Mike Tirico credits Marv Albert for influencing him, Mike Breen, and Ian Eagle
He just lately known as his first Super Bowl, and he is at the moment in Milan-Cortina internet hosting the Winter Olympics, however as soon as he is executed with all that, NBC announcer Mike Tirico can be again on the sidelines calling NBA video games.
When he does, the prolific broadcaster can be placing forth the teachings he discovered from the easiest to ever do it: Marv Albert.
During an look on The Rich Eisen Show This previous week, Tirico credited the Hall of Fame announcer for setting the tone and shaping the method of a whole era of NBA announcers who adopted him.
Checking in from Italy, the @NBCSports voice went down reminiscence lane concerning the @SportsCenter days, contemporary with an epic 1997 staff picture:#Olympics pic.twitter.com/05imQ46CNW
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) February 19, 2026
“You have Mike Breen, Ian Eagle, myself… There’s so many other good people who do the NBA at ESPN, Dave Pasch, Mark Jones, and everybody else, I’m not just picking out anyone, but just the guys who we’re familiar with, and to be back in the group of lead guys with Mike and Ian,” said Tirico. “We are all disciples of Marv. And there are pieces of the style of how Marv called the game in our own personality that in all three of us, you can hear.”
From 1967 to 2004, Albert was the voice of the New York Knicks and additionally labored because the lead announcer for each the NBA on NBC and NBA video games on TNT. He was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2015.
Tirico, who preferred Albert’s affect to the Bill Walsh teaching tree within the NFL, stated that Albert was far more than simply catchphrases and game-winning calls. He had a command of the “30,000-foot approach” and a capability to “make a big moment of big moments” in an genuine means. He additionally added that West Coast broadcasters are equally influenced by longtime Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn.
Tirico, the 2025 Awfulies winner for best play-by-play announceradded that whereas he learn into what he discovered from Albert, he additionally discovered to evolve his method somewhat than emulate him.
“Steal what you think is great, but do it in your personality,” Tirico stated. “You can’t be a clone of someone because there’s only one Chris Berman, there’s only one Dan Patrick.”
Eisen added that Patrick referred to that as “sampling,” to which Tirico responded, “Sampling, yeah, that’s it. It’s such a Dan term.”
