Media people

Ex-Kings broadcasters admit to some tears this week

dustin-brown-bob-miller-alcorn.jpgTom Hoffarth, the sports media columnist for the Daily News, checked in with the small club of broadcasters who used to do Los Angeles Kings games during the team's 45 years of losing before this season. They either worked with Bob Miller or preceded him, and all got emotional about the Kings finally winning the Stanley Cup.

Jiggs McDonald admitted he danced a bit of a jig. "It was a slow one," the 73-year-old said from his summer home in Ontario, Canada, just north of Toronto. "Do I have to tell? Yes, I was crying."

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Rich Marotta watched from his home in Reno, Nev., texting his son in Agoura Hills, taking intermittent calls from his mom, Terry, in Las Vegas, and found himself on the phone with his daughter from Texas when it all hit him. "I couldn't talk to her - I was getting choked up," he said. "Tears, a big lump in my throat. I said, `I'm sorry, I gotta go."

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[Pete Weber] had to give himself a quiet moment in the restroom. "At least I was intelligent enough to make sure I had a good supply of Kimberly Clarke stock in my pocket so people wouldn't worry about what was wrong with me."

NBC announcer Doc Emrick gave a nice shout out at the end of the game Monday night to some of the ex-casters and to Bob Borgen, the longtime producer and writer for the Kings, who I don't believe is with the team any longer.

On a similar note, Kings blogger Rich Hammond nodded in a post to Matt McHale, the late Kings beat writer for the Daily News who died in 2008, and to Graig Woodburn, who covered the Kings for AP and died in 2010.

Kings broadcaster Bob Miller with captain Dustin Brown at Thursday's Staples Center rally, by Jonathan Alcorn


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