Inspired By NBC's Ed Olczyk

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
PHOTOS BY CANDICE EBLING

There are certain individuals that I get inspired by in different ways and NBC Hockey Broadcaster Ed Olczyk definitely struck a chord with me due to his recent battles with Colon Cancer.

Olczyk was diagnosed with Colon Cancer on August 8, 2017.

He turned 51 on August 16, 2017.

Not the type of news you want to hear before your birthday.

But the Chicago native whose nickname is "Edzo" has been through a lot of adversity, but I admire the courage he's demonstrated in handling his Cancer diagnosis.

Olczyk had to recover from a 5 1/2 hour surgery to remove a tumor and a section of his colon before he could begin his chemotherapy.

Olczyk has undergone three chemotherapy treatments and has nine to go.

Five weeks after starting a 24-week chemotherapy regimen for Colon Cancer, Olczyk returned for an NBC Broadcast of a Wednesday Night Rivalry Game between the Chicago Blackhawks vs St. Louis Blues in Missouri. He was paired with his Hall of Fame Partner Mike "Doc" Emrick.

I was inspired by his words on the broadcast and that I wanted to use his courage in a positive way.

This year has caused me to deal with numerous health challenges.

I've had to deal with a Misdiagnosis of Parkinson's Disease, thus causing me to take medication which I shouldn't have been taking.

All of this was caused by tremors, mini seizures, and I'm still dealing with this right now.

In February, I was hospitalized a week due to Staph Infection, and as a Newlywed, it wasn't fun spending My first Valentine's Day in a hospital. I can think of more romantic places than that.

My Diabetes was getting worse as My A1C rating climbed, but thankfully, I've regained control of the situation by dropping a lot of weight due to an extensive exercise adjustment and a major overhaul of my diet.

As the year progressed, My Doctor decreased that medication.

I am feeling much better than I have in a long time. I'm still continuing to lose weight and admit that it's fun being thin again!

My goal is to get below 200 pounds and I'm confident I can attain that pretty soon. I've reached the low 200's. Since February, I've lost over 60 pounds.

But the challenges continued as I had to deal with Prostate Surgery in June.

From there, I would be told that I'd have to have a Pacemaker in My Body to correct some Major Internal Problems. This would turn out to be a two-part procedure, and of all the years that I've been operated on, this undoubtedly turned out to be one of the most demanding surgeries!

There was a small issue before I could be cleared for the Pacemaker to be installed.

During Pre-Operation Clearance, there was a Blockage In My Heart and I had to see a Cardiologist at the University of Miami days before this operation would be performed.

Ironically, I was cleared before the Prostate Surgery, but there were blockages and abnormalities that took place in just a 90-day span.

The doctor did clear me for The Pacemaker, but he did tell me to have my regular physician look into this when I have my yearly physical which is going to take place in a few weeks.

Throughout the year, I've drawn from the gracious moral support from my wife, family and friends as they've been tremendous in their encouragement.

I was very moved by My Friends on Facebook who also offered their prayers, get well wishes and support.

My Pacemaker Surgery took place on October 24, 2017 at the University of Miami Hospital.

There was one minor issue as My Health Insurance was in Pending Status, thus it delayed the operation by a five hours.

What's even crazier was the fact that my wife and I had to wait in the admissions waiting room for five hours, and this place was like a freezer.

But we stuck it out and did what we had to do.

Time will tell about the impact of this operation.

I do know that I won't be able to have any more MRI's, and going through Security Checks at Airports as well as Sporting Events will be much different.

My recovery time figures to take several months, however, I'm not going to worry about this because Cancer and Heart Patients don't have it easy.

I do face the probability that My body does Reject The Pacemaker and is prone to Infections, but I understood that going into the surgery and accepted that risk.

Former Detroit Red Wings Announcer Dave Strader died recently because of Cancer and Olczyk, a person that I would like to meet one day, are individuals that continue to inspire me.


As I said, I'm blessed with the support system I have.

What I do know is that I was under Excellent Medical Care as the University of Miami is one of the Best Hospitals in the country, thus I had Zero Anxiety.

Four days after my surgery, the Detroit Red Wings visited the Florida Panthers on Saturday, October 28 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL.

In my mind, this was a game I wanted to cover, but the only way I could do this was to take it slowly for three days leading to the contest as well as afterwards.

The day of the contest, I rested all day before we took off for the game. I got a ride home from my photographer afterwards.

The Red Wings only play the Panthers twice a year down in South Florida, unless they were to meet in the playoffs, which hasn't occurred yet.

I'm thankful that I have a lot of great friends that I get to see when they come to South Florida.

Detroit Sports Media President Trevor Thompson, Red Wings Radio Play-By-Play Announcer Ken Kal and his Color Analyst Paul Woods are extremely genuine colleagues.

Dana Wakiji, Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News, Helene St. James and Mike Lewis of the Panthers PR Department, are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Thompson kept telling me to get my work done by the second period and leave early to get some rest. But I have a policy that I don't leave sporting events early.

