Kevin Harlan has had a sportscasting career anyone in the industry would envy. He has called Super Bowls for Westwood One, NBA Conference Finals for TNT, and a plethora of NFL Playoff games for CBS. Still, he is well aware that when most sports fans hear his name, they think about the weird things that aren’t supposed to happen on the field but do.
Martin Kilcoyne of FOX2 in St. Louis sat down with Harlan for an interview over the weekend. The two touched on Harlan’s history with the Cardinals, where his dad was the PR Director during his youth. Harlan reminisced about building model airplanes with Bob Gibson and being welcomed into the booth to sit along side Jack Buck.
He talked about landing play-by-play roles for the University of Missouri and the Kansas City Chiefs and about how he chose to stick with those jobs rather than go to KMOX to join the St. Louis Cardinals broadcast team.
Kilcoyne said that most people think of “the idiot on the field” when they think of Harlan. He has incorporated calls of drunk fans and animals running onto football fields into his Westwood One broadcasts.
Harlan says those are some of the moments when fans get to hear him at his most comfortable and authentic.
“They were just fun moments and that was just clear,” Harlan told Kilcoyne. “I mean, if anyone listens to me, they know that is kind of part of it for me. I like to have fun. I like to laugh. I mean, we all do, but that’s what that was.”
Given all of the games and moments people have experienced with Harlan’s voice, he says it is strange to think the call of a cat running loose on the field at MetLife Stadium is what so many people will first think of when they hear his name.
“I like to think there is a call down the road here that will better do that. You know, I’ve been proud of my career. I think that all careers have a lot of tentacles to them. So this will be one of those tentacles. I’ll enjoy it if people have enjoyed it.”
