NHL defenseman Joe Micheletti had no intentions of being a hockey broadcaster, none whatsoever.
With that in mind you have to wonder how in the world the one time blue liner ever wound up being ushered into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame in Troy last weeked.
Not as a player – which he was darn good at – but as an MSG Networks' Rangers, (also Islanders) color commentator for two decades.
The odd thing about Joe's career is that his doing hockey on tv was the last thing in Micheletti's mind after he hung up his skates. (I learned all this from a splendid interview my buddy-super-author-podcaster Matthew Blittner did with Joe at the HOF event.
"After I retired," Micheletti recalled, "I knew nothing about the broadcasting business but I was in St.Louis at the time and there happened to be a lot of famous sportscasters there. Guys like Dan Kelly, Bob Costas and Jack Buck, to name a few.
"To me, they all made broadcasting look easy. They'd just step up to the microphone and talk. Of course, I had no idea what kind of preparation went into their work, but I'd soon find out,"
Famed hockey play-by-play guy Dan Kelly knew Micheletti from Joe's playing days with the NHL Blues and needed an analyst for a game. Dan wondered if Joe would be interested.
Since Micheletti figured broadcasting would be as easy as breathing or eating pizza, he figured, yeah, why not?
"As it turned out," Joe laughed, "I knew nothing. But suddenly, I found myself working with Kelly, one of the greatest hockey broadcasters of all-time; so he decided to teach me the business. And I must admit that there was some tough love between us.
"But that tough love was out of love and respect because Dan wanted me to get better and, by that time, I wanted to get better and that's how I began learning a whole new profession."
Joe Micheletti Opens Up About Family, Retirement and Sam Rosen
This is about retired Rangers MSG Networks analyst Joe Micheletti but it's also about energetic reporter Matthew Blittner.
When word got around that this Micheletti guy actually had the goods in broadcasting, doors opened for him. MSG Networks hiring him to work Islanders games in 1992 along with Howie Rose.
With added experience over the years, Joe's star kept rising, and that included stints with Fox, ESPN and NBC at assorted Winter Olympics – once even with MSG's Kenny Albert – and assorted other hockey events.
Joe: "I was going from one Hall of Famer to another and that includes Mike (Doc) Emrick and, of course, Sam Rosen, my most recent and dear buddy."
Since Micheletti never attended a formal, collegiate broadcasting program such as the one at Syracuse University – where Marv Albert and many others got their start – you have to wonder what advice Joe would give to aspiring mic maniacs.
"My personal career advice is simple; work with as many Hall of Famers as you can," he concluded with a grin. "That way there's a decent chance you'll have some success."
Exhibit A: The honored, and honorable, Joe Micheletti!