Last June, Hubie Brown severed the tendon of his quad before Game 4 of the NBA Finals. In rehabbing the injury, he needed a walker and a cane.
In September, he turned 85. In October, he signed a new, two-year contract.
“It is not a job,” Brown said. “It is enjoyable.”
After nearly four months of rehab, Brown is nearly as good as new, walking without assistance and even driving again.
On Friday, Brown will make his 2018 debut on ESPN’s Celtics-Raptors game. In all, he will do 34 broadcasts, including the NBA Finals on radio.
There is no place he would rather be. Anyone who has heard Brown on the air — and anyone who knows him well — knows the Hall of Famer is a basketball marvel.
From young to old, from the famous to the not so famous, Brown has touched so many, talking his language: basketball.
When Kobe Bryant retired, he made it a point to find Brown for a long embrace, bonded by the shared love of being on that 94-foot floor.
“He’s the all-time best,” said NBC’s Mike Tirico, who teams with Brown at ABC/ESPN. “He’s a marvel. Everyone who has worked with Hubie holds him in the highest regard.”
Brown has built a memorable broadcasting career, even if he hasn’t been as commercially out front as someone like fellow Hall of Famer Dick Vitale. Vitale — at 79, just a diaper dandy compared to Brown — has a more “look at me” style. As an analyst, Dickie V is like a flashy scorer who can go for 40 or shoot you out of the game.
Brown, as an announcer, is more like a guy who consistently goes for 15 points with eight boards and eight assists, while playing solid defense, in a winning effort. It is not as noticeable but just as enjoyable.
For true lovers of the NBA, hearing Brown say “Now” or “We know that” is the cue we are about to learn something we do not know about “our league,” another pet phrase — which he points out he has the right to say since he started in the ABA/NBA in 1973. They are subtle trademarks of his broadcasts.
Now, at 85, Brown’s voice is slightly thinner than it once was, but his enthusiasm and knowledge remain at the top of the charts. When asked about the storylines for this season, he started going team by team for a good five minutes. (Short version: He thinks the Knicks made a good hire with David Fizdale because he can communicate.)
Brown is, at heart, a teacher. In 1968, he was a counselor at a Five-Star Camp, and one of his campers was a teenager named John Martin.
“His whole lecture was how to properly run the fast break,” Martin said. “It was mind-boggling. I was blown away at just the knowledge and the demonstration of the nuances.”
Martin would go on to become Brown’s executive producer on ESPN Radio’s NBA coverage.
In 1986, Brown was the coach of the Knicks. That is the same year his Friday broadcasting partner, Ryan Ruocco, was born.
When the two are working together, Ruocco makes it a point to arrive in the city on the earlier side, making sure not to miss a dinner out with Brown.
“Hubie Brown is the single best storyteller I have ever met in my life by far,” Ruocco said. “It is not even close.”
Brown is following Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay, who presented him at the Hall of Fame, as an octogenarian ESPN analyst. Like the late Ramsay, Brown’s NBA broadcasting story isn’t that flashy, just endearing and educational. Ramsay worked games until he physically no longer could. Brown isn’t go anywhere either, except to an arena near you.
“It wouldn’t shock me if he got another two-year deal after this one,” Martin said.
Quick Clicks: ESPN+ has added another big name in Peyton Manning to do a “Detail” show, like Kobe Bryant did on basketball. Games are one-time viewing, so Plus, as much as it can, is trying to create Netflix-like evergreen content. There is likely an audience for Manning breaking down film. How big is another question.
Plus is trying to find as many subscribers as it can so it eventually can be the dominant player in over-the-top sports viewing with its most important feature still being games. … On “Monday Night Football,” Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland noticeably tried to avoid the crutches of using one another’s nicknames, “Tess, Witt and Boog,” during the Packers-49ers telecast. Better off, they should lose the Booger Mobile and put McFarland in the booth to give them the best chance of not needing the verbal cues. … There is a sense new president Jimmy Pitaro is much more into baseball than his predecessor, John Skipper. Besides adding insider Jeff Passan, who starts in January, ESPN has re-signed its Cubs reporter, Jesse Rogers. … CBS announced it will have James Corden’s new talent show, “The World’s Best,” in the coveted spot after the Super Bowl.
SiriusXM has added Big Ten and Big 12 channels. … Michael Kay was scheduled to be inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Clicker Consulting: Mike Francesa said he would have no problem releasing the number of subscribers for his “Mike’s On” app, but he is not allowed to do that. As always, Clicker Consulting is here to do its public service: Mike, you are allowed to release subscriber numbers. No law against it.