BANG!
It’s the call we’ve heard time and time again from Mike Breen, the NBA play-by-play voice who has become a legend calling games for NBC, ABC and in New York with MSG.
After a player hits a big shot, he’ll emphasize it with a “BANG!” In the case of Luka Doncic’s game-winner in the bubble in 2020, it was a double BANG!
But I just realized that I don’t know the story behind it, and maybe you’re wondering as well.
So I dug around and found this, from a Breen conversation with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio, and it started at Fordham University … in the stands:
Mike Breen reveals the origin of his famous BANG call
Full @ZachGelb Show on @CBSSportsRadio interview here: https://t.co/hDHiFvMYMQ pic.twitter.com/6RtLCI9RF3
— CBS Sports Radio (@CBSSportsRadio) September 25, 2020
The other fun thing there: He then brought it into his broadcasts and initially, he didn’t like it. But he tried again years later and he realized he liked it because it allowed space for crowd noise.
So there you have it!
