Whether he’s describing a cat scoring a touchdown, a drunken fan trying to do the same or a thunderous jam in the NBA eliciting a “with no regard for human life,” Kevin Harlan is always enjoying the moment. That you can count on. He can be seen on CBS and Turner Sports and can be heard on the Westwood One network. Being versatile and entertaining is the calling card for this much accomplished broadcaster. Harlan does a great job whether it’s on TV or radio.
Harlan wasted no time in getting started in his broadcasting career. Right out of college in 1982, he became the TV and radio voice of the NBA’s Kansas City (now the Sacramento) Kings. After spending a year as the basketball announcer for his alma mater Kansas, he stayed local and became the voice of Kansas City Chiefs. Harlan stayed there from 1985-93, while splitting time, calling University of Missouri football and basketball (’86-’89). Also, during that period, he was the play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Timberwolves for 9 seasons, starting in 1989 and going until 1998.
Harlan is a mainstay on network television as well. He called the NFL football for NBC in 1991, college football for ESPN in 1992 and 93, NFL for Fox from 1994 until 97, and joined Turner Sports in 1996 to broadcast NBA playoff games, which he’s still doing. Harlan is also still active at CBS where he began working in 1998. He does NFL and NCAA Basketball for them.
Like many of us that get into this business, we know at an early age for some reason that this is what we want to do. Harlan is no exception. In a conversation with The Athletic in December 2019 he recalled when the broadcasting bug bit him.
“I grew up listening to Jack Buck do radio and the Super Bowl. I listened to Jim Simpson’s call of Super Bowl I. I wanted to be a radio play-by-play network announcer. That’s what I wanted to be,” Harlan remembered. “I wanted to do national games on radio because I loved radio and still I love it more now than ever. So I’m living out my dream. This is what I dreamed of when I got in the business. I never thought about TV. I just thought about radio,” said Harlan.
That mindset would change with just one phone call. After getting an offer to do an NBA team’s games on TV, he called Bob Costas for some advice.
“He said, ‘Take it. TV is where the business is going to be. You’ve got to do TV.’ I mean, he was adamant that I do it. There were four people I planned to call and when I heard him say that, he answered the question and I accepted the job,” Harlan told The Athletic. “TV has led to two years at ESPN, four years at FOX and now these 20 plus years at CBS. So that was good. But my heart is in doing radio and that’s why I got in the business. That was my first love. I’m living my dream every Monday night and every playoff game and every Super Bowl. My thirst for doing the biggest game is quenched with that.”
In 2010, he began serving as Westwood One’s lead announcer for Monday Night Football calling his first Super Bowl in Super Bowl XLV. He has broadcast 10 consecutive Super Bowls for Westwood, which is the most consecutively in radio, and television network history (Jack Buck broadcast 9 straight).
BEST KNOWN FOR
There certainly is a lot to choose from. Harlan has made some big calls in his career and has also gone viral for others. Why? Because he separates himself from other broadcasters with his personality and sense of humor.
Harlan was on the mic for a Ravens and Bengals game last year. With the Ravens leading 28-13, quarterback Lamar Jackson used a couple of moves, leaving defenders in his wake. Harlan’s call: “Jackson takes it himself. Look at him dart back and forth- OHHHHHH! He Broke Ankles! Now he’s got an entourage! And he’s got a touchdown! HE IS HOUDINI! What a play! 47-yard touchdown run by the magical quarterback Lamar Jackson! WOW!” Wow indeed, a tremendous run and a tremendously entertaining call. The emotion isn’t forced, it flows within his style of delivery.
In 2008, one of Harlan’s patented phrases was on display. He was calling the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals featuring the Celtics and the Cavaliers, when the Cavaliers’ Lebron James drove to the basket and threw one down. Harlan’s call of the play: “Garnett comes out on LeBron. Now they switch and here’s Pierce again…a Smith screen. Posey will defend…OHHHHHH! LEBRON JAMES WITH NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE!”
I love that one. Truly, it was a creative, yet somewhat factual way to look at that play. If you listen back to it, again, there is nothing that seems contrived or forced. Such a skill to make these types of calls sound exciting, yet real.
In December of last year, Harlan pulled off something that isn’t easy to do on radio or TV. He was on the CBS broadcast of the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs game. Ok, big deal. Here’s where it got interesting. He started to call the Miami Dolphins at the New England Patriots game in the Chargers vs Chiefs feed. Why? Well that other game had meaning for the Chiefs. A New England loss, meant the Chiefs would claim the #2 seed in the playoffs and a bye week.
