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.
While I've worked tv hockey with Steve – and have listened to his superior work behind a microphone since the other century – what I didn't realize was that he's super literate.
The Maven knows this for a fact because Steve now has turned author. His new – and first – book is called "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Broadcast Booth." The book is available on Amazon. (You should buy it; his work is funny and funnier.)
The title speaks for itself and I can personally prove that because I'm in one of the chapters which – funnily enough – is titled "It Wasn't Funny At The Time."
As for the "time" Stevie writes about – they kind that wasn't funny – well, I'll say this; It reverts back to those halcyon days when Albert and I combined as the New York Islanders television broadcast team. He did play-by-play and I did what I always do; I schmoozed hockey.
The Albert-Fischler vaudeville act took place during the 1979-80 NHL season when the Isles won their first of four Stanley Cups.
At the time Steve also had a second job, anchoring sports on the 6 o'clock news over WCBS-TV. His sportscast ended at about 6:25 p.m. whereas the Isles' home games began at 7:30 p.m.
And if you haven't guessed it already, I'll let you in on a secret that millions of Long Islanders know; getting from Midtown Manhattan to Uniondale can be a tougher drive than the Indy 500 – backwards.
"I knew it was at risk when I took both jobs," says Steve, "and until this one scary night when we were playing the Canadiens, I had avoided disaster."
(Of course, The Maven avoided such traffic jam calamities by arriving at Nassau Veterans' Memorial Coliseum at 10 in the morning.)
Albert: "A Channel 2 production assistant – a Rangers fan named Steve Paulus – who saw the stress I was under whenever I had to bolt from WCBS to get to the Coliseum. Even though I was broadcasting for a Rangers arch rival, Steve helped me by getting my car out of the garage and waited for me with the motor running in front of CBS so I could make a fast getaway."
So far, so good. Next? Not so good.
Like any of us masochists who have to get somewhere from Manhattan to somewhere on the Island on time, poor Stevie hit traffic. Then, he hit more traffic. And when traffic was about to hit him back, he got a brainstorm.
"I noticed a dirt road adjacent to the highway," Albert goes on, "so I veered my car onto the makeshift road and floored the gas pedal. I was going 80, 90 m.p.h. and holding on for dear life.
"Meanwhile irate drivers on the main highway were honking their horns, cursing me out (Ed's Note: Likely Rangers fans cursing the Isles' announcer) But I kept going until I finally got to the Coliseum."
While Stevie was acting out his melodrama, I had no idea what had happened but what I did know was that if this fella wasn't showing up THE MAVEN WOULD HAVE TO DO PLAY BY PLAY.
As it happened, I did have to do emergency play-by-play for the Isles before and I set broadcasting back to Neanderthal days; yeah, I was that raw.
Albert: "I parked my car, ran into the building, galloped to the broadcast booth, sprinted up the steps and literally dove in. I also saw the look of relief on Stan who was getting ready to open the broadcast by himself.
"I hastily put in my earpiece and heard, '5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!' from the producer! Then, – like nothing had happened – I said, 'Hi, everybody, this is Steve Albert along with The Hockey Maven, Stan Fischer and welcome to New York Islanders hockey.'
"I MADE IT!"
There's a neat postscript to Steve's heart-throbbing tale:
In retrospect, "The Best Supporting Actor" role goes to that young whippersnapper Steve Paulus who saved Albert's tushy by having the broadcaster's automobile ready to go.
"Steve went on to fame," Albert concludes. "He became one of the architects and founders of NY 1, the 24-hour news channel." Then, a pause and a sugary grin:
"Last I heard, he's still a diehard Rangers fan!"