle with each other.

Blueshirt Banter Radio Tonight : The Mouth Does Battle with The Hockey News

This is your ONLY chance to hear The Mouth this week as there will be NO Wednesday Radio show due to the Ranger/Islander game.

Tonight starting at 8 PM sharp on Blueshirt Banter Radio, host Jim Schmiedeberg and The Mouth will be talking about the Rangers victory over the Yotes as well as talking to special guest Adam Proteau who writes for The Hockey News.

The Mouth is prepared to give Adam a hard time because his esteemed paper The Hockey News picked the Rangers in their pre-season preview to finish 13th in the Eastern Conference out of a possible 15 with only the Thrashers and The Kansas City islanders finishing worse..

All accounts will be settled tonight Ranger fans with The Hockey News we can guarantee that !

Blueshirt Banter  w/Jim &The Mouth on Blog Talk Radio
   on Blog Talk Radi

Bill Chadwick Dead At 94. A Part of Many Ranger Fans Childhood Dies. Including The Mouth's

The Big Whistle died on Saturday October 24th 2009. He was 94. The man lived a rich and full life. He was larger than life not just in stature but in voice and in demeanor. Bill Chadwick was a character on and off the air.

I remember him telling me in 1983, that Phil Esposito as an announcer “Didn’t know his ass from a hole in the wall” as we talked after his local cablevision show. I was 18 and here the “The Big Whistle” was talking to me like I was an adult sitting in his living room.

Bill Chadwick could spin a yarn and drink you under the table. I don’t say that out of disrespect. I respect it more than you know. The school he came from, the old school., I revere. He was a character and as time passes and as everyone assimilates the world has less and less of them.

The Following clip was taken from a Rangers/Buffalo game on February 25th, 1981 at MSG. The Clip is a great example of how much unadulterated fun Bill Chadwick and his telecast partner Jim Gordon had during the broadcasts.

I know it sounds corny but now with both of them gone, a part of my childhood has died.

Ranger Thug Life 1970 : Vengeful Rangers Put Bounty on Bruin's Derek Sanderson's Head.

I think anyone who has followed the videos here at Ranger Crisis is that The Mouth is not afraid to show and criticize The Rangers historical ineptness of team toughness and willingness to go battle for team mates in distress.

This was especially the case in the late 60’s and up until the late 1970’s when The Big Bad Bruins and Broadstreet Bullies were simply taking liberties with Rangers players faces unabated.

However, this was not the case in this clip, The Rangers were the tough guys, and the bad guys and The Mouth loves it.

The story goes like this. Derek Sanderson a Bruin who had been cheaping it up with several different Rangers in the first two games of the 1970 Quarterfinal series.

Derek Sanderson is then put on notice during play in Game Three by Ranger goaltender Ed Giacomin that the Blueshirts have a paid bounty on Derek's head and that he best watch out.

After some drama ensues, on the next face off the Rangers jump Sanderson and a wild melee erupts. Sanderson gets pummeled in a game where The Rangers were surprisingly the aggressors and not the victims a rare thing indeed for those days.

This game would set a record at the time for most PIMS in a game with a 174. The Rangers went on to lose the series and the Bruins went on to win the Stanley Cup. The late great Fred Cusick called the action.

If this 70's  of Ranger/Bruin rivalry intrigues you as much as it does The Mouth you should tune into Blueshirt Banter radio Wednesday, November 4th  9-11 PM when The Big man Interviews Jay Moran author of the book "The Rangers, The Bruins, And The End of an Era."

Wednesday Radio Action 9-11 PM The Mouth Talks To NYR beat writer Rick Carpiniello

Sienfeld aficionado and New York Ranger beat writer extraordinaire Rick Carpiniello joins The Mouth on his Blueshirt Banter Radio program tonight to discuss the current state of the Rangers and the overall mood of this team so far this season.

Carp is a fantastic guy and he and the Mouth's first on-air encounter was a rousing success.

The Mouth other guest is the one and only Mitch Beck. Mitch is a fantastic blogger for the Hartfood Wolf Pack Blog "Howlings."  Mitch is an expert on everything Wolfpack.

