Randeep Janda

That came from the fan experience.

Now, when I stepped into the gondola for the first time, you know, to call games, it's an intimidating experience because, you know, being somebody from this market, you know what that Jim Robson broadcast gondola means.

It's named after the goat in the city, but also, you know, Shorty, Larshide, obviously Cheech, Jim Houston, go through the names of people that worked in there.

It's an intimidating place.

When you step in there and John was one of those individuals that, you know, we had a bit of a relationship before we do the radio shows, we chat over the phone, but in person, I didn't know him that well until I took that role.

And what I loved about John was that, you know, I'd get there maybe a couple hours before puck drop and he,

i remember one time he just basically said hey come on let me show you how my system works like i didn't ask for it he didn't he didn't have to but he just he showed me his handwritten system every single night he'd sit there watch highlights for half hour 45 minutes with his granddaughter he had a color-coded system and he said i'm old school i still do it by hand but everybody's got a system and i'm sure you have yours too but he he would you know he just he didn't have to do

guy that, you know, was at it with the greatest broadcasters of all time.

And to get that sort of inroad to his line of thinking or the stories that he would tell, you know, playing against, you know, whether it was Lemieux and the

peeks into his history and him cracking jokes.

Like it just normalized everything for me who was stepping into the broadcast.

I was nervous.

You know, I hadn't, hadn't been there before.

And she was just, whether it was showing his process, whether it was making fun of himself to just normalize everything around him.

He's,

So fantastic in that way, because guys, we know broadcasters, you know, in the industry, if you've been at it for 40 years, 35 years, 30 years, whatever it was at that point in time, not everybody's so welcoming, right?

And Cheech, that was the beauty of it.

And whether it was, you know, somebody that walked into the gondola for the first time on a tour, or if

or your colleague, he just made you feel at home.

And he'd take a shot at you every now and then, but he'd take a shot at himself as well.