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There are some days in sports you will never forget. Each one of us as sports fans has those different memories both good and bad you will always remember where you were, what you felt and maybe even what you were wearing and who you were with. Having been both a longtime fan and a member of the sports media, I have sports memories on both sides.
One of those moments came in 2002. I was running WHBQ in Memphis, the flagship station at the time of the Memphis Grizzlies. The team started out 0-8 that year and head coach Sidney Lowe was shown the door. I believe when Lowe was let go, our hosts on the station mentioned somewhere between 20 and 200 people as possible replacements. I do not believe a single one mentioned Hubie Brown, and if they did, they were joking.
Hubie hadn’t been a head coach since the mid-80’s and the last thing anyone thought an early-2000’s NBA team needed was a 69-year-old head coach. Boy were we all wrong.
Jerry West is who believed in Hubie Brown and when Hubie came in, he brought his no-nonsense style with him, and I was smitten right away. Here was a guy who had forgotten more basketball that day than I will ever know in my lifetime. To put it clearly, Hubie Brown is a basketball genius. And listening to him, whether on a broadcast, or with a mic in front of his face as a coach, was a lesson in basketball, coaching, motivation and leadership.
As you may know, Brown has lost two people this year he was very close to. His wife passed away in June at 87. Then, earlier this month, Brown’s 54-year-old son Brendan, he himself a former coach and longtime Knicks broadcaster, died suddenly. Brendan was an assistant with his dad in Memphis and he, too, was a walking encyclopedia of the sport.
I do not want to portray that I knew either one very well, but I did get the honor of spending some time around both and am definitely a smarter basketball fan because of it.
We are all smarter basketball fans because of Hubie Brown and that is something I am going to dearly miss as he steps away from broadcasting. He has given his life to the sport and Hubie stepping away, but doing it at the age of 91, is very much on brand.
Whether he was working with Verne Lundquist, Dick Stockton, Al Michaels, Mike Breen or any number of other play-by-play broadcasters he had the chance to work with, he made the broadcast better. It just sounded right hearing Hubie’s voice in a big NBA game, it still does.
ESPN/ABC has said he will call at least one more game to get a proper sendoff. I hope it is more than that, but if it is only one game, I have some small requests. Can we bring Dick Stockton back to do the game? And while we are at it, can the game be played between the late 80’s Lakers and Celtics or Pistons?
Hubie Brown is one of a kind. He will be missed on the call of NBA games, but like everything else, we will all have the memories of the many great games he was on the call for and can cherish those forever. There will never be another like him.
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The Best/Worst Thing I’ve Heard/Watched/Read Recently
Of all the things I could be upset about, I don’t know why I am letting this Tyson-Paul/Netflix situation bother me so much, but it has gotten my already elevated blood pressure to soar even higher. Do these people not have PR or crisis management help?
Hey, I get touting the successes, and as I have already written, there were many. But to see some of the things Logan Paul, Netflix, Tyson, MVP and anyone else associated with the event has put out on social media or in press releases, you would think it went smooth as silk. Nothing to see hear, sorry some/many/nearly all of you couldn’t watch. But guess what? There were somewhere between 60 and 900 million people watching so who cares if some of you struggled.
Be better. Netflix is seemingly a great company, and I have no doubt there won’t be the same problems with the NFL or WWE. But let’s watch how we brag about this particular event. Let’s make sure not to leave out how sincerely sorry you were that the streaming outlet was not prepared, and acknowledge those that tried to watch but couldn’t, even though we all know you are counting them in your numbers regardless.
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In Case You Missed It
Earlier this week, former 95.3 WDAE Program Director John Mamola wrote an Industry Guest Column for Barrett Media about being one of the many people laid off from iHeartMedia. John had been with the station for more than a decade, having started in 2011. He had also just signed a long-term contract extension with the company in February of last year.
John wrote a great piece and included in it were these words:
“I was speechless and felt destroyed and betrayed by the people I called family. The business that I loved, the craft I had studied told me it didn’t love nor need me anymore. In any business layoffs are meant to be cold and soul-less with no correct way to execute. But on my way home I remembered a saying my father taught me many moons ago. It helped me look deep into myself with the entire situation that was ahead of me.
“You never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Mamola would go on to offer tips to those who have also been affected by any of the layoffs. To read the full column click here.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