So, try to stay with me here, this was his call again, during a Chargers/Chiefs game:
“Meanwhile, Miami has first and goal down by four. And they’re at the New England four-yard line, first and goal. 29 seconds left. Here (in Kansas City) Butker kicks the extra point. And Fitzpatrick throws in the end zone, touchdown Miami! The Dolphins have just scored!”, he exclaimed. Only to continue, “Gesicki, the tight end, got a laser in the back of the end zone on a goal-to-go touchdown pass by Miami quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to take a lead with 24 seconds to go! The extra point coming up for Miami, leading New England 26 to 24. And the crowd now knows it. … What a throw by Fitzpatrick, what a touchdown run by Williams, on the last weekend of the regular season in the NFL!”
You think you’re confused? His analyst in the booth Rich Gannon had to ask Harlan, “I’m getting confused, what game are you calling?”, to which Harlan responded with a very enthusiastic “I’m calling both games!”
It sounds comedic but so few play-by-play guys could pull it off. He knew what the game meant for KC and gave the fans a special treat, to be able to “watch” both games at the same time. Incredible.
Harlan has a unique way of bringing humor into games, it’s not over the top, it seems to fit quite well. He also has a way of making something that is mundane, into a classic, even if it has NOTHING to do with the game he’s calling.
For example, Harlan was on the radio call for Westwood One’s Monday Night Football coverage in 2016. He was doing a game between the 49’ers and the Rams when a fan ran onto the field. Normally, a broadcaster might say, ‘well we’ve got a fan on the field, that’s the reason you’re hearing the cheers, you aren’t missing anything…’. Not Harlan. The game itself wasn’t too exciting, so he decided to keep his audience entertained.
The call went like this:
“Hey, somebody has run out on the field. Some goofball in a hat and a red shirt. Now he takes off the shirt! He’s running down the middle by the 50! He’s at the 30! He’s bare-chested and banging his chest. Now, he runs the opposite way. He runs to the 50! He runs to the 40! The guy is drunk! But there he goes! The 20 — they’re chasing him, but they’re not going to get him. Waving his arms, bare-chested; Somebody stop that man! Oh, they got him, they’re coming from the left — Oh and they tackle him at the 40-yard line! Whew, that was the most exciting thing to happen tonight.”
I listened back to this call several times while transcribing the words. Each time I think I laughed a little louder. This is brilliance. We are always taught when going into play-by-play, keep your audience entertained, even if the game isn’t doing it for you. Congrats on this, he gets an A.
As the great Casey Kasem used to say, ‘The hits just keep on coming’ and with Harlan, yes, they do. Another beauty of a call came again on a Monday Night Football broadcast on Westwood One. The Cowboys were facing the Giants, when a black cat ran onto the field during the action in the 2nd quarter. Cue Harlan.
“Oh and there a cat, a cat black has taken the field. A black cat is running from the 20 to the nearside the 10, from the 39 of Dallas here is a short throw down the middle caught by Engram. Caught at the 35 to the 30, now the cat running the other way and so is Ingram at the 25 near the 24-yard line of the Dallas Cowboys. It’s a catch-run of 15. Now the cat is stopped at the 50 … he’s at the eight … now he is at the five … he’s walking to the three, he’s at the two… and the cat is in the CDW Red Zone… now a policeman, a state trooper is on the field- AND THE CAT RUNS IN THE END ZONE! THAT IS A TOUCHDOWN!”
Unbelievable. He even worked in a sponsorship read. This isn’t something that just anyone can do. Trust me on that. Brilliant.
Harlan recalled the difference of the two calls to The Athletic, “I was in a completely different frame of mind with the drunk as opposed to the cat. The drunk in Santa Clara, the game was horrendous as you may recall. It was the third quarter and I think like 21-0. It was a boring game and my mind was more of a let’s have a conversation back and forth and we’ll just give a medium play by play as opposed to a real hard-driven play by play. We were kind of in that mood. My mind was a lot different then and that’s why it was more theatrics and kind of goofing around.”
What about the cat?
“I was in a completely different frame of mind. Then the cat stayed there. And then they stopped playing. So now the cat became the story for that short little span and ran down the field and did what it did and then got into the end zone and they were chasing it. Then it finally left. And that was the conclusion that we’re back to the game.”
WHY IS HE SO GOOD?
There is something just inherently likeable about Harlan. He always seems to be having a great time behind the microphone. While he may be known as a guy that will crack a joke from time to time, his play-by-play is extremely good. Accurate and descriptive with that authoritative voice. That combination makes Harlan an easy listen.
The one thing you can always count on with Harlan is something enjoyable and entertaining is bound to happen during his broadcast. As we’ve mentioned already, it’s not necessarily going to be about the game. On that point, Harlan has a keen sense of the moment. His humor and silliness never comes at the expense of a good or close ballgame. He has such a good balance of facts and humor during a game, that no matter what the score you want to hear him. He’s that good.
There are many other network broadcasters that get a lot of accolades, and I would say they are well deserved, but don’t sleep on Harlan. This well-versed, knowledgeable and terrific broadcaster is second to none.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
