Hey everyone, Welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast. I'm your host Cardinals and ESPN play by play announcer Dave Pash. My guest this week is one of the best broadcasters in the business. He does it on a number of sports for a number of networks, and that's Kenny Albert. Kenny recently called a couple of Cardinals games. We'll get his thoughts on the Cards and head coach Jonathan Gannett.
Well, I certainly liked the battle level, enjoyed talking to the coaching staff, to Jonathan gannon and I really think they're heading in the right direction with his coaching staff and this core group of players.
We'll also talk with Kenny about what it was like to grow up on Albert his dad, Marv Award winning and Hall of Fame broadcaster. But Kenny certainly has paved his own path to greatness, and he's done it for
a long time. Whether it's been with Fox for almost thirty years as an NFL broadcaster, he's the lead voice for the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with Turner, does Rangers and Knicks games on MSG network works, and he's had a lot of celebrities that he's encountered over the course of his career and his life going back to his childhood, and you'll never believe who his mom once beat at home in horse Also, we'll talk with Kenny about his new book of mic for All Seasons. All that and
more with the great Kenny Albert coming up. We are presented by betmgm, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Heila River Resorts and Casinos. Sign up today with betmgm, the official partner of the Arizona Cardinals. Use code cards one thousand and get back up to one thousand dollars in bonus bets. If you don't win your first bet, visit betimgm dot com for terms and conditions. Twenty one years of age you're older to wager Arizona only.
New customer offer. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem Call one eight hundred next step. Time now for our conversation with one of the top broadcasters in the business, Kenny Albert. Well, Kenny, First of all, you've had the cars a couple of times. I just want to get your thoughts on what you saw, in particular the last game you had against the Seahawks a couple weeks ago.
Well, I certainly like the battle level, enjoyed talking to the coaching staff, to Jonathan Gannon and Drew Petsing, and you know, obviously it's a bit of a depleted roster with some of the injuries. Buddha Baker did come back in the game against the Seahawks last week. But they certainly work hard. You know, they've had some the number of games this year, as you well know, where they've stayed closed for a half and then it kind of
gets away in the second half. But I really think they're heading in the right direction with this coaching staff and this core group of players.
And you have dealt with JG before. I'm sure you've done a lot of Eagles games, maybe even some games, and he was in Minnesota, but obviously he's not meeting with the broadcasters for people that don't know the head coach and both coordinators. Usually sometimes there are exceptions where a head coach won't let the coordinators talk to the media or at least the TV crew, but for the most part, the coordinators meet with the team TV crew.
What was your experience like with JG as a coordinator and now as a head coach in that setting.
Did meet with him a couple of times as a coordinator in Philly and and really seemed mature beyond his years. We do meet with a number of coordinators throughout the season. Oftentimes, if the head coach is more defensive minded, we'll meet
with the offensive coordinator that week and vice versa. But in Philadelphia, with Shane Stikeen and Jonathan Gannon, you had two real up and coming coordinators and we felt that, you know, we could be chatting with both of these guys as head coaches in the near future, and that certainly has been the case. We've had the Colts twice this year and very impressed with Shane Steiken as well.
And with Jonathan Gannon. You mentioned his years in Minnesota working under the Vikings coaching staff and then in Philadelphia. Was real happy for him when when he was hired by the Cardinals.
When you look at you know you've done Cardinal games for you know, you've been at Fox now for years, so you've done obviously a lot of Cardinals games over the years. I'm sure you did game to the Super Bowl year and then the twenty fifteen NFC Championship game season where the Cardinals went to Carolina and loss. I even think you might have done the Cardinal Panther playoff game back in wait, Am I right on that it was the Kurt Warner game Jake Dilombe through four picks? Did you call that game?
I did? I think that was Jake Dilome's birthday if I remember correctly, yes, and he threw all those picks. You know when I when I think back, the first ever game day that I worked on Fox was back on nine to four ninety four. It was Buddy Ryan's first game as Cardinals head coach. It was against the then LA Rams the year before they moved to Saint Louis.
