Jack Edwards is a one of a kind personality known to New Englanders as the man who calls the Bruins games on NESN. He makes crazy analogies, and is never afraid to take a chance. There is no in between opinion of him, you either love him or hate him (if you’re from Montreal, we’re guessing it’s the latter).
It may or may not surprise Boston fans to learn that Edwards wasn’t always strictly a hockey announcer. Edwards used to work for ESPN, where he did a number of jobs (even the Little League World Series). The most notable of those pre-NESN jobs was probably his time calling games at the 2002 World Cup, held in Japan and South Korea. He watched Team USA achieve its best result in modern times, reaching the quarterfinals.
And, on this day (June 5th) in 2002, Edwards had the call as the U.S. men’s team pulled one of their biggest upsets in history. Facing Champions League winner and reigning FIFA World Player of the Year Luis Figo (playing for Portugal), the United States was given no chance in their opening game.
The Americans had other ideas.
John O’Brien lashed home a rebound from a Brian McBride header, and you’ll recognize Edwards’ “scores!” call:
Edwards continued to be good luck, as a (then) 18-year-old Landon Donovan got a fortuitous deflection. The Bruins announcer could barely say Donovan’s name. He was that excited:
Shock the world, indeed. And the ambitious USA team wasn’t done. They crafted arguably their best goal of the bunch, countering to perfection:
“I guarantee you this is stopping traffic all over Europe,” an elated Edwards asserted. Bruce Arena’s United States squad would go on to win the game 3-2, and eventually advance to the knockout stages, where they defeated their arch rivals, Mexico, by a 2-0 final. Upon the final whistle of that game, Edwards unleashed one of the better USA calls ever uttered:
“The land of the free, the home of the brave, is into the Round of Eight!”
It was a crowning moment for the U.S. team at that time, who had been unceremoniously dumped out of the previous World Cup first round in 1998 (finishing last). And it was a great moment for Edwards, whose career was only just beginning to take off.