This is going to be an informative and fun show. We take your calls all night as usual at (347) 857-2090

The show starts tonight at 9PM. Wednesday October 21st.

Click here to listen

The Mouth w/ Rick Carpiniello on Blog Talk Radio

More Mouth For The Money.. The Mouth Joins Blueshirt Banter Radio On Permanent Basis

The Mouth will be moving his Internet radio show to Blueshirt Banter Radio. What does this mean ?  This easy FAQ has been developed just for you the Ranger Crisis.com viewer and listener.

1. Radio Shows will no longer be called Ranger Crisis Radio. All broadcasts will cease, using that name.

2. The new name of the show will be called Blueshirt Banter Radio w/The Mouth

3. Ranger Crisis.com the website will remain exactly the same in content and in name, just the Radio Program is being renamed.

4. The Mouth will now appear as cohost on the Blueshirt Banter Radio program that airs every Tuesday 8-10 PM w/ Jim Schmeideberg.

5. The Mouth and Mandar will continue their show on Wednesday's 9-11PM with no format change whatsoever.

This was primarily done for the fans, to give the most continuity of coverage and help both programs resolve any conflicts we might have in booking guests. This also helps us in making it more flexible in accommodating for potential guests in the future, now that we are running two shows on consecutive days.

Scheduled for Tuesday's Blueshirt Banter Radio show 8-10 PM - Jim Schmiedeberg and The Mouth talk to Puck Daddy from Yahoo Sports.

Blueshirt Banter w/ Jim and Mouth ! on Blog Talk Radio Scheduled for Wednesdays show 9-11 PM - The Mouth talks with Rick Carpiniello, Ranger beat writer and Mitch Beck, Hartford Wolfpack expert who blogs for "Howlings."

Never Lisin's To Enver Lisin : Torts has #81 Lisin Paying Attention and Paying Dividends

A change of scenery is always good. The Mouth thought ex- Ranger Peter Prucha needed one and that came to fruition. The only problem was he was sent to the Phoenix Coyotes.

The downside for a player joining the Yotes, is that the franchise is located in the desert, where nothing grows, not even flowers, except cactus of course.

The Mouth quips that the same lack of growth can be said for the young hockey players that try to develop there in the arid and barren wastelands of Arizona even the Phoenix franchise is stunted and wilting fast.

During this past off season the Rangers did business with the Phoenix club yet again and acquired Enver Lisin and in exchange sent Lauri Korpikoski to his NHL developmental funeral in Phoenix.

Enver Lisin has a NHL pre requisite of hi-lite reel type goals, he also has a companion low-lite reel of defensive lapses, Enver is a project for sure. But he can get better and so far he has been.

In the Mouth's opinion the kid has played well. After a camp where coach John Tortorella called him out on his unacceptable defense, the kid has broken his butt to hustle on every play and prove the critics wrong. The following clip shows a couple examples of this.

The hustle shown on the video culminates when Lisin scores his first goal as a Blueshirt. He netted his first as a Ranger against the hapless Toronto Maple Leafs this past Saturday, October 17th, 2009 in a game which the Rangers won 4-1.

Ron Duguay On Canuck Version Of Dancing With The Stars : Battle Of The Blades TV

There are few things that leave The Mouth speechless and this clip was one. The Big man will leave you good people and resident wise crackers of Ranger Crisis to be the judge and jury on this one.

I know the ladies will like it, The clip is from a CBC show called “Battle Of The Blades”, which apparently is our neighbors to the north answer to the United States television hit “Dancing with the Stars.”

Frankly, The Mouth doesn’t know what to make of this. The only thing he does know, is that we must get Ron Duguay’s best buddy Chris “Kotsy” Kotsopoulos's take on Doogs' performance in this ice rink dance contest !

Ranger Crisis Radio #15 : Rangers vs. KIngs Hardcore Ranger Fan Discussion for Two Hours

Post game thoughts, Marc Staal's Offensive Upside (if any), the constant Running of Henrik Lundqvist by opponents and The Rangers fantastic start.

All discussed on this very entertaining episode of Ranger Crisis Radio.