And remember that game that weekend very well. And then through the Vince Tobin years, Dave McGinnis, I could probably name all the all the head coaches in order over the last thirty years, but the first ever game was a Cardinal game. Did work that playoff game that that you mentioned in Carolina as well, which would not be that memorable for the Cardinals, although the next month and
a half certainly was the Super Bowl year. I worked the game in New England where the Cardinals were blown out late in the season in December, and I remember meeting with some of the players and coaches and it turns out about ten players on the roster had never seen snow before. And I'm sure you remember the game in a snowstorm in New England and they got blown out and then go to the Super Bowl about six weeks later.
Yeah. The thing that I remember the most about that game is and you know where the booth is. Obviously in New England, you're out in the stands for the most part. I mean you're in a booth, but it's still in the stands, and people were throwing snowballs all over the place, and some were coming into the booth. I mean, we were dodging snowballs while we were broadcasting what we thought was probably a harbinger of things to come, and the season was going to end horribly. I mean, look,
Chris collins Worth, everybody knows what he said. He said, you know, worst playoff team in history. Obviously, the Cardinals proved that they weren't going to the Super Bowl as a magical year. Twenty fifteen was a great year. I like you, Kenny, I'm encouraged by the coaching staff. I'm encouraged by Monti Austin for it. Based on the games you called so far, I mean, do you see a bright future? Do you see a light at the end of the tunnel based on your experience so far?
No, I do absolutely. You know, all you have to do is look back at that game in New England and see how quickly things can turn around. But no, I think it's a terrific organization from mister Bidwell on down and put together. You know, a young coaching staff, but I think one that is certainly on the rise, and it's just impressive watching how hard the team works, you know, despite the injuries and some of the other issues. You know, as far as the depth chart is concerned.
You know, Josh Stobbs finally getting a chance. He's a great story. You know, we really enjoy talking to him, hearing about the aerospace engineering major and some of his toughest classes and back in the college days. And I know he's a guy that Ben Roethlisberger really relied on heavily during Josh's four years in Pittsburgh, on the sidelines
during games at practices. So you know, you're happy to see a guy like that finally get a chance it might not be long term, obviously with Kyler Murray on the way back, but really enjoy talking to the players and coaches and it is impressive, you know how hard they work throughout despite you know, some of the issues roster wise. So far this year, you're.
Working now NFL games with Jonathan Vilma, who was a great New Orleans Saint linebacker. And I'm sure for a long time, Kenny, you were the young guy in the booth. You were working with guys that were older than you. And I'm starting to get to the point in my career where, you know, I'm starting to work with guys that I covered when they played, and now I'm working with them. I mean, obviously you probably did a bunch
of John Filma games. Are you seeing that more and more across the sports you work where you're starting to work with guys and starting to groom guys and mentor guys that you actually covered while they played.
It has taken that turn, Dave, And you know, I think back, I'm sure you have the same memories. When we started, we were younger than all of the players and coaches, and now we're older than all of the players and many of the coaches, So I guess when you're around for as long as we have been, that's going to be the case. But it's fun to work with, you know, whether it's Jonathan Willem or or some of the other analysts that I work with and that you
work with. Did cover a lot of Jonathan's games, and he's really worked hard in the broadcasting business. It's his fourth year at Fox. He worked in the studio at ESPN on some college football shows as well, and it's fun to be somewhat of a mentor and guide them along. And as we tape this yesterday, I worked them asoda items game and ironically, Kevin O'Connell, their head coach, was one of my pupils. I guess you can call it.
At the NFL Broadcast boot Camp about ten years ago when it was held down in Southern Jersey at NFL Films. Now it's out in California every summer, but the NFL brings in about twenty either recently retired players or players who are still active but might want to get into
the broadcasting world. And this one particular day, Nate Burlison, who's done a great job at CBS, both in sports and News, Tim Hasselbeck, who's gone on into a real good career at ESPN, and Kevin O'Connell were all part of that group and they've all gone on to have major success. But whether it's a Jonathan Willema or a Rendez Barber who was my previous partner, a lot of
fun working with these guys. They're such hard workers they were during their playing careers and they put so many hours into it during the week as broadcasts as well. Early on I worked with Ron Pitt's, Anthony Moon, Brian Baldinger, Tim Green, they were all older than me, and then I guess it became somewhat balanced. During the years I spent with Moose Johnson and Tony Sarah Goose, we were all around the same age, and now it's been Rende Barber and Jonathan Vilma, who were at least ten or
twelve years younger. So it's a lot of fun, you know, helping them along at the start of their careers.
