The Amazin'

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, he called me a cheat, but he's a legend and I'm not.

Bill Mazer signs off from a 92-year-long broadcast. I'd say goodbye by invoking a signature line of his, but he was never so cheap as to pimp out his act.

[Guest themetfairy]

My dad always spoke about Mazer from his days in Buffalo - he was a popular figure in our household.

RIP Bill.

[Edgy MD]

That shot of young Bill (from his Buffalo days) reminds me a little of Chris Elliot.

[G-Fafif]

Amazin' indeed. The progenitor of the modern sports talk host (but only the good kind, I'd like to think). And very nice to me when I called to ask why Buzz Capra was farmed out ("for more seasoning," he told me). Was Channel 5 when that meant something in New York.

Worth another listen...

[youtube:1piz01ap]FYuWIu-awvU[/youtube:1piz01ap]

[ashie62]

Sports Extra with Lee Leonard..

[Edgy MD]

There are, quite simply, two things in this world that are Amazin' --- Casey Stengel's Mets and Bill Mazer. The adjective has no other applications that I can see.

[G-Fafif]

Ashie62 wrote: Sports Extra with Lee Leonard..

With essays by Jerry Izenberg. An unimaginably classy show for local TV.

[Edgy MD]

You think about Mazer. He had no great voice, no commanding presence, no background as a player to borrow authority from, no masterful cadence or gimmicky trademark calls. He would do the Jets pre-season games on Channel 5/WNEW, and you knew that this certainly wasn't a network dude, as nothing about him was trying to sell you on the exCITEment of the eVENT!

All he had going for him was his authority. Some of it was intellectual, some of it was moral, and of course, by the time most of us got to hear him, a big chunk of it was experiential.

But with the number of broadcast jobs available multiplied several times over these days it's hard to imagine the likes of a young Mazer being let anywhere near a microphone. If he did make it onto the air, he'd likely never make it out of Buffalo.

But Colin Cowherd can be heard in virtually every market. And his imitators are everywhere. (And I mean everywhere --- behind you at the supermarket, driving your cab, getting drunk on the next blanket over at the beach... .)

[MFS62]

I posted this in the "Look who died" thread in the non-baseball forum. I'll delete that post.
I used to listen, and call, all the time. Even stumped him with a trivia question. I liked it when he would let you talk to his guests. He was comfortable speaking about a wide range of sports and was a true gentleman, who never insulted or denigrated his callers or the teams for which they rooted. Too bad many of today's sports radio hosts never followed that example.


RIP
Later

[dgwphotography]

G-Fafif wrote: Ashie62 wrote: Sports Extra with Lee Leonard.. With essays by Jerry Izenberg. An unimaginably classy show for local TV.

...and reporting by Art Shamsky.

Sports Extra was the show to watch every Sunday night.

As has been already said, he was classy, reasoned, patient, and a true gentleman. The sports world was a better place because of him, and is now a lot poorer without him in it.

[MFS62]

Marty Glickman, Art Rust, Jr. and now Bill Mazer.
Each a radio sports broadcasting pioneer in his own right.

RIP all of them.

Later

[Vic Sage]

Mazer was at my elementary school assembly one year (P.S. 188, Coney Island) giving out sports awards to us, and i got a "participation award" (or something) from him and shook his hand.
i had no idea who he was at the time. then I saw him doing sports on Channel 5 and thought it was cool i got something from somebody on tv.
I became less impressed with him over the years.