Ian Eagle was a teammate of Marv Albert’s for years doing NBA games for TNT Sports, but before they were colleagues, Albert was an idol for Eagle.
Discussing Albert’s impact on him in an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday, Eagle explained the elements of Albert’s style he tried to borrow when he started calling games.
“He was the model for me, because I thought he did such a tremendous job of calling the game, he was serious about the game,” Eagle said. “But he could razz his analysts, he could have a sarcastic line that would just go into the flow of the play-by-play, and then as a viewer or listener you’d question, ‘was he serious or was that a joke?’ I just love that style. And his versatility, I just loved that you could pop him into any situation and it was still just going to be him.”
Eagle also shouted out Al Michaels, Bob Costas, Brent Musberger, and Verne Lundquist as play-by-play guys he looked up to. But Albert was clearly his number one guy.
It’s no surprise. If Eagle liked Albert’s sarcasm and dry sense of humor, it certainly has translated. Eagle is known for many of the same elements, whether he is catching an errant pass from James Harden or doing extended performance art with Mike Fratello.
At the same time, Eagle brings a moxie to every broadcast that makes it feel big time, the same as Albert did before retiring after the 2021 NBA playoffs.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.