So you've written a book called The Mic for All Seasons, Kenny, Why now, what was the reason behind the timing and how long did it take you to write the book to try to remember all the stories? Did you take notes over the years or do you just have great recall.
Well, to answer the first part of the question, always felt like I had a lot of stories and at some point wanted to put it down on paper. And my family kind of pushed me. My wife and two daughters. They've been, you know, at me for a while as far as potentially writing a book. And I also speak as you do, I'm sure with so many different high school and college broadcasting camps classes throughout the year, try to give advice to youngsters who were looking to get
into the business. So I wanted that to be a part of it as well. And whenever I speak with them, they asked so many good questions and you wind up giving a lot of the same answers, telling the same stories. So really, during the pandemic back in April and May twenty twenty, when we were all home and I was home for one hundred and forty six straight days, that's when I really started to put the plans in place.
I had been contacted by a book agent out of New York named Andrew Blowner several years prior, and he sent me an email said, if you ever thinking about writing a book, let me know might be able to hook you up with a publisher, and sure enough he did with Triumph Books out of Chicago, and during the pandemic, I put together an outline, started writing some sample chapters, portions of chapters, did it all myself, did not have a ghostwriter. Wanted it to be my words, my stories,
and I enjoy writing. I had done a lot of it back in high school and college. Overall, it probably took about a little over two years from the time when I absolutely started back in twenty twenty until I had to submit it to the publisher in September of twenty twenty two. Now it wasn't like I was working on it every day. There were periods during the seasons where I might not have done anything for three weeks or a month, So it was on and off at home,
in hotels, on airplanes. So about a two year process as far as the writing, and then once I submitted it, we went back and forth a bunch of times with the editing and making corrections and changes. So I finally saw the first copies about six weeks ago. Was very excited when those boxes arrived at the house and it officially was released to the public about three weeks ago
October tenth. It just a compilation of early life, getting into the business, working minor league hockey for two years, stories about each of the different sports that I've broadcast, travel tales. I'm sure you have many of those. Stories about calling the Olympics, stories about the two hundred plus color analysts that I've worked with, a chapter on paying it forward to the young broadcasters out there, a chapter about the pandemic and how we broadcasted games during that time,
a lot about family and hard work and dedication. And then to answer the latter portion of your question, I do seem to have a pretty good memory. Wrote a lot of it from memory. I do keep all of my charts, my scorecards from the games, which are all in a big file cabinet to my left. I have about ninety five percent of them from the last thirty years. So I would you know, I would go into the into the files and check certain things, would Google, just a fact check and make sure my memory is correct
on dates and games. And there were some things that I did not remember absolutely as they took place, so there was some fact checking. But it was a lot of fun and really honored that Wayne Gretzky and wal Clyde Fraser took part. They wrote the forwards. Their names were on the cover right underneath mine. So it was a lot of fun and really enjoying hearing the feedback from people who have read the book so far.
Yeah. I was going to ask you about both those guys in your relationship with both, because I did see the forward by both of them. When did those relationships start? And was that an easy ask? I mean, I'm sure you know both Clyde and Wayne Gretzky, but probably Gretzky more than Clyde. Get asked a lot of things like, hey, can you do this for me? Can you do that for me? How did you get was how did that go? The ask for Wayne Gretzky to write the forward to your book?
