Former Calgary Flames broadcast, now Blackhawks ascendant Rick Ball has an interesting history.

It’s unfortunately, been the life-threatening kind that involved a bird and a sandwich. Which is an odd enough origin story, for a medical ailment.

It was a bird, a magpie who stole Ball’s lunch on the golf course which lead to a chase:

«That damn magpie,» chuckled the 56-year-old Sportsnet play caller on the Eric Francis Show. «I was playing in a golf tournament in Kelowna in late July and I was chasing a bird away that was stealing a sandwich from my cart.

«I’m running across the fairway, not paying attention to anything except this damn bird, and I stepped in a sprinkler hole and broke my fibula.

«Being the idiot that I am, I didn’t go to a doctor right away. I played three more rounds of golf and my leg is killing me. I come back to Calgary and I finally see the doctor, and he says, ‘you broke your leg you moron. Put this air cast on and come back in six weeks.’»

Ball would spend a week in the hospital before returning home in October, 2022 after the bloodclot in his leg would work it’s way into his heart and lungs, which could’ve been deadlier had it not been addressed.

«Next thing I remember was my wife (Carole) screaming, and that kind of woke me up,» said Ball. «Thank god she was home to call 911, or who knows? Pretty scary.

«They raced me to the hospital and pumped me full of blood thinners, and put me on strict bed rest for a few days, and they found a blood clot in my leg on the same side I broke my leg.

«They asked about injuries and travelling and I said, ‘I broke my leg and then I travelled,’ and they said, ‘well, there you go — two things that can lead to a blood clot are broken bones and travelling.’»

Since then’s he’s fortunately recovered, he’s been back at it since November, 2022 calling Flames games with the same passion he’s had since the start.

Ball will join Pang in the play-by-play booth during the 2024-2025 season, healthy and ready to go.