As it turns out, the Red Wings defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 in a shootout and snapped a six game losing streak. These two teams always play great games in this venue.

The Red Wings took their Florida momentum back to Detroit and defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 Tuesday Night and now have won two contests in a row.

When I got home, I sent Thompson a text message and told him that I look forward to seeing him at the Detroit Sports Media Christmas Party on December 8, 2017.

He told me when I go to Little Caesars Arena that I better expect to do a lot of walking. I told him when I started working out to lose weight, I walked 73 miles in one week, and put together multiple weeks of 30-40 miles in this Florida Humidity.

As I've told my longtime colleague George Eichorn, it's a whole lot easier to walk when you can go to the beach and listen to the sounds of the ocean. Deerfield Beach is great with it's boardwalk.

But I respect Thompson as a friend and colleague but have to admit that I lost count of how many times he told me to get some rest. But I knew he cared about me and this came from his heart.

I told him and Kal, that I use the Timex Watch Theory when it takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking, however, I've modified it to a point where I take a Licking and keep on Talking.

But as I summarize all of this, Olczyk's passion for Hockey is the same as I have for Sports, and until the time comes when I'm dead, if I pace myself properly and listen to those individuals close to me, I'll be fine.

In the meantime, Olczyk Inspired me and I look forward to the day that our paths cross.

Right now, My next challenge is covering some NFL Games the rest of the Fall and you can rest assure the travel time will be much greater than the 20 minute trek I took from the BB&T Center to My House in Deerfield Beach, FL via The Sawgrass Expressway.

And of course I look forward to seeing Thompson and Company back home in Detroit during early December. It's been years since I've been to a Christmas Party and I'm pleased that the timing works out this time.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com and is a Member of Detroit Sports Media.

The Days Before Christmas

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
PHOTOS BY CANDICE EBLING

I must be totally crazy or really enjoy what I do to have undertaken this Ambitious Schedule.

It's been nearly a month, when on December 23, 2016, the Detroit Red Wings faced the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL.

The Red Wings found themselves in a very unusual situation,

They're near the bottom of the standings in both Their Division as well as in the Wild Card Race.

Before the game at dinner, I told DSBA President Trevor Thompson that My Photographer Candice Ebling and I were covering the Red Wings, then traveling over night to write about the Jacksonville Jaguars vs Tennessee Titans.

In Jacksonville, I would see my Great Friend Dan Edwards of the Jaguars.

After the Titans game, I told Trevor we were heading to Milwaukee, WI., hoping to arrive by Christmas Night. This would be a trek which would be approximately 27 hours with two sleepless nights.

Trevor and I joked around about this and we laughed when Thompson, like most normal people, knew that taking long drives especially like this, aren't his style.

As things would turn out, Ebling and I would log over 4,100 miles in a two-week span.

We had to replace two rear tires on our rental car, one of which occurred as a result of a blowout as we exited I-94 near West Allis, WI., 30 minutes after we dropped off My Cousin Cindy Cullen Spyke from the Milwaukee Airport.

On our trip back to Florida, we dealt with frozen windshield wiper fluid because our company had put a lighter and not strong enough brand in because of freezing temperatures.

But back to the Red Wings vs Panthers game.

The Red Wings 4-3 shootout win over Florida  Fueled My Adrenaline to making Part One of "The Drive" an Easy One.

Against Florida, Detroit was faced with some interesting story-lines.

With a win over the Red Wings, Panthers Goaltender Roberto Luongo was looking to move into sole possession of fifth place passing Detroit Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk with 448 wins.

But that didn't happen as Red Wings rookie net minder Jared Coreau recorded his first NHL triumph over his hero Sawchuk growing up.

I was impressed with Coreau because many young players don't follow the history of their sport as this kid did.

Luongo is one of the few goalkeepers in the NHL who still wears the No.1 as that number is retired in Detroit.

Coreau would have to earn his win the hard way in a shootout. His record improved to 1-1-0, while Luongo dropped to 11-10-3 for this season at that time.   This would go down as Coreau's 1st career win in the NHL.

Luongo would have to wait another night to surpass Sawchuk.

Since that night, Coreau has asserted himself as the back-up goalie to Petr Mrazek going 5-1-2 with a 2.79 GAA and a .904 save percentage and two shutouts, as Jimmy Howard has dealt with injuries.

If the Red Wings would have lost to Florida, it would have been the first time ever they would have been swept by the Panthers.

So Detroit indeed avoided this first in franchise history.

Florida won the season series 3-1 and trails the all-time series 15-17-5-3.

This turned out to be a painful loss for Florida as Niklas Kronwell knocked out Reilly Smith with a clean hockey hit. Smith went on concussion protocol and was out until after the holiday break.

Red Wings Coach Jeff Blashill had a successful challenge which saved Detroit from trailing 4-1 as Nick Bjugstad was standing in the crease in front of Coreau, thus that goal was disallowed.

One thing which stood out in the game was Florida had an interesting trivia question to their fans.

They asked, who was the first 50 goal scorer in Red Wings history?

Two of the choices mentioned were Red Wings Announcer Mickey Redmond and Danny Grant.

Redmond was the correct answer.

When the contest was over, Blashill's body language looked like a coach who was relieved that his team came away with a win knowing the injuries were mounting on his squad, yet refusing to use this as an excuse for Detroit's struggles.

The Red Wings passed the 200 man games lost due to injury during their 1-0 OT loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday at the Joe Louis Arena.

In this game, both Thomas Vanek (lower body) and Dylan Larkin (upper body) suffered injuries.

Blashill reiterated to me what he said earlier in the season, "Every player in the locker room has belief in one another. We'll continue to work hard towards our goal to reach the playoffs."

"We don't worry about what other people say outside the locker room. As long as we work hard, the results will take care of themselves."

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Up the Road Five Hours North on I-95 in Jacksonville, FL., the Jaguars had high expectations when they faced the Green Bay Packers during opening week on September 11, 2016.

When we came here, both teams played in tremendously hot and humid temperatures.

The Jaguars lost to Green Bay 27-23 and 16 weeks later, Coach Gus Bradley was out of a job as the team had high expectations. Bradley was ousted from his position with a 2-12 record.

He finished with a 14-48 career mark with Jacksonville.

Bradley was replaced before our game with the Tennessee Titans on an interim basis by Assistant Head Coach-Offense/Offensive Line Coach Doug Marrone.

Marrone, 52, led the Buffalo Bills to a 15-17 record as head coach from 2013-2014, and is the sixth head coach in Jaguars history.

Marrone departed Buffalo because he didn't want to work with the new ownership, consisting of Terry and Kim Pegula and the infrastructure of the front office.

As it turned out, the Titans game at home and the finale on January 1, 2017 at Indianapolis, were Marrone's audition to get the permanent job.

When we were there, former Coach Tom Coughlin was being considered a candidate to return as coach while there would be other interviews.

Marrone passed his first audition with flying colors with Owner Shad Khan watching from his suite.

Marrone hit a Grand Slam as Jacksonville thrashed Tennessee 38-17.

The Jaguars avenged a National TV 36-22 loss to Tennessee on Thursday October 27, 2016.

Jacksonville's victory on Christmas Eve over their former Coach Mike Mularkey saw the 8-7 Titans eventually get eliminated from playoff contention.

This was a costly loss for Tennessee as it lost QB Marcus Mariota to a Fractured Fibula for the season.

During the Post-Game Press Conference, Marrone did everything in his power to avoid talking about the coaching search, preferring to praise former Jaguars Coach Bradley's influence on the team instead.

Candidly speaking, Marrone had as many moves as former Detroit Lions Hall of Fame Running Back Barry Sanders pertaining to the coaching search.

However, I did manage to ask him what it was like being on the sidelines again?

"I probably felt---my wife asked me the same question. 'How do you feel?' I said, I feel great. I really do," Marrone said."I feel alive in practice and not that I wasn't before in my other position. I feel comfortable.

"I've been a head coach for six years, four in college and two in the NFL. For me, I don't want to say it's like riding a bike because that would lessen that position as a head coach, so I'm not going to go there."

Marrone added, " But I felt great. I thought the communication was outstanding. Again, the challenge for me was the communication with defense, the communication with game management, the communication with special teams.

"Trying to get coaches up to speed on how I communicate and how I want to run a game, I thought they were great."

The Jaguars lost their final game to Indianapolis 24-20 in Indiana. But there was no doubt they were a different team and played much better with Marrone at the helm.

Marrone finished his interim stint with a 1-1 mark.

The Jaguars finished the regular season with a 3-13 record.

During the off-season, Coughlin was hired as Executive VP of Football Operations.

Coughlin wasted no time hiring Marrone and gave him the full-time head coach job.

Most recently, former Michigan Wolverines running back and later running backs coach, Tyrone Wheatley Sr. was hired by Jacksonville for the same position.

The future does look bright for Jacksonville and I look forward to seeing a couple games next season and monitor their progress.

Bradley wasn't out of work long as he's now the new defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers.

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Meanwhile, the Red Wings no quit demeanor has them battling to get into the playoffs.

GM Ken Holland  awaits to get his injured players back and isn't ready to give up on a 26th consecutive playoff berth as Detroit plays its Final Season in the Joe Louis Arena and moves into Little Caesars Arena next fall.

The Red Wings are currently 20-19-8 as of this post. The Weekend's All-Star Break couldn't have come at a better time for the team which wears Red and White.

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As for Myself, We arrived in Racine, WI at 1:30 pm Central Time and that 27 hour drive I told Thompson amounted to 21 hours.

Aside from gas and meal stops, the only break we had was a productive stop at the Jaguars game vs the Titans being with My Buddy Dan Edwards.

At 54-years old, I'm a Bullheaded Road Warrior with plenty of long distance driving left in me.

But I'm with you Trevor, you're still more normal than me, however, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com and is a member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association.