Yeah, they were both so great about it. And Wayne I got to know a little bit back in the late nineties when he was playing for the Rangers. I was doing the radio and on many of the flights, he would come up and sit in the area where the broadcasters would sit and he admittedly it's it's you know,
public knowledge. He's not a huge fan of flying, so he would come over and chat with the great John Davidson, and I was always in that area of the playing along with Sam Rosan and Salmasina, you know Hall of Fame broadcasters, and Wayne would just want to talk about sports and life in general, and it would kind of keep his mind off the flight. So I knew him, you know, during those three years, got to know him
a little bit. But then the last two and a half years, he's been part of our team with the NHL on TNT. He's on the pregame show, the postgame show, not every week, but he's there for the special events, and then travels with us in the playoffs. So the last two years, for two weeks each season, Wayne Gretzky and the entire Turner pregame crew have been on the road with our game crew. So have gotten to know him a lot better. He's as great a person as
he wasn't playing, and that's pretty hard to say. And wal Clyde Frasier I've worked with for about fifteen years now, approximately fifteen games per year on MSG Networks, and again, another as good as he was as a player, he's an even better person. He's the only basketball player in the Hall of Fame as a player and a broadcaster as well. He was inducted last year on the broadcast
side with both of them. My initial thought was to have four people, one for each sport, whom I've worked with, but the publisher explained to me that it's too much clutter on the front have four names. They said it would be better with two, especially these two names. So went with Clyde and Wayne, and they were both great about it. I had emailed Wayne and asked him if
he would be interested in writing something. I even offered a ghostwriter for him for the forward, and he said, nope, I'll do it myself, and he was tremendous about it. And Clyde was the same way. As soon as I asked, he was happy to do it. They've both done it many times before. And like I said, it's surreal to look at the cover and see both of their names on there.
That's very cool, man, and Kenny. One of the things that I respect so much about you, And admittedly I don't get to watch a lot obviously on Sunday because the Cardinals are playing, but the other sports you do and have done over the years, and NFL playoff games you've done where the Cardinals aren't playing and I'm at home watching. It's always about the game. You don't make it about yourself. You try to get the most out of your analyst, and it's about the game. And not
everybody calls it that way. And I always felt that that's what the fan wants. The fan wants it to be about the game. Yes, it's entertainment. You have to be entertaining, but you can't sacrifice documentation of the game.
And I think that happens nowadays. We're a lot of people they're trying to, you know, make a name for themsel elves are trying to climb the ladder, and sometimes they think by making it about themselves or making documentation the second or third most important thing during a broadcast, they think it's going to help them, but it doesn't. Have you been tempted at all. You've been doing this for so long at a network level, have you been tempted it all to compromise that or to change that?
Given how the business has changed them, think about talk radio, think about podcasting, and how personality driven sports content has changed so much since we got started doing play by play.
Well, first of all, I appreciate it, appreciate the kind words. You know that that's just how I was brought up, how I learned to do play by play. It's about the game. The analysts or the experts they were, the former players or coaches. You know, I'm sort of the traffic cop on a football game, for example. I'll set up the play, call the play, recap the play, and then and then get out of the way for the animal.
And you know, we all do so much work during the week to prepare, but come Sunday, you know, it's about the game. It's about what's taking place on the field. And ironically, some of the times that I've received praise in the media, whether in a you know, a newspaper column or on talk radio, has been when I haven't said anything. And you know, that's kind of funny to
say as a play by play announcer. But the Bautista home run in Batflip in twenty fifteen is one of the calls that I get asked about the most, which is which is ironic because I do less baseball than the other sports. But I called the home run and then I shut up for about twenty or thirty seconds. A big game seven overtime goal in hockey two years
ago on TNT the Rangers against Pittsburgh. According to Phil Mushtik of The New York Post, I called the goal and then I laid out or shut up in layman's terms, for a minute fifty six seconds. So it's kind of, you know, like I said, it's ironic. But some of the times that we get the biggest praise is when we don't say anything, and I think it's it's you know, in both of those cases, it was a home run or a goal scored by a home team player, so the crowd is going to be giving, you know, a
great reaction for the viewers. So the director and the folks in the truck, you know, work their magic and show what's going on on the field or ice, and then they're panning to the crowd and the celebrations. So now TV and radio are a lot different. I do hockey on the radio as well, and in that medium, you know, as you know, working Cardinals games on the radio, and you go back and forth between radio and TV on various sports. But it's a whole different animal, and
I talk about that in the book as well. On radio, you have to be so descriptive and give the time and score a lot more often, and on big plays, you only you know, lay out for about a second and a half and then you have to come back in. So again, I know I'm giving a long answer to a short question, but I feel it's always about the game. I don't really have a signature call, you know, like some people do on home runs or goals or three
point shots. But I guess it goes back to how I was taught and how I learned many years ago.
