In his superb, best-selling autobiography, "A Mic For All Seasons," Rangers broadcaster-author Kenny Albert describes his ascent to the top of the play-by-play business in exquisite detail. A segment of Kenny's climb covers his collegiate days, which proved to be a springboard to his eminence at MSG Networks as well as other media giants. With that in mind, The Maven decided to find a young, journalistic version of Kenny Albert – and I'm delighted to say that I found him. Solon Mihas not only studies hockey, he writes about the ice sport and plays the game as well. I put it bluntly to Solon: "Give Kenny Albert your version of 'The Third Degree' and get insights about his love for writing along with some hockey stuff as well. Mihas couldn't wait to nail The Man. Meanwhile, Albert – to his eternal credit – graciously agreed to make time for Mihas. So, without further ado, take it away Kenny Albert and Solon with the aspiring journalist going first. One of the first things that comes to mind when talking to a new author is what satisfaction is obtained from releasing a book. Having been known for his voice rather than his writing for multiple decades, Kenny had a unique answer: “For thirty-four years I had one role, one job basically, and that was as a play-by-play announcer, and all of a sudden now I’m an author. It’s surreal and I'll give you an example: Igor Shesterkin Has Reportedly Rejected Contract Extension Paying Him $11 Million Per Season “For me walking into a book store and seeing eight copies of my book on the shelf was, in fact, surreal. The first was in Toronto, where I actually just walked in and there the book was, staring back at me. Let me tell you, that was very satisfying.” Kenny had the pleasure of distributing his book to a number of people across the sports community. In fact that was like a course in Self-Marketing 101. “I brought a couple of copies to every game that I worked this past year, and I'd give copies to friends,” said Kenny. "I have pictures of me with hockey celebrities such as Phil Esposito, Jon Cooper, my broadcast partners – Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher, and Dave Maloney – all with the book. And that's just to name a few. "The other really cool thing was some of my colleagues on the NFL on Fox pregame shows and the NHL on TNT pregame shows were kind enough – when the book first came out – to show a photo of the cover and talk about it for thirty seconds to promote it. The good news is that I haven’t heard any negative feedback. Everybody seems to have a positive reaction.” Kenny is the only current sportscaster calling games in all four major professional sports (NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA). In that sense he is a unicorn in the sportscasting world yet he started out with only one sport in mind. “My goal was hockey on the radio,” Albert went on. "And to be able to call hockey for the last thirty four years, I can’t believe it’s gone by that quickly. Nor did it matter whether it was the Baltimore Skipjacks in the minors nor the Washington Capitals for three years and, of course, the Rangers for the last twenty eight – had not to mention the national gigs as well. "When I was a kid growing up, if you had told me, 'Kenny, you'll be calling hockey professionally for thirty-four years,' I’m not sure if I would’ve believed it possible." I put this one to Kenny: out of all the games you've called, which one tops the list? “It’s hard to narrow it down to one,” Albert replied, "but the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup in ‘94 has to be one because it was their first Cup in fifty-four years and I called it for NHL Radio. I also met my eventual wife-to-be, Barbara, for the first time during that series. I put that up there at the very top." The enthusiastic success of "A Mic For All Seasons" suggests that Kenny Albert might someday write a sequel. Then again, it's better – for the moment at least – to allow this genial gentleman to enjoy the fruits of his first crack at authorship. Albert: "I don’t know if I’d come up with enough new material for an entire second book, but I’ve definitely been keeping a list of some of the big events and crazy games I've called since the book came out. I'm keeping a list in case I ever get the itch to write another one." Then, a pause: "Hopefully I’ll have enough material – maybe ten years from now – to write a second book.” He should. After all, Kenny Albert has proven to be a man not only of many broadcasting talents but also of many well-chosen words. "A Mic For All Seasons" proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt!
