Steve Albert almost became a Rangers fan by birth.
Now he's a retired Blueshirt Booster and also a freshly-minted author with a new book that The Maven recommends to one and all.
It's called "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Broadcast Booth' with a Foreword by Bob Costas.
The other funny thing about Albert's book is that The Maven – accidentally, of course – is in it. (But that's for later.) For now let's zero in on how Brooklyn-born Steve got out of his diapers and began yelling, "LET'S GO RANGERS!"
The Day I Almost Lost Steve Albert
Like his brothers and nephew in the vast Albert Broadcasting Family, Steve Albert grew up following the Rangers and eventually wound up announcing just about every team but mine – the YMCA roller hockey Woodside Whippets.
Please, Steve, explain: "I really got into the rooting as a kid growing up in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn, My friends and I all played roller hockey and we all wore Ranger jerseys. We made believe we were NHL players.
"I happened to love goalie Gump Worsley but I had other idols such as Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Jim Neilson. It helped that my older brothers Marv and Al also were Rangers fans. Marv eventually became the Rangers radio announcer and Al got a tryout with the Rangers as a goalie."
It was a measure of Steve's intensity for rooting for the Blueshirts that he would disdain other attractions. Once, when his parents took him for a vacation at the legendary Grossinger's Hotel in the Catskills, he ignored all the amenities including the gala show night.
"While everyone else in the hotel was jammed in the theater watching the stand-up comic, I sneaked off to this empty ballroom that had a huge color tv at a time when everyone else had black-and-white television set. But the hotel had a brand-new color tv there in the ballroom.
"I sat alone on a chair in the first row, watched the Rangers, while announcer Win Elliott called the action. It was a wonderful experience because those were the days when the Rangers were wearing their colorful, vibrant blue shirts."
When older brother Marv went to college, Steve leaned on other older brother Al and they went to games at old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue between West 49th and 50th Streets to see the Blueshirts live.
Steve: "We'd sneak down from the cheap seats upstairs during warmups and stand behind the glass. Al wanted to be a goalie so he liked to study the great Chicago goalie Glenn Hall who invented the 'Butterfly.'
"My brother was so into it he'd watch Hall closely; almost like a violin student studying the great Yasha Heifetz. For Al, it paid off to a certain extent because he wound up playing goal for Ohio University.
"He also got a genuine Rangers tryout and was surprisingly good, but he was drafted into the U.S. Army and that ended his NHL aspirations."
As just about everyone knows, all three Albert brothers – Marv, Al, and Steve – wound up as superb broadcasters. There's a wonderful chapter in which Steve spells out how the trio helped each other when still kids in a little room practicing play-by-play.
One day their Mom looked in and delivered the classic line: "Doesn't anyone want to be a doctor?"
(EDITOR'S NOTE: I have a ton more to tell you about Steve Albert, the Rangers and hockey in general. And will later. You can get "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Broadcast Booth" via Amazon. A guaranteed winner!)