So along those lines, your father Marv, who obviously is Hall of Fame broadcaster like yourself, and look, I went to Syracuse because of your dad. I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and back then you didn't have social media, you didn't have cell phones. So the only way that I even knew Syracuse had and I liked Syracuse basketball, so I would watch Syracuse basketball all the time. They were kind of like, you know, the Lakers of college basketball with
Sherman Douglas and Derek Coleman. They were on TV all the time on ESPN, and Dick vi Teo was calling the games. And you know, I had watched obviously a lot of of pro sports and had followed your dad and Bob Costas, and you know, dick by Tel starts talking about Marv Albert and Bob Costas going to Syracuse. And I was such a fan of Syracuse that and I knew I wanted to get into broadcasting, but I had no idea that they had this great broadcast school.
So because of my passion for Syracuse basketball, that's how I found out. I didn't read it in you know, on Twitter. I didn't get a phone call about it. I didn't see it on the internet. That's how I found out. So I'm just curious, you know, from your standpoint, you know what it was like. How did you Was it just your dad? Was it others that taught you? And what was it like growing up in Albert.
Well, first of all, you know, it's funny how things come full circle. I did not go to Syracuse, although, as you and I discussed in person last week, I'm an honorary member because I paid a tuition for my older daughter who went there and graduated a couple of years ago. And just this morning, I woke up in your hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. I did the Green Bay Packers game yesterday and then went to visit my other daughter who's a student at Wisconsin. So I was just
in Madison about ten hours ago. But growing up, you know, I didn't really know anything different. I was so used to it, growing up with a father and two uncles his brothers who were also play by play broadcasters, and to me, it was the greatest thing. I mean, I got to go to all these games. I would go to Knicks games and Rangers games, and my parents bought me a taper quoder for my birthday when I was five years old, and I started announcing games into the
taper quoder in my bedroom. And I was never forced to do what. I was never told you have to go into this business. But I was just around it
all the time and really enjoyed it. And when I was old enough, I would tag along with him to games and to the WNBC Channel four studio in New York, and when I was about fifteen, I would start keeping stats for him at Knicks games, Rangers games, NFL games, and more so than anything that he really ever taught me, It's not like he ever sat me down and gave me lefts, since it was more just watching and learning via osmosis, watching the preparation that goes into each and
every broadcast, whether at home or in a hotel room somewhere. And then when I was in the booth keeping the stats, just watching the communication, the synergy that he had with all of his color analysts, and watching the communication between the announcers and the production folks in the truck. So back in those days, and we're around the same age, you couldn't really start doing this until college, so I
felt like I had a head start just by observing. Also, and I write about this in the book, A huge break occurred when I was in tenth grade and I was covering sporting events at my high school for the town paper and for the school paper. Tenth grade, I'm there covering a girls' basketball game, and all of a sudden, this local cable station shows up, Cox Cable of Great Neck, which is a neighboring town, and the athletic director at my school introduced me to the producer and it turned
out they did not have announcers. They had a little production van and two cameras. That was it. So I volunteered to announce the game. They clipped a microphone onto my shirt. I did that game and then for the next two and a half years in high school, worked about seventy five to one hundred games for Cox Cable,
and I would bring friends along as color commentators. And again, I felt like I had a two and a half three year head start at the time because other kids really did not get this opportunity until they went off to college.
What was your best or one of the most memorable childhood celebrity stories that you remember that you know, whether it was meeting somebody at a game you were with with your dad or your uncle's, or just somebody that was over at the house that you had a chance to meet or even interview.
