Farewell, Marv Albert

By Noah Hickman

Photo by Deadline via Yahoo

Legendary broadcaster Marv Albert has broadcasted the final game of his illustrious 55 year career.

His final game calling play-by-play came on July 3 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia where the Atlanta Hawks hosted the Milwaukee Bucks for a crucial game six.

The Hawks wound up losing to the Giannisless Bucks 118-107 and ended up getting eliminated from the playoffs as a result.

The Phoenix Suns will host the Bucks for game one of the NBA Finals on Tuesday.

Before the NBA on TNT crew talked about the NBA Finals, they first paid their respects to Albert.

First, NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller gave his two cents.

“I’ve had the opportunity to be next to you, I’ve been at Turner now for 15-plus years, and you called some of my best games when I played for the Pacers,” Miller said. “There’s a lot of men and women who have sat next to you, and you’ve treated everyone with the utmost respect. You gifted the game of basketball with your voice. Thank you, Marv.”

After getting one final ovation, Shaq, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley interviewed Albert one final time.

They asked questions about retirement and praised how Albert transcended sports broadcasting.

Personally, I love watching NBA on TNT whether it be the studio crew goofing off and analyzing the pre and postgame or the voice of Albert calling all the plays.

Albert had other ventures as well like calling eight super bowls and seven Stanley Cup Finals to name a few.

But since I am about six decades younger than Albert, I mainly know him as the play-by-play guy for NBA on TNT.

Interestingly enough, he assumed that position in 1999 and I was born in early 2000.

I will miss the “Yes” calls when players hit a shot, his golden voice, his command and when he called posterizing dunks “a facial.”

As a sports journalism major, the reach goal in broadcasting is to meet the standard of Marv Albert.

A debt of gratitude is owed to the legend himself for making sports broadcasting a very respectable profession.