S1E8: Mike Gorman

all right, everyone. Today's View from the Raptors Behind the Scenes with the Boston Celtics is a special edition because we not only have the voice of the Celtics for the last forty years, but we have someone who is fresh off of a selection into the Hall of Fame. So first and foremost, Mike Gorman, I just want to say congratulations. You are everything that it means to be a Celtic. You have been calling these games forever, and everyone in New England who's growing up watching these games

knows exactly who you are. They can associate your voice with all of these games and all the memories they've grown up with. So congratulations. Yeah, thanks that. It's been a remarkable eight of ten days now since I first got the word, and it continues to be I continue to hear from people that I haven't to have been attached with years going back to a Big East day. So um, it's really been an interesting experience. May find out that you had an effect on people's life that

you never even dreamed you had had. So, um, it's been a crazy ten days or so. I do have to ask you them, like how did you find out the news that I feel like that's everyone's favorite story of how did the phone call happen? Yeah, Terry was down in Florida on business and Christina course loves out in Arizona now, so um it came at about eight fifteen.

It was the president of the Hall of Fame, and he called and congratulate me that I had been uh going to be the recipient of the gaudy would We had a briefield conversation up and then I say to myself, well, christ and I was gonna call because it's like five o'clock in the morning. So I kind of walked about in circles and just thought about it myself. About an hour and a half later, when I thought everybody this player,

I started making phone calls. Of course Terry and Christian were the first two, but yeah, for the first hour, so it was just kind of me and the news. My favorite part about that story is that you might be the only person left on earth who answers a phone call from an unknown number. It's a good thing you did, that's true. There is a legiterate reason behind that. A I don't usually do that. But Mike Green, as

you all know what, was inducted last week. And Mike is a dear friend of mine, so I knew he was being inducted, and it was in Springfield. And so when the phone right up Springfield on the phone, I immediately thought, oh, this is probably gotta be Mike, because I had never heard a telemarketer working out in Springfield that had my number anyway, so I just assumed it was Mike, and uh, it's good I answered the phone. It would have been a tough one for them to

leave as a message. You don't want that as a voicemail. No, no, you don't like what You were alone with it for that hour. What went through your mind? I mean, the fact that you're a kid from Dorchester, you grew up sneaking into the Old Garden and now you're going into the Nate Smith Basketball Hall of Fame. Yeah I did. I just kind of wandered around Abby and had a cup of coffee and thought about the last forty years

and what has been a whole relationship with Tommy. I mean, obviously I really wished he was here to see this and be part of this. It was a time to kind of reminisce and think about times and thinking about people who had these effect on your life. You know, you, um, you don't know whose life you're affecting, and sometimes things happen to change your path. Um. I had a lot of good luck taking decisions and was in the right

place at the right time. I'm glad you said that might because that's definitely a topic that we're going to talk about later on during this conversation. But you did mention already that that you were just you just had an influx of text messages and phone calls from hundreds of people that you've worked with and been friends with

over the years. If you had to give an estimate of the number of people who call someone like Mike Gorman after the news goes out that he gets into the Hall of Fame, what is the number of the amount of calls and text messages that you've received over the last eight or ten days. A couple of d um. It allows me to uh have a lot of very local response to it. It's it's it's one thing to have a guy that you like on the air who's from Ohio or something like that. Hamp I'm the local

guy who have kind of made good. So that's a that's kind of cool. Well, Mike, you just mentioned that you've had a couple of hundred people reach out to you and and we didn't get to talk with all of them, but there are a few of them who actually wanted to send a message to you right now during this podcast with a special message for you. So

here it is well deserved and overdue. We both came to the Celtics in and there have been so many amazing memories and you and Tommy, you know, the NB have been the mb for the NBA for the last forty years. It's been incredible watching you too, and everybody in the sports world, not even just the n B A thank you for all the excitement and for the joy that you have brought to so many and Celtics nation. Thanks for representing the Celtics with so much class incompetence,

and think you most of all for your friendship. Appreciate it. Over the twenty six years that we've been together. This is awesome. Hey, my congratulations again on being named the Hall of Fame. For a person that's only been around New England for eight years, it's obvious the impact that you've had throughout all of these four decades calling Celtics games. Thanks for everything you've brought to the fans. Thanks for everything you've brought to all of us. Look forward to

celebrating with you when the time is right. Congratulations again, Mike Gorman, Hall of Famer. Unbelievable to say that. What a richly deserved honor. Congratulations. You know, you're the best possible voice of the Celtics that any of us could imagine. You take our team and communicate what it means to be a Celtic, you know, to the country, into the world,

and you've helped the Celtics grow over the years. People know what it means to be a Celtic and many of them know that because of you, and so we appreciate it, and I thank you for that. I thank you for the innumerable hours you've spent traveling to the games, doing the games for decades, and I thank you for what you and your wife Terry, and your daughter Christen, your wonderful family do off the court as well in the community. Um I just in every way, you're an icon.

You're an exemplary person. You're the best and we always knew that, and now the Hall of Fame has confirmed it. So congratulations Hall of Famer, and thanks for everything, Michael. We've had so many courtside adventures together, from Bigg East campuses during the n C A a s at the Garden as one of your early producers and your biggest fan and wife. I couldn't be more proud of you. Congratulations,

I might. I look so forward to September when the Hall of Fame honors you for the incredible work they've you done for the Celtics and broadcasting over so many years. It's just a capstone. We've honored you every day and appreciate every day that you spend with the Celtics. You are an emblem of Celtics pride, your preparation, your passion for the game, your passion for everything Celtics has been amazing and your partnership with Tommy and now with Scott

will live on forever. So I am just so thrilled and and and and so happy about all the moments we spend together, the Dinners on the road, UM Dinners in London. Uh, all all your incredible basketball knowledge and the just the incredible class you bring to the game and to the fans. Um. This is just a very appropriate and incredible honor, and I look forward to seeing you in September when you're standing up on that stage.

