"A treasure trove of anecdotes and memories, a rollicking read brimming with humor, insight, and good nature."
-- Bob Costas, Emmy-Award winning sportscaster
In
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Broadcast Booth
, Hall of Fame sportscaster Steve Albert chronicles the ups, downs, and unforeseen mishaps that occurred throughout his lifelong journey on the air. From getting nailed in the head by an errant LeBron James pass, to ducking bottles thrown in boxing arena riots, to frightful flights and car trips, Steve discovered that doing play-by-play was a surprisingly hazardous profession. Thankfully, calling games and fights was also pretty entertaining. In a seriously funny collection of humorous and autobiographical essays, Steve recalls encounters with Mickey Mantle pinching, Eddie Murphy boxing, and Meat Loaf serenading. Steve also describes his many unusual experiences, including the morning he smashed through a stuck bathroom door to get to a show on time, saw his broadcast partner Ralph Kiner set his own chair on fire, bolted from a hornet's nest in his booth, and announced the infamous Mike Tyson "Bite Fight." Best known for his decades of blow-by-blow for Showtime Championship Boxing and his play-by-play in the NBA, calling sports was Steve Albert's life. It was also the life of Steve's brothers, Marv Albert and Al Albert, and now it's the life of his nephew, Kenny Albert. Against the backdrop of 1950s Brooklyn and all its glorious nostalgia, Steve shares what life was like growing up in a sportscasting family. Steve describes how, as young brothers, they used to hone their skills by calling baseball off a small TV and by announcing their rowdy ping-pong games, and how, as adults, they ended up calling professional games against each other. From the moment he stepped into a cramped radio booth in Cleveland, Ohio, to call hockey, to hanging up his mic almost a half-century later, Steve found that sports was more than wins and losses. To Steve Albert, it was comedy fodder.