Well, I have a couple. I'm looking behind me now in my home office at photos with Wayne Gretzky and Reggie Jackson back then when when I tagged along, he did interviews with both. I was about eleven when I met Reggie, in about fifteen or sixteen when I met Wayne, and I'm pretty sure both of those photos made it into the book. But he also did invite friends slash athletes over to the house at times when I was growing up, and doctor J. Julius Irving was one who
came over on a number of occasions. My parents would play tennis with him and he would play basketball in the driveway. My mother once beat him in a game of horse at his house, believe it or not, when he still lived on Long Island playing for the Nets before he went to the seventy six ers. And there was another time Phil Jackson who was playing for the Knicks at the time, and they were friendly, and I was about eight or nine years old, and a friend
of mine named Dale de Leo. We beat Phil Jackson. Well, I'm not sure if we beat him, but we played him two on one basketball in the driveway. I remember dribbling the ball between his legs. So those are some of the memories that stand out.
I beat Bill Walton one on one about three years ago. But keeping mind built can't move, so it wasn't like it was hard.
I mean, all I had to do was we watched Bill actually was once watching in Chicago. He was working for NBC and I was there keeping stats, you know, back before before the professional career began on air. I wound up on a on a three on one break with Magic Johnson and another friend of mine who were part of this NBC pickup game, and it was so exciting. Bill was actually sitting there watching. He couldn't play because of his knees. But Bill actually watched me, you know,
pass the ball to magic. But I think your story is a little bit better.
Hey, you got to play with magic? What do you mean that's that's a great story. That's awesome. Man. You talked about how your your dad never pushed you into broadcasting, and you already mentioned your daughters won a Syracuse alum and the other in Madison at Wisconsin, like I thankfully we don't have. My wife is not a big sports fan, my my two daughters, one of them is, but she's trying to be an actress, so broadcasting really wasn't something
she was interested in. And my son's a sportsman. But I haven't really pushed it because I just my dad is an attorney. He never pushed me, and I just I don't know. I figure if it's something that he's interested in, he'll let me know, and if he wants help, I'm happy to help him. Have How have you found that in terms of your children, knowing that you could assist getting into a business it's very hard to get into, but not.
Pushing, right, I mean I was never pushed. Like I said, I did receive a lot of opportunities to go to games and to be in the press box and to help out, so that that was certainly, yeah, that was probably a big part of it early on. But he never pushed, you know, never never really openly opened any doors.
You know.
It was more me just again observing and learning via osmosis. And yes, I met a lot of people which led to internships and other opportunities, but I think he sat back and let me, you know, do the hard work and kind of figure things out. I have two daughters. My older one who went to Syracuse, actually does work in the business behind the scenes. She never really had any aspirations of being on air, although she did some
on air work in class at Syracuse. But she's doing a terrific job as a as a video producer editor at the NHL at the National Hockey League office, and she learned how to use you know, all that fancy equipment.
At Syracuse. She had a great internship with the athletic department and would edit highlights during the second pandemic here actually when when fans were not allowed into the Carrier Dome, she was she was in the building, editing football and basketball highlights, so she always she she wound up with a passion for the editing and producing work. And my
younger one at Wisconsin, she is a journalism major. Not sure exactly what directions show had in but really never put any pressure on them as well, just like no pressure was ever put on me. And it sounds like on you either.
So I get asked a lot, as I'm sure you do, about you know, what's your favorite, what do you enjoy most? And you know, I'm not doing four sports or five sports if you include the Olympics, but you know, I'm doing NFL and college football, which are essentially two different sports, and NBA and college basketball. Again it's basketball, but very different, and I love all of it. I'm glad I don't have to choose, but I know other people will openly say, yeah,
this is my favorite, this particular sport. Do you do you have a favorite or is it I mean, is it one where you enjoy whatever game you're doing in the moment.
I'm similar to you, where I enjoy whatever game I'm doing in the moment. Very fortunate to be involved in so many different sports, and you know, like you said, you're involved in four because the NFL and college football are distinctly different, and the NBA and college basketball are distinctly different, and you do a terrific job. I enjoy watching all of the games that you do in the various sports. To me, when I was younger, hockey was probably the passion, but I loved all the other ones,
you know, they weren't that far behind. I was watching hockey, football, basketball, baseball, calling all of them into the tape recorder. My goal was to do hockey on the radio. That was really in high school and college, you know, that was what I wanted to do. And I was very fortunate to get hired by a minor league team in Baltimore, the Skip Jacks, and spent two years there and really learned so much about what goes into running a professional sports organization.