Donald Brashear vs. Colton Orr Fight Video : Round One/ Ranger Crisis Radio Tonight @ 9PM

On July 1st  2009 Colton Orr took the first  train out of New York for a four year deal with the Leafs and frankly who can blame him. That fueled the Rangers to quickly sign free agent and then Ranger super villain Donald Brashear as his replacement.

The signing of Brashear as you know split the sometime fickle Ranger Nation into two camps with some fans refusing to ever support The Big Rig in his pugilistic endeavors, despite him wearing the jersey of the team they cheer for.

Well, part one of the infamous and long awaited tussle happened on October 12th 2009. Don’t for a minute think the dust has settled concerning these two, Brashear and Orr get another chance to hookup when the Rangers play the leafs this Saturday October 17th.

The Mouth as always supplies his commentary on the video of the fight and it’s pretty obvious who he is rooting for. 

Ranger Crisis Radio # 15    

Tonight 9-11PM

Join us immediately following the game as we discuss what happened in the King game tonight as well as discuss the current state of the Rangers. Also, our  favorite thing of all, taking your phone calls !

Call In Number (347) 857-2090

Listen to Ranger Crisis Radio Now ! on Blog Talk Radio

Party Of Five Leads To Artie High Fives : Artem Anisimov's First NHL Goal

When a player get his first NHL Goal it’s always a party on the ice, and even sometimes off it. In this case a party off five led to Artem Anisimov’s first NHL goal before any celebration again.

Besides Anisimov himself, five other Rangers , including net minder Steve Valiquette played pivotal roles in putting this one on the board. The Big man in his commentary points out Sean Avery has a vital role in the play resulting in a goal.

The Mouth also wants his Ranger Crisis fans to note that coach Tortorella is practicing what he preached as far as going with the hot hand.

In a crucial time in the game, with a tenuous 1-0 lead and on a Power Play he rolled out the Third Line to play on the man advantage.

The move paid off big time for both the Rangers and Artem Anisimov who after a beautiful feed from Vaclav Prospal beats Ducks goal J.S Giguere for his first NHL tally.

Two Hours Of Ranger Radio Podcast : First Three games Recap and Fans Phonecalls

    Pete Stemkowski                          The Mouth

Ranger Crisis Radio # 14

The Mouth goes off on a intro rant for the ages. This weeks callers talked about the Rangers first three games of the season. what they liked and what they disliked. We air Ranger Crisis Radio every Wednesday 9-11 PM next time you should join in we love hearing from you !

* The Mouth apologizes for his over modulating he didn't realize his mic volume was so high lol

Ryan Callahan Gassed Then Stoked : Endurance and Hustle lead to Terrific Goal

Before the game that the Rangers played against the Capitals that took place on October 8th 2009, Rangers coach John Tortorella called Ryan Callahan " A Pro" and The Mouth couldn’t agree more.

Before the Big man began this wonderful video blog for us he was not the biggest Callahan supporter, he found Ryan small and streaky. Two things that bugged the heck out of him.

It’s takes a big man to admit he’s wrong and the Mouth is certainly is that and he takes back every negative thing he ever uttered about Ryan.

The penalty killing shift that is shown in the first part of clip is one of sacrifice, tenacity, skill and endurance. It really is an amazing series of plays, which includes two separate spoilers of Alexander Ovechkin Power Play shots the last of which results with a super Ryan Callahan goal.

The goal had come when Callahan had nothing left in the tank but hockey heart and that's what got it done..

The second part of the clip takes place just two minutes after Ryan’s tally and gives kudos to the Rangers third line. The hustle of both Artem Anisimov and Enver Lisin in the offensive zone is textbook, combined with a great finish by Ales Kotalik.

Kotalik ended up scoring a sweet goal , that made four Capitals on the ice look absolutely foolish in it’s wake.

Two Days, Two Games, Two Fights : Donald Brashear vs Matt Carkner

Looks like Donald Brashear is going to be a busy ruffian this year as he has already had two fights in his first three games. The season is young but Donald is fitting in well and making the fourth line a positive intangible with both offensive effort and body work.

