I like Ron Maclean.

Ron Maclean is a good person and a broadcasting institution in the Great White North.  He’s always been good to me, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who knows Ron who has a bad thing to say about the man.

He trends every Saturday night because a specific segment of the hockey world can’t let go of Don Cherry’s firing.

He also trends every Saturday because the entire hockey world is more ‘Spittin’ Chiclets’ than ‘HNIC,’ and Ron is still using references from 1989.

The Maple Leafs spent sixty minutes pounding the Edmonton Oilers last night (6-3), and career grinder Bobby McMann had a 3-point night for the Leafs.  Ron went back to 1964 to reference Glen Sather’s mom’s ladies’ wear store to start the interview, and Bobby had no fucking clue what was happening.

Neither did anyone else

This was the most Ron MacLean thing I've ever witnessed. pic.twitter.com/3T1bfDU4bP

— Erin Wenckstern (@erinwenckstern) March 24, 2024

The Panel’s faces and body language…

Once again, I like Ron, but at some point, Ron has to wave the white flag in specific capacities, like the rest of us who aren’t getting any younger. Maybe he and Sportsnet can spin these references from a time when seatbelts weren’t mandatory into a “thing” because these references to Glen Sather’s Mom’s dress shop in Wainwright, Alberta, during an interview with Bobby McMann between periods make me laugh, too—in a cute and endearing way.

I felt that way about Don Cherry’s xenophobic/racist rants, too, but I’m built differently. I don’t judge, and I’m incredibly hard to offend and expect everyone over the age of 70 to be a little “environmentally” racist.

I expect a nearly 70-year-old Ron Maclean to live in the time of his parlance, but the game and the reviewing and broadcasting of games have changed so much that Ron sounds like he’s past his best before the date. It happens to all of us.

There’s a reason I won’t/can’t do certain media gigs. I’d be laughed out of the room based on comparatives and references familiar to me in specific demographics. Hockey fans, thanks to more accessible hockey brands like Spittin Chiclets, have changed the game in terms of audience demos, and Ron is a throwback. He’s also very well-rounded and well-read, not a trait younger hockey fans share, so they laugh at these swings and all his Farley Mowat quotes because they think he’s nerdy.

Ron is woven into the hockey fabric of this country. He deserves all of our respect for his incredible career, and I still love hearing him open a segment to start a broadcast. You, the panel, and the players he’s talking to might not understand some of his references, but deciphering Ron through reaction videos has sort of become one of my favorite Sunday morning games.