Montreal Media Legend Red Fisher Retires

http://www.canadiens-montreal.com/nouvelles/anciens.php?article=106781

One of the best.

Red Fisher's first Montreal Canadiens game was the Richard Riot in 1955. Good way to get your feet wet .

 

I remember seeing Red at the old Garden press room after a Canadiens-Bruins game. He dipped into his briefcase, pulled out a pint of Chivas, set it by his computer and started writing. I was impressed at this proudly old school behavior.

 

Red was an original. Much respect.

 

Quite literally the end of an era. I don't know how long it's been since there was someone else covering the NHL whose career dates back to the Original Six.

 

At least for one game the players weren't giving him the cliche answers then.

Sad to see him done. Amazing he held on as long as he has.

 

So who's shoes are harder to fill, his or Roy's after getting traded?

 

Fisher's, but his bosses don't care as long as someone is filling the white spaces between the ads with something resembling copy.

 

I've forgotten who asked the question (maybe a member of the media) but it was something like, "Did you stop going down to the dressing room after games because of your age".

His answer was (paraphrase), "No, none of the players have anything interesting to say"

 

I told this story on twitter, but for those of you who somehow are not among my vast legions of incredibly devoted followers, sometime in the late 90s I was at a hockey writers meeting. I think it was in Vancouver. The NHL had sent Colin Campbell down to soothe us with a lot of platitudes about maintaining a dialogue, and respecting our needs, and yada, yada. Finally Red looked up and said: "Colin, go shit in your hat."
Brought a moment of clarity to the proceedings.

 

Good advice for the kids: Always rationalize laziness with smugness.

 

I know you'll appreciate the fact that, when I was young and just starting to get into what sports writers did and who they were, I didn't realize that this Red Fisher and the guy from Scuttlebutt Lodge were two different people. :-\

 

Uncalled for. You have Red Fisher's career, live that long that productively, you have the right to do it the way you want.