49 Years ago today

Philip Jeff Frye

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Oct 23, 2001
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Not really an NHL fan and certainly not a Bruins fan, but that is without a doubt the greatest single photograph in the history of sports.
 
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mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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That poster was on the wall 'til I went to University. Among many great elements is the fact that Noel Picard has the "4" on his skates - kind of the Blues yang to Bobby's yin.

I travel through Parry Sound pretty often, and always keep my eyes open for a Bobby sighting. I though I saw him in front of his museum once, but it would have been odd for someone my age to drive in and see if I could shake his hand. I was pretty sorely tempted, though!
 

Oil Can Dan

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Jul 31, 2003
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Can you say more about the 4? I am not at all familiar with it. Was born in 71 so before my time (although this pic currently hangs on a wall in my house).
 

Maurice09

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Aug 3, 2005
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Was born in 69. My dad was from Northampton and moved to western NY for work. He became a Bruins fan after moving watching Orr on Hockey Night in Canada. He is by far my favorite athlete I have never watched live. In my opinion the best all around hockey player of all time.
 

Jordu

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Apr 30, 2003
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Can you say more about the 4? I am not at all familiar with it. Was born in 71 so before my time (although this pic currently hangs on a wall in my house).
It was Picard’s number. Back in the day players put their numbers on their equipment so they could pick it out of a pile. Like baseball player’s helmets.
 

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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Was born in 69. My dad was from Northampton and moved to western NY for work. He became a Bruins fan after moving watching Orr on Hockey Night in Canada. He is by far my favorite athlete I have never watched live. In my opinion the best all around hockey player of all time.
Kinda funny, with your screen name!

And you're not alone in that opinion. I remember seeing Gordie Howe quoted as saying something to the effect of "a team with 5 Orrs would beat a team of 5 Howes or a team of 5 Gretzkys." I believe it, too - watching Bobby skate was a pretty amazing experience.
 

dhappy42

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Oct 27, 2013
15,725
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Some people think that because of modern conditioning, nutrition, etc. that modern baseball players are better than players of 50 years ago (but also that this has been somewhat disguised by expansion.) Can the same thing be said about hockey? Or would Bobby Orr be, far and away, the best player on the ice today?
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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Some people think that because of modern conditioning, nutrition, etc. that modern baseball players are better than players of 50 years ago (but also that this has been somewhat disguised by expansion.) Can the same thing be said about hockey? Or would Bobby Orr be, far and away, the best player on the ice today?
Hockey players today are indeed faster, stronger, and bigger than the days of the Original 6. Goaltending techniques have also changed dramatically, with high-tech pads playing a big role. So the gap between Orr and the other players would not be as large as it was in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Still, looking at those highlight reels on Youtube, you get to see how much better Orr was than everyone around him. So, I think I would answer yes to your 2nd question as well.
 

catomatic

thinks gen turgidson is super mean!!!
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Jul 16, 2005
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Early in my career I spent nearly a week with Bobby on a shoot for a BayBanks Ad. I'd read his book (with Phil) when I was starting to play organized hockey - I knew all about him and revered the man. My dad and I watched Bruins games on a 13" B&W Philco with dodgy rabbit ears.

We were on roller blades on the common for a bit - that's the part of the Ad I remember most, and the reason I was hired for it. NESCAC JV Skills... He worked at Pandick Press in South Boston at the time and brought me to his office to play putt-putt golf and nerf hoops.

I remember his head turning to me in the car when I asked him about Parry Sound and his dad's practice of drilling out pucks and filling them with lead.

Boy, I wish his Achilles knees hadn't given out as they did. But his game was pedal to the floor and he was targeted a lot - especially in the act of some bit of skating derring-do.

Bobby signed my hockey glove and I scored a hat trick in men's league the night I played with them.

The thing I took away from the week was how much of an honest-to-god prince of a man Bobby Orr is. You need to be with him to appreciate how warm, thoughtful, intelligent and kind he is. Totally disarming.

I wear 20 in honor of his partner, Dallas Smith, whose poke and sweep checks were things of beauty.

Yes, I still have the signed glove. No, I didn't play with it after I realized what an idiot I was being.

Long live Bobby Orr.
 

Marciano490

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Nov 4, 2007
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For whatever reason I feel like I run into more people who have Bobby Orr stories than any other athlete, and I’ve never heard any that aren’t glowing. He might literally be the best man alive. I can’t think of anyone else that has that kind of universal acclaim.
 

The Long Tater

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My Dad was a season ticket holder and was at that game. His seats were in the balcony at the other end of the rink. He brags about having been there, but if pressed will ruefully admit that it happened so fast that he and his friends didn’t really know what happened.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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For whatever reason I feel like I run into more people who have Bobby Orr stories than any other athlete, and I’ve never heard any that aren’t glowing. He might literally be the best man alive. I can’t think of anyone else that has that kind of universal acclaim.
100% truth.
 

pedro1918

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Mar 5, 2004
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I was born in '68. I had the poster too. My all time favorite athlete. My father used to tell the story of my first Bruins game in October of 1974 for my sixth birthday. They beat the Seals. He always said he never saw me more excited than right after the PA announced "on defense, number 4, Bobby Orr!"