I also had to do tr and sales and marketing and pick up players at the airport, really whatever they needed.
But I had had the experience at Cox Cable working so many different sports, and then when I wound up working in Washington, hired for hockey but would fill in on basketball and baseball and men's college basketball, women's college basketball, and then the huge break in ninety four when Rupert Murdoch acquired the rights of the NFC package and Fox you know, took it away from CBS after thirty five plus years, and the executives you know, decided to hire
Pat Summer all on, John Madden is the number one crew, greatest of all time, Dick Stockton, and Matt Millan is the number two crew. And then they took a chance on four young play by play announcers. Joe Buck, Kevin Harlan, Tom Brenneman and I were all hired in ninety four, and I don't think any of us ever thought that we'd be doing football on network TV, let alone at you know, at that age. So being involved in the
NFL for thirty years has been incredible. Calling the Stanley Cup Final on NBC a couple of years ago TMT last year, working on the lead crew with the NHL on TNT is also incredible. And also really enjoyed doing basketball and baseball too. So I always say it's like asking which kid you like that four of them, as you said, really love, you know, whatever game is being
played on that particular day. This week, I have a hockey game on TNT Wednesday, basketball game on Friday, Nixon Milwaukee Bucks, and then the Commanders and Patriots on Sunday. So you know, similar to you, it's a hectic time. Three sports this week and really love them all.
Well, you're great at all of it. You've been great at all of it for so long. Last question, and I guess it's along the lines of what you just mentioned with the games you have, Like I've got Lakers Clippers Wednesday, Bedlam, Oklahoma Oklahoma State Saturday, and then I got to get to Cleveland for the Cardinal Sunday. It is certainly the most stressful part and the least glorious part of what we do. And that's the travel and the stress of getting from one game to the next,
especially when it's multiple employers. Do you have a crazy or you probably maybe have several crazy travel stories and we'll leave you with that one.
Well, you and I are real fortunate to work for multiple employers who allow us to do what we do and keep up the jigsaw puzzle of the schedule. There are probably six to eight days a year that are really really stressful where I might be traveling in on the morning of a game, which will we played that night. You know, for the most part, we all get there
the day before. But you know, when you have college football on a Saturday and Cardinals on Sunday, for example, you know that's not always the case, so there are some stressful days. I do dedicate an entire chapter in the book to travel stories. Knock on Wood. Have never missed a game due to a travel or a weather issue. Twice had to travel via a car from Buffalo back to the New York area, which is about six hours
due to flight cancelations or weather. Once had to travel by car from Atlanta to New Orleans, which is about seven hours. I've had some crazy connections on flights, but like I said, fortunately never missed a game due to travel. But there have been some pretty funny stories when to look back at it along the way.
Well, I can't wait to read the book. A mic for all Seasons, and I know that people listening to this podcast are going to check it out, Kenny, because everybody loves and respects the job that you do. Man, you're one of the best in the business. I don't think you get enough public credit and notoriety for just how great you are at how many different sports, and you bring it every game. Man, You're a joy to
listen to and watch and a great guy as well. Man, I really appreciate you spending some time with me.
Well, Dave really appreciate it. I feel the same way about you. Always love tuning into whatever game you're doing and don't get to see each other in person very often. We did last week in Seattle, so hopefully I'll have another Cardinals game down the stretch. But appreciate you having me on and good luck with the travel this week. Hope to see you soon.
Great story from Kenny about his mom beating doctor Jay on the basketball court at his house and just listening to all the stories age how great. Kenny's new book is a mic for all seasons. It just came out. Can't wait to read it. Hope you get a chance to check it out. Not only is Kenny one of the best broadcasters in the business, but he's got unbelievable stories.
He's forged great relationships over the years with many player, coach, and general manager celebrities that he has an opportunity to get to know, and also, of course family with his dad Marv and his uncles Al and Steve. We are presented by BETTMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by HeLa River Resorts and Casinos. You
can follow us on Twitter at pashpod. You can also rate us, review us on your favorite podcast platform, and if you have a guest in mind that you'd really like to hear from, whether it's Cardinals ro later or not, please let us know. Thanks again to Kenny Albert, and thanks again to you for listening to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.