Kevin Harlan's 5 best calls
By and large, the role of the play-by-play announcer is to tell the story, not to be the story.
Veteran NBA and NFL broadcaster Kevin Harlan is the exception. The game is the sundae; Harlan's call is the cherry on top.
Harlan added yet another classic to his extensive resume during Monday Night Football as he delivered a gem while detailing the adventures of a streaker. The world loved it - LeBron James said it was Harlan's best.
Was it one of Harlan's best? That's up for debate since there are so many to choose from. Here are five of Harlan's best excitable gasps:
"LeBron James with no regard for human life!"
James ended up losing to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals, but he produced the best moment of the series with a massive dunk all over Kevin Garnett.
"He just sucked the gravity right out of the building!"
Shawn Bradley is no stranger to appearing on posters, but he still has to be hurting over Tracy McGrady's baseline jam from 2005.
T-Mac finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists to give the Houston Rockets a 2-0 series lead, but the Dallas Mavericks ended up winning in seven, thus saddling McGrady with the unfortunate label of being unable to win in the playoffs.
But at least McGrady elicited a great call from Harlan for his efforts.
"When you're aerodynamically designed with that hairdo ..."
The best part of this call was Harlan's pause. He already unleashed his classic "OH" scream, then gave a nod to Chris Andersen's "Birdman" moniker. Harlan already did the play justice.
But just for fun, he came back seconds later with an even more ridiculous call.
"We just saw man fly!"
First and foremost, J.R. Smith's dunk over Gary Neal is one of the rudest things ever to happen on hardwood. But Harlan topped it all off with a call fitting of astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
"Gasol says 'Que Pasa Big Ticket?'"
There were plenty of doubts about Pau Gasol when he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but then the Spaniard dunked all over Kevin Garnett on national television, and that was the end of that.
The Big Ticket got his revenge in 2008 when he bullied Gasol to win his only championship, but Gasol redeemed himself in 2010 by carrying the Los Angeles Lakers to their most recent title.