I met him once, about 15 years ago. Still thrilled.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

has big, douchey shoulders
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For whatever reason I feel like I run into more people who have Bobby Orr stories than any other athlete, and I’ve never heard any that aren’t glowing. He might literally be the best man alive. I can’t think of anyone else that has that kind of universal acclaim.
At least now that Hondo is dead.
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

Red-headed Skrub child
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Jul 21, 2005
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Seacoast NH
For whatever reason I feel like I run into more people who have Bobby Orr stories than any other athlete, and I’ve never heard any that aren’t glowing. He might literally be the best man alive. I can’t think of anyone else that has that kind of universal acclaim.
Back in 70’s my aunt was diagnosed with cancer and after a relatively short time she died leaving behind my uncle and his three sons. My cousins were young but had become huge hockey fans and had started playing because that’s what happened in Massachusetts during the Orr years. Long story short my grandfather had some friends who knew some people and it was arranged to have Mr. Orr do a quick stop by their house to lift their spirits.

This was supposed to be a 10-15 minute thing but he ended up not only taking pictures and chatting with them but he stayed for dinner and played a little driveway hockey with them. I would be hard pressed to think of anything he could do that would make my uncle and cousins rethink their position that he is in fact a living saint.
 

Fred not Lynn

Dick Button Jr.
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Jul 13, 2005
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I was 12 years old when I witnessed this. My life was never the same.[/IMG]
Neither was mine.

A lot of things were never the same. Within a year of that, ground had been broken on God knows how many rinks in New England...eight years later, the kids who started playing hockey on those rinks won a few high-stakes hockey games in upstate New York...

...and after that, hockey in America was never the same.
 

NAR29996

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Feb 2, 2006
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First game I remember watching. Was at my grandmother's apartment with her sisters and their husbands. Watched many more games at grandma's apartment as her cable came with WSBK.
 

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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First game I remember watching. Was at my grandmother's apartment with her sisters and their husbands. Watched many more games at grandma's apartment as her cable came with WSBK.
Great. Now I can't get that "Nutrocker" pregame music out of my head!

Here's the 70s intro, complete with both the top of post pic and a clip of the play: (I think everything after 2:00 was tacked on)

For some reason, I can't find the one I remember as a kid - with Cashman checking someone through a door in the boards, and then popping up on the other side of the glass, throwing punches...
 

Leather

given himself a skunk spot
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Jul 18, 2005
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Neither was mine.

A lot of things were never the same. Within a year of that, ground had been broken on God knows how many rinks in New England...eight years later, the kids who started playing hockey on those rinks won a few high-stakes hockey games in upstate New York...

...and after that, hockey in America was never the same.
That’s a nice yarn but it doesn’t really hold up. Mike Eurizione, for instance, was 16 in 1970. I don’t think he (or a 13+ year old Jim Craig, and never mind the majority- chunk of the 1980 team from Minnesota and Wisconsin) cut their teeth on rinks built by Boston fans in the early 70s.
 

Fred not Lynn

Dick Button Jr.
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Jul 13, 2005
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That’s a nice yarn but it doesn’t really hold up. Mike Eurizione, for instance, was 16 in 1970. I don’t think he (or a 13+ year old Jim Craig, and never mind the majority- chunk of the 1980 team from Minnesota and Wisconsin) cut their teeth on rinks built by Boston fans in the early 70s.
It’s my story and I am sticking to it...

...and if you want to throw out 1980, the 1996 World Cup win (actually a more significant achievement that doesn’t get nearly enough love) WAS highly populated by those kids who started playing on those Orr era rinks...
 

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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It’s my story and I am sticking to it...

...and if you want to throw out 1980, the 1996 World Cup win (actually a more significant achievement that doesn’t get nearly enough love) WAS highly populated by those kids who started playing on those Orr era rinks...
Speaking of...did anyone else here get "Orr on Ice" to figure out what equipment you needed, and how to put it on?
 

MakeMineMoxie

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Jul 15, 2005
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The floor of Punter's Pub
I was 13 years old in August of 1967 when we moved from Chicago to Framingham. Not following the AL or hockey at all, I had to ask people "Who's this Yaz guy I see selling bread on TV and what the heck is a Bobby Orr?" I soon found out.

Orr captivated me like no other athlete then or since. The enduring image I have of him is picking up the puck behind the net from Cheevers or Johnston and starting that rush up the ice. To the opposing goalie, it must have felt like the 5 Horsemen of the Apocalypse were descending upon him.

Not only the GOAT (to me) but also a better man then he was a player.

Like the rest of New England, I was glued to the TV that day.

Now, bring on the Blues for an anniversary rematch and Bruins victory.