We love you, Mike, and uh and and and thanks so much for all you do, how you doing it, assuming what makes set out to making a Hall of time. Congratulations, love, deserve and appreciate everything that you have done, not just you need sit for this organization. Dad. I am so proud of you. You've always been an incredible father, en role model. Having seen how hard this business can be,

I've always admired what grace and kindness you have shown. Congratulations. Yeay, Oh Mike, I'm so emotional watching watching you watch that. Let's watch my breakdown now that's the next segment. Thank you for going to get those market and that's really really nice to have a You gotta figure way to save all this video for me because I need to see that over and over again. We will, I said the same thing. We'll send it to Terry and then she can get it in no form that you can exactly,

but I think that's a good place to start. And you said it when we began this conversation that one of the cool things about this honor is that it does kind of bring together the two biggest parts of your professional life, and that is the Big East and the NBA and the Celtics. And pretty incredible to think that you have had a courtside seat for two of the most iconic eras in basketball history. What stands out to you from those moments and how do you kind

of put that all into perspective for yourself. I don't think I'll ever be able to probably put it into perspective. But again, and I'm not I'm not trying to be falsely modest here. I was lucky. I was in the

right place at the right time. I was in Providence, Rhode Island, UM when Dave Gabett decided that he's going to form the Big East, and I, by virtue of a position I had at w p R I t V Channel twelve and Providence UM, they had an agreement to do five Providence College televised five Providence games a year, and I mean this, This is truly how the dominoes felled for me. I was doing the sixth, I wasn't

even doing the six and eleven yet. I was co hosting a morning show on w pr OH radio where a guy named Salty Briant, who was a marvelous figure in Rhode Island radio and had been for like thirty forty years. And I mean Salty used to get fifty and sixty shares in the book in the morning. I mean that's how many people he had listening to him. I was able to work my way into that shows as the sports guy, and then he had a call from Channel twelve saying that their weekend guy was leaving.

When I liked the audition for the weekend job, by auditioned for the weekend job, and he got it and literally had the weekend job for two weeks when the Monday to Friday guy he gave his notice to take a job in Orlando. So now I'm working in Providence and I'm doing six to ten in the morning, co hosting the largest, the most popular radio show in Providence, and then I'm doing the six and eleven o'clock sports on Channel twelve every night seven nights a week. I

was ea, turn on the TV. Chances aft you gotta show up with me in one form or another. So um that that really helped a lot in terms of my recognition in Rhode Island. So when it came time to do the PC games Province College Games, I was a natural choice. And that's where I probably made the truly the decision that changed my whole life. Was we had that five game package to do Providence College basketball,

and we didn't have a color guy. And we were in a meeting one day to trying to figure out who's gonna be the analyst, and it's a general manager of the program director and the news director and they're trying to their name and all these names of former Providence College players. And said, hey, why don't we just go for it? Trust you wouldn't get Tom Heinson. And they're like, oh, Tommy Heinson wouldn't want to work here. He would want to drive down from Boston New Games.

And I'm like, well, you never know unless you try, so um, you know, these these are the days that you could make a phone call to someplace and you actually go through to the person. You don't have to go through nine layers. So I just called the Celtics and asked for Tommy's number and they said, sure, here it is. They gave me Tommy's number and I dialed it. Next thing, I got Tommy on the phone, UM, and I tell him who I am, and we've got a

five game package. Would he be interested? And he he said, why don't we have lunch? So I drive up to Boston and I have lunch and I get a oral agreement from Tommy that he will do the five games provided I buy an insurance policy for him, which at the time he was he was selling insurance. So I bought the insurance policy to get him into the color seat next to me, and then tells me that was worth it in the long run, that question some of the best money I've ever invested. Um. And uh so

what we did the five games together? We got along really well. And then Mark, you remember this app. I think you were on the West coast. But uh group called Prism came in and they were the first ones to own the rights to the Celtics outside of the away games, which were belonging to a radio station and a TV station Boston at the time, so that the home games were never televised, and this was gonna be paid cable. This is getting into the whole new era.

And so they immediately went to Tommy to be the color guy. And they said to Tommy, who should be the play by play guy? And he said, oh, yeah, all right, this guy I worked with in Providence, he's pretty good. So um, Tommy, we paid the favor in spades and got me the job basically beside him, and then the rest is kind of history. After that, Yeah, the rest is history. I want to talk to you about that relationship, and it's just so special to know that.

Obviously Tommy is not in as a broadcaster. We know that you're gonna fight for that with every part of your being moving forward, but you are going to be both in the Hall of Fame together, which I just think is so special and so deserved and so perfect after forty years together. What was it about your relationship that that made you guys so special as a tandem

on the air together. Well, I think what brought a chemistry very quickly along so that we had chemistry very fast was Tommy never wanted to do the things that that I do on the air, which is give you the score, give you that, how much time was left to give you, how many followers it was on that guy who's coming in the game, who's going out of the game. He never wanted to deal with any of that. He just wanted to deal with the analysis of what

was happening on the court. And I was smart enough to realize that I probably should sit back and listen to this guy who's got seven or world championships as a player and two more as a coach, um and let him just be the analyst and talk about what's happening in the referees calls and blah blah blah and and all the stuff that was Tommy Hinson so um

right from the very beginning. I remember listening back to the first tape that we ever did together of the Celtics, and I was, I was stunned at the at the timing we we just had. We never stepped on each other, because again Tommy never wanted to do. But you know, as soon as Paul Lucy said in the headphones, you know we're going to break, Tommy, just shut up, and you want to throw at the break. You want to

be with great at all. So I would just I would fill it in and get us to break and coming back from Tommy didn't want to deal with that at all, so I would I would bring his back from break. So I was kind of the setup guy more or less um for Tommy. And that's what Tommy wanted to work with, was a setup guy. He didn't want a guy necessarily sitting next to HI who had opinions,

and so I became that guy. You did have to take a bit of friendly fire for Tommy though, right sitting next to him for forty years, elbows flying, and I mean there were you guys got into some pretty sticky situations on the road as well, right, you know, he had a lot had a lot of situations on the road that were very interesting. Mostly I can't even relate on a podcast, but oh, this is behind the scenes with the Boston Celtics, Mike, you can definitely go

into that if you want to. Yeah, But Tommy was funny. He he hadn't been on the road in a long time, and so when we first went on the road, he kind of put him in charge of like, well, where do we go, but where do we have donnage or not? You know, all these NBA cities where do we go? And so let's say that there were some places that

no doubt we're great eight to ten years ago. Now after he raved about it all the way over the cab, we were trying, as I was, in some dives where that wasn't quite what he used to be that ten or fifteen years ago. So after about one or two tips through the league, we decided to take that responsibility away from Tommy. Your name where we went to eat, and we put that on Zach graphics guy, who was really good at it, and so he held a job for about the next twenty years. Tommy again, we just

we we liked each other. We liked each other off the year. We didn't hang around together that much off the year, which I think it was was a key to our relationship because it wasn't like we were constantly with each other. We were during the season, we were with each other five six nights a week for about three or four hours. But during the off season, if I talked to Tommy three times over the period of June, July, August in early September, when we get back, it would

be a lot um. And once he stopped playing golf, we we really stopped communicating on a lot of levels. So um again, when we got back together again, we had a common goal. As soon as we sat down at that table, I knew how I wanted to be, He knew how he wanted to be, and we were both comfortable with each other's image of themselves. So yeah, that lent to chemistry right away, and lent to uh, he and I having a long relationship. For me, Tommy likes to say, you know, we have many other forty years,

we've only had one fight and it's not over yet. Um. But we really did not have and if many arguments. I remember one time and in Orlando we had a really bad kind of going at each other over what the responsibilities were in the game. But you know, again, and I get emotional at me about talking about these kind of stories. But we got into a real shouting match over over breakfast, and I get up and left the table, and and Paul Lucy was wondering how the

broadcast was going to be there tonight. We're in Orlando, And as I came out to get on the bus, Tommy's uh standing at the bus so that I do it. So I have to go buy him to get on the bus and I started to go buy and he just grabs me in this big bear hug and he says, we're gonna be all right. Um, we were, you were, and you were every single night that you guys broadcast together.

It's really incredible to hear that you guys weren't next to each other every day, talking to each other every day during the off season, yet that chemistry always carried through. That just seems so special to me that that you two had um that chemistry that really could could break through anything and carry you through anything and really come through to the viewers. Um, no matter what the circumstance behind behind the camera. Yeah, I'm sure both of you

guys could name two or three people. It's probably not a big number for me. It's only about if that'sen't five, that's for sure who. It doesn't matter how long I go in between seeing them. As soon as I see him and you're with them, it's like you with them two days ago, yesterday. That's the way it was for Tommy and I didn't matter if we went four or

five weeks without talking to each other. As soon as we tied to me and talking to each other, it was as if we had been together for the last so um, those are rare relationships when you can have them in to be able to have one both personally and professionally was really a thrill for me, especially with Tom Einsten, who I grew up watching play basketball, and

then you got to watch basketball with him. Some of the most incredible moments in basketball history, whether it's Larry and Magic, Michael Jordan's and then even the two thousand eight team. Mike, what are some memories that stand out to you basketball wise that, um, you have been a

part of. It was just it was tough of the pros because there's all regular season action and maybe the first round of the playoffs because we always had to stop broadcasting after the first round of the playoffs, and during the eighties especially, that's when things got really good because Bird and Company were gonna get to the first round easily. So it was usually five games and the other team was going at the most. Sometimes it was four when they got to play the Lakers and got

to play Michael. We didn't really get to do much of the playoff action. We had some some great moments. I know Tommy and I call a sixty yard point game that that Michael had against the Celtics and the Garden. We did that game. We did the game where Birds stole the ball and hit DJ on the card after

the Isaiah Thomas passed against Detroit. There was a game in Portland, overtime game in Portland that didn't involve Tommy and Paul, Harry and I. At the time, Carry was living in Europe and going to Europe on a postgraduate scholarship from school, called and was We had corresponded, We had dated briefly before she left, and then we corresponded

a lot while she was gone. But when she was coming back to United States, there was a question whether she was gonna stop in Boston and we're gonna see whether or not there was a relationship there, or whether she was just gonna go back to Pittsburgh, where she grew up and where her family lived. And then there's no telling how our relationship would have gone on a long distance space. So I mean it was really like, I'll come to Boston and I'll see how it feels.

Was was how she was put it in that I'll need to get back on another plane to Pittsburgh, or I'll stick around for a while and we'll see how this goes. So it's a Sunday afternoon and she's due to revive at three o'clock and we're playing a noontime game and the freaking thing goes over time. So she's gonna vide at the airport and come walking out. There's gonna be nobody there, and she's gonna say, well, I guess that answers the question, and get back on the

plane and fly away. And there's another life change. Um, so bird hit this, I said to Tommy, and I said, and he knew that the situation was. I said, look, as soon as this game's over, out of here. Like I am just out of here. I'm not doing any post game. I'm not doing anything. You gotta do everything you have signed off. He's like, well, how did you do that? You know? Um, it's easy, just read the card. Thank um. He never wanted to deal with those cards

ever ever. So um any Larry, God bless him, hits his followay jumper too at the end of the first overtime to win the game at the buzzer. And it was a really good, good call opportunity. I remember making the call and then my voice stops and the next thing you hear is Tommy, and then said listen, and I ran downstairs, and people stayed in their seats thankfully said it wasn't much traffic. I literally, I mean, I'm

not making this up at all. I drove to the airport, I got to the International terminal, I just put my car, just get out of it. I just left it in the street, and I went running inside. And literally I can running inside, and twenty ft from me to the international gates, she comes walking through. Never went back to Pittsburgh. No, she did not. Thank you to Larry Bird for putting that bucket through the basket, for Tommy for taking that

sign off. Pretty incredible. I remember you telling me that story, Mike. I don't know if it was on the plane or a car ride back into the city after a late plane ride home, but just an unbelievable story of how the smallest thing can turn into the biggest thing in life. And and right there it was Bird being able to make that shot to get you to the airport just in time. Unbelievable. I'll tell you one that again. You

never know who's going to affect your life. I get out of the Navy and had spent six years in the Navy after college, and I had no no clue at all what I wanted to do. I know, I didn't want to fly planes anymore, but I know I had no clue at all what I really wanted to do with my life. And so after about a month of was hanging around and playing basketball and just hanging around with old college buddies, you know, my parents are like, you getta get a job, you know, you get like

a real job here. So I figured, Okay, maybe I'd like to be a sportscast. That'd be kind of fun. I had no experience doing it. I just thought it would be kind of fun. So I go, where should I go. I'll go to w b Z in Boston because they did the biggest radio station around and they do the Patriots, and Guilt Santos is just terrific on the Patriots. So I'll just go see Gil Santos and try to see if I get a job there in

some capacity. So I pulled up at the security gate and this guard says to me, he says, can I help you? And I said that, yeah, I'm gonna go see Gil Santos, and he says, do you have an appointment? I said no, and he said, does Gil have any idea you're coming? I said no, and he said, you just can't pull up here and goes see Gills Santos

without having called ahead. You know, this is w b Z, this is the biggest radio station in Boston, and um, he said, So you're just gonna go back home or whatever you're doing and call up and see if you can make an appointment. But I can't let you in the parking line. And I said, okay, thanks anyway. And then the guy literally goes like this, goes what's that in the back seat? And the back seat was a ball cap that said VP forty four on it, which

was my squadron uh in Bunswick, Maine. And I flew forth and he said, what do you have to do with VP forty four? I said, though I was an aviator there for five years. I was with just with the squadro And he said, I was with VP sixteen up there. I was said, blah blah blah blah blahah. He starts talking to be back and forth. He goes, hold on, hold on, He picks up the phonies. Gil, Yeah, this is John down to secure. There's a guy here I think he really would like to talk to Yeah, okay, fine,

I'll send him up. Gil gets me a job that day. That literally that day, calls the radio station in New Bedford. After I talked to him about a half hour and he said they could use somebody like you. I drive down to New Bedroom that morning. I'm not making any this up. I drive down from Bedrood that morning. I meet the general manager of the station. We get along pretty well on a meeting for about a half hour and he says, you want to get some lunch. I said, sure,

we go get some lunch. We have a cup of beers over lunch. At some point he says to me, well all the blue he goes you play softball? And I said, uh yeah. He said are you any good? And I said, oh yeah, I'm really good. As a matter of fact, and I was. That was my sport. Fast pitched softball was my sport. I was a third basement. I played about twenty ft or now. He guess most guys couldn't get around, and a chief we had it

was a great fastball pitcher. Anyway, so he said, look, we have a charity game against the other radio station in town tonight and then beating our brains out of I still last four or five years. Will you play for us? And I said, sure, my vist. So I played a game. I hit like four home runs and like four at Patson because it was just it was like playing against not even junior bar site, was like play against fourth gradest um, playing against guys who work

at a radio station. Exactly right, exactly right that So we win the game big and at the end of the game the manager for the other team comes over and he started yelling at Paul, going, that guy's a ringer. He doesn't work for you, And Paul's Paul, who's the guy? A man's going, yeah he does. He's our public affairs director. Well that's I got that day. I got that job that night. I started the next day as the public

affairs director. And I could go on one thing led to another, and but if that if that's security guy doesn't seem the VP forty four the back of the car uh and doesn't say anything at all, just says you gotta go come back here and try to make an appointment. I probably never go back to Intimidated to go back I'd probably come up with a million reasons why I couldn't do it again. I owe that guy big help him big time. The moral of the stories, You've got to have the right hat sitting in the

back of your car whenever you're driving around here. You can't have gas enough. You're right, well, Mike, you fast forward, you know, forty fifty years into the future after after this just the smallest moment that turned into the biggest thing for you. Um, and you've called, as you've mentioned multiple times, three thousand plus games at this point. I'm just curious to get your take on a tweet that you sent out recently after Jason Tatum scored sixty points

in a massive comeback by the Celtics. He said that that was top five out of all of the games that you called throughout your career, starting with the Big East and and and coming into the NBA and calling all these Celtics games. What was it that made that game in particular stand out to you as a top

five out of three thousand plus games. Well occasionally got to see and and I saw I probably played Larry bird Is one game and they will probably tang it ten games in that and that is a guy gets into a game where all of a sudden, he just rises up to a level where he's above everybody else and he knows it, and he feels it and he acts on it. And that that's what Jason Tatum did that and I is he understood how good he was at this particular moment in time, and he just was

gonna take over. You know, when you were out there in an NBA basketball game, you're dealing with you did ten play, ten of the best players in the world going head to head with each other, and so to be able to take yourself to another higher level where you completely just dominate the whole game, That's what I saw and Tatum and the immensity of the comeback and that the Celtics had and again to to be twenty three years old and all of a sudden, your name

sits next to Larry Bird in the record book What got you? There's gonna be a pretty big deal. And that was a pretty big deal for him that night. When people talk about do you have favorite games, you have favorite moments? You know, I'll be lying if I didn't tell you they all run together to a certain degree. But um, in your mind immediately start thinking in terms of decades or what was the best game? I saw Larry Bird play? What was the best game? I saw

Paul Pierce played? What was the best game? I saw Kevin Gardnett bet Kevin Garnett and always the best player. I saw Jason Tatum be in this early in his career, so he just kind of fit for this this generation now, the post Pierced generation. He's been the guy he's and he been. Seltum ade him to a long term contract, or at least for the immediate future, he's going to be the guy for Boston, and uh, he's equal to

the task. I think you know that the only place that for me, Jason really has it to improve is to make other guys around him better. Uh that that that's That's the final stamp of being a great player in almost any sport really, but certainly in basketball, is do you make your teammates better? And he's knocking on that door right now, and as soon as he goes through that door, he's just gonna be a remarkable talent for a long time to come. Just watching these playoffs,

it's clear the league is in a good place. The Celtics are in a good place as well. But to bring it back full circle and back to the Hall of Fame, we heard Danny mentioned it the new Celtics Big Three. For what does it mean to you to be going in alongside not only Bill Russell, but Paul Pierce, whose entire career you had the opportunity to cover and

be a part of. Yeah, I mean the Bill Russell thing is just like, forget it right, it's still figuring Russell talking about it, so um, that's just beyond it. But to be going in with Paul is special because you know, Paul and I had a really nice relationship and it wasn't like we were great friends who weren't going I would drinking and dining or anything else. But we just had a relationship. We understood each other's roles

in in the bigger picture. We had this little thing where I used to tell Paul who the officials were in every game, so doing Paul would go through the lay up line twice and then he would come over and give me these little hug before every game. And people say that was really neat the way you and Paul do that. Well, what he would do is as

I gave him Paul a hug. I would say, you know, it's you know, Chris, David and Larry and Larry is the white guy or something like that, you know, and Paul would go, Okay, fine, you know, and then I would see Paul as you go through the Layoup line. So we go and hey, Chris, how you doing, Hey day? If how you're doing to the officials to get this kind of early leg up that that there were all

real buddies. So yeah. The night that Paul got his UH number retired, when I introduced him, instead of going to podium, he came walking towards me to have a hug, and he went opened up his zom and he said, who we got tonight? That it's special to be with Paul. I've always loved Paul as a player. It was great to have Kevin Garnett communing, It was great to have Ray comm in. It was great with the three of them did. But Paul, Paul is my guy. Paul would always be my guy. And now you guys will be

linked together forever, going in in the same year. It's unbelievable. And you know this is I think there's gonna be a strong crop of new Englander's heading down to the Springfield for this induction this year. It's gonna be really impressive and I can't wait to be a part of it and to watch you go into the Hall of Fame along with with Bill Russell and Paul Pierce. So

congratulations again, Mike. We're gonna take a quick commercial break and come back and talk a little bit about the art of the play by play, which Abby and I are both very interested to get your take on this, and we'll be at bat. I know I've been waiting forever to get back into TV Garden for a live Celtics game, and I know you've been feeling the same way.

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Well Mike, we've already talked about the relationship that you had with Tommy Heinson and how that kind of came through to the viewers throughout the world and throughout New

England every single night the Celtics were on TV. I just want to get your take on the importance of relationships between partners, and not necessarily just you and Tommy or you and Bill Raftery back in the day, but anyone out there in broadcasting how important our relationships behind the scenes to what comes through the microphones and comes

into people's homes on a daily and nightly basis. Well, I I think people can tell whether you like each other, um right away the guy you're working with, no matter how much professional you may try to be a professional, they may try to be to to to show any kind of dislike that maybe they're I think it's really important that you genuinely like the guy. I do think as a play by play guy you have to really

push your ego really down low. Your job. I believe the job of the play by play guy is to make sure you understand the score and make sure you want to stand the time, make sure you understand any other statistics like somebody's having for this ridiculous night, or somebody's got four followers on them early or something like that. That's really my job is to keep all that stuff up front, and it's the analyst job to analyze and to say why things happened. So occasion you I won't

say a case. And all too often I hear too many play by play guys who kind of think they are of the story, uh, and that they are the ones who everybody wants to hear talk when I don't think that's really true. I think your voice should be limited as a play by play guy. If you haven't got something really specific to say, don't say anything at all, and don't use the word I during the broadcast. Your first job is to report the game. Your second job is to make the analyst as good as you can

make them be. Your last job is to again get in now the breaks clean and not miss out the pronunciation of or it's a sponsors. But other than that, you really gotta take your ego and you gotta bang it down if you're going to be any good is it? Played by play guy? Mike? Was that an evolution for you? How did you discover your style? And your voice. Well, it wasn't so much really evolution that because I didn't I didn't have any place I was coming from. I mean,

I wanted to apply for a job. Like later on, I just seemed to follow me around. I did team handball at the Olympics, like three or four Olympics ago, and the first team handball game I ever saw, I did um And how do you even do that? I don't even I can't even cover hot. How do you walk into a room and do that? Right? You weren't even there either. You're in your calling from a studio back in Connecticut exactly, and the boots smaller we're in right now. You just do it, Mark, I can't think

of any that they put it. You just go ahead and dive in and do it again. You involve the especially in situations like that. I involved the color analysts right away. What are they doing out there? Why are they doing this? Who's the best player out there? What are his strengths? What are his weakness? Let them be the analysts they are supposed to be, and you'd be

the information guy. And after a while, I mean, if you've ever watch team handball, team hamball was like hockey without the ice, and they just run up and down and fire away at goalies from like away with the thing that's the quick size of a softball, and just throw it as hard as they can, and these guys somehow make saves. Um. It's really a pretty exciting game to watch. I really got into it after a while.

To go back to your original question, I was trying to figure out what I was supposed to be and when to play by play guy was supposed to be and the guys I listened to to try to copy and steal stuff from where the guys like Ray Scott, guys like Patch Somemmeroll, all guys who thought lesser it was better was their philosophy going in to give us, say, the absolute essential stuff and then get out of the way.

And if the analyst doesn't feel like talking, let they be crowd noise, because it just television, after all, and people have images and they can see these images. They don't need you to repeat over and over again what they're seeing. If you want to call who's who's defending is opposed to who's got the ball? That's an easy way to get out of this situation of being redundant. But most of the time you need to You need to make sure that view understands that you're looking at

the same thing they are. I tell kids when they're started about this business all the time, it's when the balls and play, be a baseball, football or whatever. Go ahead and watch the field, But as soon as the whistle the blows or the play and look at the monitor, see what the director is putting up there as a picture, and make sure that your comments follow alongside of what is to being on the screen. Don't let them be a disconnect by something on the screen saying one thing

and you're saying something completely different. That's when people go start to say, well, he's not very good, But what they're really saying is is he's not helping me at all. He's he's just kind of he's flying in the face of what I'm trying to understand. So let the game speak for itself. Remember it's TV, and you have a lot of images that you don't have to necessarily in the hands. You can let them be on be by

to stand on their own two feet. But again, I've always believed less is better, and I believe that until ust to day. I stopped doing this. That's a better way to do it. You don't don't need to hear yourself talk. Mike. I asked you in the middle of that answer, how do you walk into a room and broadcast a sport that you've never watch before? And right after I asked that, came up with the answer, be a hall of famer, which is exactly what you are. A hall of famer can walk in the room and

pull that hop. But I do want to ask you, and you've kind of touched on this at times during this conversation, it's kind of like playing point guard in setting up your teammates for success in terms of what you try to do to set up the analysts that you're working with. There's different point guards out there that

do it a different way. When you look at Chris Paul versus Rajon Rondo versus Kemba Walker and Kyrie Irvan, how do you set up your teammates for success when you're you are live broadcasting with them, especially playing alongside people with such huge personalities from them behind to Bill Raftere, especially with those two guys that I would spend time with them right before the game, and you know, we

always just sit together in the press room before CUTIC games. Um, it would be the same thing with Bill Rafterree in different colleges. I would make sure that I got down and got a chance to hear raft over dinner, just talk about kind of what he e x in the game tonight, how he expects the game to go, who he thinks is good, who he doesn't think is very good, who he thinks is overrated, who he thinks is underrated, and then always try to take your color guy to

places you know are safe for him. You know, that was very easy to do with Tammy because I always knew that Tommy wanted wanted the team to run. You wanted him to run, run, run, and the second and third he wanted to run, run, run, So it was it was really pretty simple going forward as to what you want to talk about and what he wanted to analyze.

Bill was much more the the analysts of different ways he Tommy made it very clear throughout his career like this is this is the way you can win championships, and without saying that, he was saying, look, I got seven or eight of them as a player, I got two of them as a coach. I know what I'm talking about here, and he did. And Raf, on the other hand, was a guy who really never won too much as a coach and had a much bigger career and hasn't had a much bigger career as an analyst.

And and Billy, Billy taught me something earlier. He said, one of the good things about doing network kind of TV is you can just move for both teams. You don't have to be a fan favorite of one or a favorite of the other. He just moved for both teams. And we knew when one team is playing well offensively, you don't say the other team is playing poor defensively, even though they might be. You just talk about how good this team is playing offensively. So you keep a

very positive flow to the broadcast. And if you can keep the broadcasting in a positive zone, for lack of a better way to put it, most people are going to be okay with it. Played by play guys should never have an argument down the air with with the color analyst about anything going on in the court. You just shouldn't because by definition, this guy's the expert. You're you're the Segway guy. So um, it was easy to keep the faith with those guys, because you just I

just threw softballs in the air all the time. My first season on the sidelines was one of the first seasons that Tommy wasn't going to road games, and it was before scal became our full time analyst, and so you were dealing with a different analyst. I mean almost every game Jackie McMullen did a bunch and then in l A we even had Brondo I think for an entire game as your analyst. How talk about a true professional?

What was that? What is it like for you kind of adapt and how are you able to do it? It's fun the first game or two, okay, because because you haven't worked with this person before, you know what their what their knowledge is, You know who they are and what their reputation is. So again, you can just

throw so offballs in the air. If it's when you get down and get to games three, four or five, or six or seven however long, then you really have to know how good this person is or isn't um And usually there's a reason why they're not doing that job and they're doing some other job and they're guests doing this job. Again, the first two or three games we work with anybody. Usually were fun to do because there were people who were well established reputations and their specialty.

Jackie brilliant writer, raft great humorist. For lack of a better way to put it. In terms of basketball, Ronny Perry, who I worked at ton of games within the Biggest Reason on television network. Again an excellent annelist of the game and a bright kid and a likable kid. I really can't recall any I did. Jim Valvano's first game on ESPN. Again, it was fun to work with guys for on a one shot deal. Said the second shot

was kind of fun. Third shot you start to go, oh, I don't know, and then the fourth shot like this is why you're not doing this for a living, and now how do you get through the rest of this? But you might have that that time, without having made a permanent decision on scale was Yeah. It was just like I felt like I was at a comedy club. It was auditions every night. Well, Mike, I got I gotta jump in here and say that I I have

to be honest with you. During that time, I was traveling with the team full time as well, and I was just waiting for the moment when someone's plane got stuck in some connection and that there would be a desperation mode fifteen minutes before the game started, and you guys needed someone so that I would be able to get the call and say, I sat down next to Mike Gorman for a game and called the game with

Mike Gorman. I was praying for that moment and then we we wound up with Scale, which which has been great ever since. But I was waiting for that one moment. For for someone to get stuck somewhere and not make their connecting flight. Truly would have been a desperation moment. Mark, Yeah, that way, it would have. I mean, desperation is an understatement,

there's no question about that. That being said, though, we're gonna take one more quick commercial break and come back for a final quick segment before we let the Hall of Famer go for the dead. We'll be right bad. We're all in the same boat when it comes to trying to come up with great gift ideas for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and every other occasion. We're all looking for something

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your recipient to thank me for sending you over there. Well, Mike, we learned plenty so far about your career, but now we want to learn about the person. This would be a little bit of a rapid fire conversation, some quick answers, some quick questions, But I want to start out you. You mentioned the five years as as an aviator pilot in the Navy, and I've got to ask you how many pairs of aviator sunglasses do you own? One? Just one? And were they from? Were they from those days? Uh? Nope?

Actually I had gone a long time without where an aviated glasses, and about two or three years ago I decided, let me see if I like that look, and I bought something and I determined there was a reason I had mornument so long as a particularly so they're stored away for now. But just one, How did you become a pilot? Mike? Well, that's a see that's a long story to him. Um, I feel that's the name of Willie Nelson's autobiography. It's a long story, and it is

basically what happened was I get out. I was gonna get drafted. I had done a bad job in my here at Boston College and I lost my two s affirment and so I was going to get drafted. So instead of getting drafted, I enrolled in an OCS program that where you gave two summers away into between your sophomore, junior, and junior senior years, and then after you senior in high school. I did in college. Rather you went right

into the Navy for whatever. So I got through that, it went into the Navy, and I just found out, oh, three months in the Navy that I get terribly seasick. So the Navy was not a really good place to be, especially on a destroyer. If you've ever been on a destroyer like a tin can, it just goes up and down all the places. I was spending too much time, you know, on all fours. So um, I tried out for for flight school and I passed, and so I made it into aviation. And that's why it took so long.

It was supposed to be a three year commitment turned into six to flight school. It was it was interested and I ended up I didn't go to Vietnam, but I was able to get to fly a plane that wasn't being used in Vietnam at the time. We chased submarines first, and submarines around the North Atlantic Ocean two and a half years. That was something I've never asked

you that I'm glad I learned something new today. I don't know how a worthwhile the information is, but the end it is, and it's it's a perfect segue for of this conversation, Mike, because a lot of people who are are in the forces, they wind up having this addiction to travel because that's oftentimes what they do and they live in different places around the world. They have

to travel for work to get that done. I know that you are a lover of travel around the world because you and I have had many conversations on our flights back and forth across the country about where where we're planning to go during the off season, and and Mike, what did you like about going here? Mark? What did you like going about here? What's what's what are your favorite places that you've traveled in the world, um, and what are some places that you haven't gotten to that

you would love to get to. I'm a big fan of Spain. I really like Spain a lot. Have good friends in Madrid, which is part of it. I think we Did's a great city that people never talked about. Barcelona is a terrific city to be in. You can also from get to tip palam in Majorca from Barcelona pretty easy, and that's that's a great island out there floating around beautiful. I like that part of you. I

like Spaining a lot. And I'm not a big fan of France, but my wife was fluent in French and when they did post graduate work there for a year and a half. So so we go to France every once in a while because she gets to pick where we go. I like Ireland a lot, like I could go back to Ireland on a moment's notice. I think it's because my roots are there. I'm a big fan of that. I like the Mediterranean and the whole Mediterranean area.

We went down a couple of years ago, we just landed and took a plant plane flight from New York to Athens and get off the plane in Athens, picked up a badge, walked down to the dock and rented a sailboat and it's captain for two weeks and just took off and sailed around the Greek isles. Okay, um, here's a great story. You love it. Gain we have much sound. This this is the absolute tooth. Mike. We're fine. We're worried about you, so you take all the time

you need. We're in this little harbor where there's no other boats. We had spent the night there. We get up the next morning and you could see up the top of I wouldn't say it's a hill. It's like like a small mountain, but obviously it was something you could hike up. Would take you a while, but you'd hike up there. There's a small village on the top of this hill slash mountain. Captain says. He said, Look, it's really rough outside outside the harbor right now. It's

supposed to calm down later on the day. Why don't you guys like take a walk up to the village up there. It's really famous. It's a nice place. You'll get a kick out of it. So we hiked for forty five minutes up to this village. We get there at five minutes or twelve. Well, they have the equivalent of CS. Everything shuts down between twelve and four. So we're wandering around the beach of this weekend. We don't see another human being. I mean, everything is locked up

tight as if it's going away forever. So we're walking. We're walking and thinking that they've never gonna open up. This is a waste of time. And we hear the sound of kids playing work down alleyway and his kids kicking a soccer ball around two kids. So we walked down there and we say the kids, like, you know, hey, is there anything open around here? And one of the kids says, yeah, my my dad he's probably had. They

are spoke pretty good English because my dad. And so he runs in and out comes this gentleman who's obviously the kids dead. He's got this little cafe. So we sit down to this cafe. He brings out some coffee or something to us, and we're just talking back and forth, and he finally says, where are you guys? From and I said that Boston. He said, oh, Boston, Boston Celtics. I love the Celtics, and you love the Boston Celtics.

He said, oh, yes, I coach. I coached the men's basketball team here for a bunch of we have a league among so all the islands, you know, and I coached the men's team. Brad Stevens. He's my favorite guy, Brad Stevens. I love him, you know. And Terry's kicking at the end of the table. He's gonna tell who you are, and I'm going to tell him who I am. So um but it was just amazing. He just got all. This guy I wanted to talk about, was Brad Stevens.

How he dv DVRs Hall of Brad's plays and then so he teaches him to his team out of bounds place and everything else, you know, the one where they go to the zone and they do the diamonds, and he's been diagraming all the stuff on a napkin, and I'm thinking, like this is bizarre. I'm like, I'm on a mountain top on a deserted island in the middle of the g n C, and I got this guy going Brad Stevens, Oh, yeah, I love you can't get away from the Celtics. You know what's really funny? Might

you tell that story? I had a similar sort and not necessarily exactly the same, but I was in one of the Greek islands and I just happened to be walking down the beach, um and I was wearing a celf Nex jersey, and out of nowhere, this guy comes up to me and he's from Europe. Um, you know, had had an accently spoke English. And he comes up to me and he says, I love the Celtics, They're

my favorite team. Blah blah blah blah. And we're talking for a minute, and that this isn't me tooting my own horn, but it's just a funny story that relates. And he says, are you Mark Amiko that works for Celtics dot com? And I I'm like, what, like then, just walking down the beach in a foreign country, uh, in a Mediterranean island. But that's how much the Celtics mean to and how much it's gone around the world and how important it is to uh two people not

in or outside of Boston. It's really incredible to notice that stuff when when you're traveling around the world. A big part of why I like Madrid so much is because I have friends there who just I met them through the Celtics playing a game in Madrid. They came down, introduced themselves to me, and we ended up staying in touch and we visit each other's families a couple of times. Now we're going back and forth. But yeah, it was amazing how much they knew and how many games they watched.

And I'm saying one and he's just five o'clock. We have to get at five o'clock in the morning to see the games. But that's not a big deal, you know. So um and their kids are all this Celtics gear and they're just like, wow, this is crazy. Hause that been one of and you mentioned it at the beginning, one of the best parts of all of this is just seeing finally getting to see how many people you have touched over the decades and what you have meant to so many people. It's the best part of It's

the best thing that's happened. Um. I mean, obviously getting inducted and winning the Gaudy Award is is the best, but right there at one A is what has come from that? Uh? And again hearing from people I haven't heard from it. Have Bill Raftery on the on the my pick up my phone and see there is a message in New Jersey. I think, who's New Jersey? And these raps boys talking to me? And again guys that have worked with the Big East way back when coaches

are not trying to sound corny. But I thought he had really forgotten me and I was no longer a factor in their life. Uh. I was doing the Big East in nineteen It's like years ago. You don't expect I remember that Saturday night there at Pj's place. We all got together, you know, really no kidding, but have you know? And you what the characters are like? I mean you you you get met PJ. I mean PJ is one of a kind. Bill rafter He's one of a kind. Lu Karner Seth is one of a kind.

Dave Gathered one of the kind. I mean. It was just a great collection of individuals who decided they were going to come together and show how good this sport could be. And Bigg's championship games in Madison Square Garden with Patrick Ewing and going against Chris Mullers going against Pearl Washington. It just was that was great stuff. That was just great. Great stuff. Doesn't get any better than that. And like you said that they're one of a kind,

you my friend, or one of a kind. I know that you mentioned that you've you've touched many other people who have reached out to you. You've certainly touched the two people who are on this call with you right now, and Abby it myself and we're so thankful to be able to have established relationships with you over the years and been able to just be by your side and watching your greatness shine through every single night. So again, congratulations.

We couldn't be happier for you. I'm gonna cry, and well, Abby, you said you would only cried once. Is this twice? Now it's too much. Yes, Mike, you're one of the best people that either of us have ever met. I know I'm speaking on behalf of Abby here, but um, I know that it's true. You're an unbelievable human. You're unbelievable at your job, and I'm just thankful to have been able to be around you and watch the show for the last thirteen years. Ready to try, we know

you will all right, thanks Mike. That's a wrap on episode eight of you from the Raptors. Thank you so much to Mike Gorman. The Hall of Famer can't wait to see you going in in September. And I'm sure everyone who's listening to this right now is thinking the exact same thing. We're looking forward to it. M