Speculation: Is Jack Edwards ok?!

World of Wardlow

Unscripted Violence
Jul 13, 2006
8,442
280
Montreal
I haven't watched enough Bruins games this year because I just haven't had to chance. But when I have, Jack has sounded off. Not sure how to put it, but I'm sure everyone here knows what I mean.

I have no issues listening to Jack, in fact I have enjoyed the duo of Jack and Brickley over the years. But, this year sounds different. Is he ok? He is stumbling on words and sentences way more often, going often on tangents, etc.

I've seen people saying he's drunk, to people saying it could be a speech disorder.

Any idea?
 

Dellstrom

Pastrnasty
May 1, 2011
25,096
3,526
Boston
Feels weird to call him “crazy” because that’s always been his shtick, but it doesn’t really feel like a character sonetimes. I have also noticed he’s slurring words a lot.

He’s a lunatic but he’s our lunatic. Hope everything is ok.
 

UConn126

Bass Player.
Sponsor
Jun 12, 2010
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Somerville, MA
Not every broadcaster can have the longevity of an Al Michaels or Doc Emrick. I don't think anything is wrong with Jack health-wise, I think he's getting up there in age and it's clear his vocal dexterity ain't what it used to be. Totally normal part of the aging process.
 

missingchicklet

Registered User
Jan 24, 2010
36,589
34,463
His mind function is clearly ok. He still does fine keeping up with the action and understanding the game.

He stumbles over some words and slurs his speech at times, though. Sounds drunk for brief moments, then back to normal.

Like others, hope everything is ok with Jack. Always been a fan, and still am.
 

Patdud

Registered User
Mar 23, 2022
1,679
2,435
New Hampshire
I haven't watched enough Bruins games this year because I just haven't had to chance. But when I have, Jack has sounded off. Not sure how to put it, but I'm sure everyone here knows what I mean.

I have no issues listening to Jack, in fact I have enjoyed the duo of Jack and Brickley over the years. But, this year sounds different. Is he ok? He is stumbling on words and sentences way more often, going often on tangents, etc.

I've seen people saying he's drunk, to people saying it could be a speech disorder.

Any idea?
Noticed it starting a few years ago, transitions between thoughts are harder, cant keep up with the play, incoherent/nonsensical tangents, speech pattern is off, long pauses.

I'm only married to an SLP (not one myself) but from my uneducated basis is seems like the start of Aphasia, although no news about strokes or TBI so it could be age related/degenerative? like I said idk.
 

RoccoF14

Registered User
Mar 1, 2016
5,390
7,999
Chicago, IL
Its not a secret that I'm NOT a Jack Edwards fan. However I wish him well. There's definitely something going on and I hope he's taking the steps to treat/reverse the issue and he is on the road to recovery.

That said, I'm going to respect his privacy on that. Quite frankly, its none of our business what's going on and I don't feel comfortable speculating about it. As long as Jack feels he can do his job effectively and NESN feels the same, I can live with it.
 

RoccoF14

Registered User
Mar 1, 2016
5,390
7,999
Chicago, IL
Meanwhile, shots fired.





2 completely different issues. I heard the Maroon comments yesterday and didn't like them either. I got a problem with broadcasters who've never even sniffed the NHL, taking shots at NHL players' weight. It was a cheap shot and it was unnecessary. It also isn't the first time its happened, either.

However that has nothing to do with Jack's ability to speak and that should be out of bounds.

I'll continue to call him out about WHAT he says, but I'm not going to hammer him on HOW he speaks.
 

RussellmaniaKW

Registered User
Sep 15, 2004
19,692
21,783
I said this in the GDT but like everyone else I've noticed it too. It has been going on for a while, like I think it was noticeable all last year too, but it is definitely getting worse.

I don't think he's drinking or anything like that because he's still clearly lucid and engaged. It definitely comes off more like something inherently limiting his motor skills.

My totally speculative guess is that he has some medical condition that is impacting his performance and that the only reason he's still working through it is because he knows this is probably the last run with the old Bruins core and he wants to be a part of it. I would not be surprised at all if he announces that he's stepping away for personal/medical reasons after this season.

Again this is all speculative on my part. If there is a medical issue I just hope he's aware of it and taking care of himself. But at the rate he's declining I don't see how he can keep doing this job much beyond this year because people are definitely noticing it. The Maroon clip from last night was posted on the main hockey subreddit last night, for example, and random fans of other teams were all pointing out how off he sounded. It's definitely not subtle any more.
 

danpantz

Registered User
Mar 31, 2013
7,775
10,836
He's 65. I think he's slowing down and we just notice the change because we have been with him for so long.

I hope it's not health related and more just slowing down with age as we all do.
 
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RussellmaniaKW

Registered User
Sep 15, 2004
19,692
21,783
He's 65. I think he's slowing down and we just notice the change because we have been with him for so long.

I hope it's not health related and more just slowing down with age as we all do.
I can't see it being just age-related. He is almost constantly struggling to get words out during the course of play now. It has been a pretty steep decline for the last couple years.

Also as I noted in my other post I'm seeing fans of other teams pick up on it too, so it's not just Bruins fans noticing a change over time.
 

danpantz

Registered User
Mar 31, 2013
7,775
10,836
I can't see it being just age-related. He is almost constantly struggling to get words out during the course of play now. It has been a pretty steep decline for the last couple years.

Also as I noted in my other post I'm seeing fans of other teams pick up on it too, so it's not just Bruins fans noticing a change over time.

Lots of miles on his tires. Eventually everyone starts to wear down.
 

RussellmaniaKW

Registered User
Sep 15, 2004
19,692
21,783
Lots of miles on his tires. Eventually everyone starts to wear down.
time certainly defeats all of us. And to be clear I don't think any of us are picking on Jack for potentially having a medically-induced decline in performance. But at the end of the day, the job is to do live broadcasting for an original 6 NHL team. I don't think many of us are rooting against him, but if he can't do the job up to a certain professional standard then it's probably time for him to move on.

I'm not a Jack fan but seems weird to speculate about the man's health absent news or something egregious.
why is it weird? his whole job is to speak publicly and he has clearly been struggling with that. It's perfectly reasonable to wonder why, especially when it has been a fairly rapid decline. I don't think the speculation is malicious in nature.
 
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RussellmaniaKW

Registered User
Sep 15, 2004
19,692
21,783
fwiw I thought Jack's comments about Maroon were clearly lighthearted in nature and he ended them by acknowledging that he has been extremely successful so the "fat" stuff isn't real criticism. He wasn't making any jokes that thousands of fans (and players) haven't already made, but he made sure to indicate he wasn't actually putting the guy down.

The problem is that these rants he goes on are extremely easy to take out of context and used to make him, NESN and the Bruins look bad.
 

ON3M4N

Ignores/60 = Elite
Dec 13, 2015
12,966
17,902
Connecticut


So he's been known as Fat Pat since he was 7 and they call him big rig, but don't dare says he's big on the air because that's fat shaming LMAO.

They used to talk about how Chara drank coke on the bench IIRC...was that health shaming and if some why didn't anyone say anything?

^that questions isn't directed at you BTW
 

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