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A Mic for All Seasons
When Kenny Albert was growing up, family gatherings sounded a lot like a dispatch from the first all-sports radio station. There was his father, Marv, whose voice shaped the sound of modern basketball, and there too were his uncles Al and Steve—a trio of professional play-by-play men with a listenership that spanned the country.
It was only a matter of time before Kenny, armed with a toy tape recorder, yearned to follow in their footsteps.
Some 3,000 broadcasts later, Kenny Albert has amassed countless stories from the world of sports and media. A Mic for All Seasons is his chronicle of a charmed yet unlikely journey, from a youth spent calling games in his bedroom for a fictitious audience to ten-hour bus rides with a minor-league hockey team, plus the time he worked five different sports in one chaotic, 19-day stretch.
The only play-by-play broadcaster who currently calls all four major sports in North America, Albert details the stand-out moments from his three-decade career, including the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, Jose Bautista's bat flip in the 2015 ALCS, and the U.S. women’s hockey Olympic gold-medal winning shootout in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Part memoir, part behind-the-scenes look at the world of broadcast media, A Mic for All Seasons also features stories about life in the booth, game preparation, travel hijinks, marquee events, meetings with star athletes and coaches, and much more.
It was only a matter of time before Kenny, armed with a toy tape recorder, yearned to follow in their footsteps.
Some 3,000 broadcasts later, Kenny Albert has amassed countless stories from the world of sports and media. A Mic for All Seasons is his chronicle of a charmed yet unlikely journey, from a youth spent calling games in his bedroom for a fictitious audience to ten-hour bus rides with a minor-league hockey team, plus the time he worked five different sports in one chaotic, 19-day stretch.
The only play-by-play broadcaster who currently calls all four major sports in North America, Albert details the stand-out moments from his three-decade career, including the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, Jose Bautista's bat flip in the 2015 ALCS, and the U.S. women’s hockey Olympic gold-medal winning shootout in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Part memoir, part behind-the-scenes look at the world of broadcast media, A Mic for All Seasons also features stories about life in the booth, game preparation, travel hijinks, marquee events, meetings with star athletes and coaches, and much more.
- GenresSportsNonfictionHockey
256 pages, Hardcover
Published October 10, 2023
7 people are currently reading
1369 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 19, 2025
If you have watched network telecasts of any sport, chances are you have heard the voice of Kenny Albert. He is the only sports broadcaster in the 21st century who has broadcast games from all four of the major North American leagues (NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA), not to mention several other sports he has covered as well. He shares stories about his career and his family (including his famous father Marv Albert) in this memoir.
Kenny had what he called a privileged childhood since he was able to accompany his father to many of the events Marv called, especially Knicks games in Madison Square Garden (MSG). Kenny also enjoyed attending the games of the other primary tenant of MSG, the Rangers, and from there he became engrossed in hockey. While he is lauded for all the sports he covers, it is clear from the book that he likes hockey best, including playing on the club team at New York University.
As one might expect, Kenny Albert has great stories to share about the thousands of games he has broadcast and the many different journalists and athletes-turned-broadcasters with whom he has worked. These stories are overwhelmingly positive and rarely does Albert criticize anyone. While that can be seen as a good thing to keep friendships and relationships good, it just feels a little unrealistic as a reader as there had to be at least some arguments or bad results.
The other aspect of the book that was less than good for me was the sheer number of names that Kenny Albert mentioned throughout the book. Something else that is reasonable to expect given how long he has been in the business, but again, as a reader, it was hard to keep up with everyone. Especially when there was no organization to these stories – they just popped up when Kenny decided to write about them. Not necessarily a bad thing as this will happen a lot in conversation – it was just hard to follow in a book.
None of this overshadows the excellent work that Kenny Albert has done in his broadcast career, nor is this is meant to discourage anyone to pick up this book because it still is a good read for any current sports fan who is familiar with his work. I may try this in the audio version because it may come across better as a conversation (even if just one way) than it did while reading.
I wish to thank Triumph Books for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Kenny had what he called a privileged childhood since he was able to accompany his father to many of the events Marv called, especially Knicks games in Madison Square Garden (MSG). Kenny also enjoyed attending the games of the other primary tenant of MSG, the Rangers, and from there he became engrossed in hockey. While he is lauded for all the sports he covers, it is clear from the book that he likes hockey best, including playing on the club team at New York University.
As one might expect, Kenny Albert has great stories to share about the thousands of games he has broadcast and the many different journalists and athletes-turned-broadcasters with whom he has worked. These stories are overwhelmingly positive and rarely does Albert criticize anyone. While that can be seen as a good thing to keep friendships and relationships good, it just feels a little unrealistic as a reader as there had to be at least some arguments or bad results.
The other aspect of the book that was less than good for me was the sheer number of names that Kenny Albert mentioned throughout the book. Something else that is reasonable to expect given how long he has been in the business, but again, as a reader, it was hard to keep up with everyone. Especially when there was no organization to these stories – they just popped up when Kenny decided to write about them. Not necessarily a bad thing as this will happen a lot in conversation – it was just hard to follow in a book.
None of this overshadows the excellent work that Kenny Albert has done in his broadcast career, nor is this is meant to discourage anyone to pick up this book because it still is a good read for any current sports fan who is familiar with his work. I may try this in the audio version because it may come across better as a conversation (even if just one way) than it did while reading.
I wish to thank Triumph Books for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
October 22, 2023
Absolutely loved this book! Such a great read for sports fans around the world. I really enjoyed Kenny’s stories from both in and out of the broadcast booth.
October 22, 2023
Great insight on what makes Kenny one of the best broadcasters in the business and even a nicer human. All sports fan should read!
June 18, 2024
Took me a long time to read this since I never bring myself to read for pleasure during the semester. No one besides me would like this book.
Kenny Albert is the best sports commentator of all time (in my opinion) and this book is sort of his biography. Idk many others who would find this interesting, but i loved it.
Had so much fun reading about his professional experiences.
Kenny Albert is the best sports commentator of all time (in my opinion) and this book is sort of his biography. Idk many others who would find this interesting, but i loved it.
Had so much fun reading about his professional experiences.
January 20, 2024
Great read.
Learned so much about Kenny and his career. Gives me a greater appreciation for the grind of being a sportscaster. And it also gives me insight on how to pursue that career myself. I loved it.
Such an interesting guy. His knowledge of his color commentators and how highly he speaks of the networks he works for is really cool too.
Great stuff!
Book 3 of 2024.
Learned so much about Kenny and his career. Gives me a greater appreciation for the grind of being a sportscaster. And it also gives me insight on how to pursue that career myself. I loved it.
Such an interesting guy. His knowledge of his color commentators and how highly he speaks of the networks he works for is really cool too.
Great stuff!
Book 3 of 2024.
February 1, 2024
Tons of great stories and a cool look into the life of a play by play announcer. Fun read with lots of interesting facts.
February 4, 2025
Just a great book for sports fans. Nice memories of hearing Kenny’s stories as well as really cool stuff about all the games he has called and how he got into the business.
March 5, 2025
A lot of insight into the life of a national sportscaster.
May 16, 2024
I grew up listening to Marv Albert call the Knicks games in the 70s and 80s. Now I listen to Kenny call Rangers games. This is the perfect book for any sports fan. Kenny’s stories were funny and really entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews