How Did You Get this Number?

The answer is—I really don’t know.

The question? Why did three brothers from Brooklyn all become professional sportscasters?

The funny thing is, in all the years we had been doing it, my brothers and I never discussed why we got into broadcasting.

I called my brother Marv. That’s Marv, as in Marv Albert, arguably the greatest basketball announcer of all-time. I asked him, “Why did you want to become a sports announcer?” The first thing he said to me was, “How did you get this number?”

I was a glutton for punishment, so I called my brother Al. That’s Al, as in Al Albert, who also had a long and distinguished career as a play-by-play announcer. I asked him the same question. “Why did you want to become a sportscaster?” The next thing I heard was, “CLICK!”

It’s not easy being a kid brother.

After attempting to chat with my two brothers, I asked myself the same question. By the way, as we’ve established by now, I’m Steve Albert, the youngest of three sportscasting brothers.

I don’t recall any conscious decision to become a sportscaster. My brothers and I just started announcing, first by pretending to be announcers as children and later getting paid to do the same. Maybe I started announcing because my older brothers did it.

You know how a mountain climber, when asked, why did you climb the mountain, replies, “Because it was there?” Well, perhaps that’s my answer as well. I did it because the microphone was there. It just felt like the natural thing to do.