Some announcers are synonymous with a significant singular call in their legendary careers. However, Kevin Harlan doesn’t believe he has had his moment just quite yet.
During an appearance on the What the Football with Suzy Shuster & Amy Trask podcast, Harlan was asked if he had an Al Michaels “Do You Believe in Miracles?” signature call during his career.
“I don’t know that I’ve had it yet, quite frankly,” Harlan said. “I’d like to think it is still ahead of me. It’s like the stone cutter, right? The stone cutter living in a small village in Russia is going down the road and this gigantic boulder has blocked off the road. So he and everybody in the village gets a hammer and a chisel and begin to bang at that boulder in the road. It finally cracks on the 10,000th bang of that hammer or chisel. But it wasn’t that 9,999 hit that broke it, it was the 9,998 hits before it.
“And I’d like to think that all these games — that I’ve been so fortunate to do — will lead me to that moment where there is that great moment on the field or on the floor that I’m able to capture it. And I think waiting for that moment, or hoping it comes, or being ready when it comes, will be my most memorable. I’ve done so many games — quite frankly — that kind of blend together,” Harlan admitted. “Some have stuck because social media has made them stick. But, I guess in my heart, that there’s this call coming that all of my hits of my hammer on that stone will be the one that finally breaks the stone in half, and that will be the one…that led to that call that made that stone split.”
He continued by noting that radio is such an enjoyable medium for him due to it requiring “every reporting skill” necessary.
“You gotta have the right pacing and cadence because a great moment told poorly is screwed up, but sometimes an ordinary moment told well is more impactful,” concluded Kevin Harlan. “In radio, you’ve gotta use the right words. You’ve gotta use the right inflection. You’ve gotta have enough air in your lungs to deliver the call the way it needs to be delivered. And that challenge to get all those things wrapped into one call is the purest part of broadcasting.”
Kevin Harlan recently celebrated calling his 500th NFL broadcast on television. He also holds the record for calling 13 consecutive Super Bowls, surpassing the previous record of nine held by Jack Buck.