The Big Rig used his most useful asset, which are his dukes when he threw down against Matt Carkner of the Ottawa Senators on October 3rd, 2009 at MSG.

Matt Carkner who is the cousin of former Blueshirt defenseman Terry Carkner, is no stranger to brawling as he once accumulating 335 penalty minutes in the AHL for the Cleveland Barons. 

The fight itself is uneventful but there is a punch thrown by Brashear that catches Carkner’s helmet flush on. Lucky For Carkner it was his helmet that flew off and not his head.

Domo Arigato Mister Del Zotto : Michael Del Zotto's First NHL Goal Video w/Commentary

Ranger Crisis Radio programming Note: We have Moved to Wednesday's 9-11 PM. Tonight we recap the Rangers first Three and a half Games. We take your calls all night.
(347) 857-2090
Listen to Ranger Crisis on Blog Talk Radio

The Mouth wishes to thank Michael Del Zotto for being the first Ranger teenage defenseman to score a goal since Mario Marios did it during the Carter administration.

MDZ as the kids call him, did it in only his second NHL game and his first as a Ranger at Madison Square Garden.

The goal is also a great example of teamwork as the entire unit of Five touched the puck before Del Zotto put his first NHL biscuit into Senator’s goalie Pascal Leclaire’s basket.

Donald Brashear Introduces Left Handed Stun Gun To Eric Godard's Face : Big Rig Episode 2

Donald Brashear had his first fight as a Ranger as he took on a familiar fight face to Ranger fans in the 6’4 227 lb Eric Godard. The tussle was initiated by Godard and The Big Rig was more then happy to oblige.

The opening of the fight is where Brashear showed his quickness, scoring early and stunning the Pittsburgh enforcer Godard. . Godard has always been a game fighter as we found out last year in Colton Orr’s “GigantOrr” series

It was great to see the Big Rig shake the cob webs off from the off season and get down and dirty and do extremely well in his first official regular season battle as a Blueshirt.

Ranger Crisis Radio Rocking Eve

The Mouth guests On This show brought their A game to the show and it all started with Top Notch Ranger Prospect Expert from Hockey's Future Leslie Treff.

The Mouth and Leslie went over as promised practically every young prospect in the Rangers organization for 45 Minutes!

Prospect's Covered In Order

• Artem Anisimov
• Matt Gilroy
• Michael Del Zotto
• Evgeny Grachev
• P.A Paranteau
• Mike Sauer 
• Ilkka Heikkinen
• Hugh Jessiman  ( Yes Hugh Jessiman !)
• Corey Potter
• Ryan McDonagh
• Derek Stepan
• Ryan Bourque
• Bobby Sanguinetti
  
  The Second half of the show some heated banter ensued as The Mouth and his co-host Mandar along with his guests Russ Cohen and Adam Raider debated the state of the Rangers now as well as the past concerning some of the player rankings in Russ and Adam's fantastic new Book "100 Ranger Greats"

Ranger Crisis Radio Tonight 9-11PM : Guests Leslie Treff , Russ Cohen and Adam Raider

Tonight guests are a Ranger Prospect fans dream. Leslie Treff Of Hockey's Future is probably the foremost authority on Rangers Youth and Prospects. The Mouth and Leslie will be discussing the young players that have made the Rangers team as well as the ones who will be in Hartford and even the young Ranger hopefuls who are in juniors and in college.

Th second part of this fabulous prospect twin bill is Russ Cohen who does a prospect show for XM radio. He will be joined by Adam Raider who both collaborated with ex-Ranger PR man John Halligan on their newly released book " 100 Ranger Greats"

Informative and fun, Check it out !

Listen to Ranger Crisis on Blog Talk Radio

Rangers On David Letterman : "Top 10 Things Never Before Spoken By A Hockey Player."

Ten Rangers appeared with David Letterman's on his late night television program to help him out with his Top 10 segment.

The Topic was "Top 10 things Never Before Spoken By A Hockey Player."

The following Rangers Appeared in no particular order :

Henrik Lundqvist, Sean Avery, Marian Gaborik, Marc Staal, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Donald Brashear, Dan Girardi, Brandon Dubinsky, and Christopher Higgins.