by Andrew Golding
Transvestites, threesomes, and garter belts; normal fodder and subject matter for television's slimiest daytime talk shows, yet national news and only some of the sordid topics to arise from the Marv Albert sex trial which concluded one month ago in Arlington, Virginia.
After four days of testimony, Albert plead guilty to Virginia code 19.2-57, a misdemeanor assault charge for which Albert received twelve months probation when he was sentenced on October 24. In deciding to plead guilty, Albert effectively ended his broadcast association with NBC Sports and the Madison Square Garden network, at least for the foreseeable future. In doing so, he prematurely awoke from a dream career that began when he was eight years old, and in the third grade at PS 195 in New York.
"My teacher, Mrs. Lipowsky, had us write an essay on what we wanted to be when we grew up," he writes in his autobiography, I'd Love to but I Have a Game - 27 Years Without a Life.
"I said I wanted to be a broadcaster for the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. She wrote on the paper that it was 'farfetched and unrealistic.' Years later, she sent me a note, congratulating me."
Beginning in 1963 with his radio work on Rangers hockey games, Albert lived his dream, broadcasting New York Giants, Knicks, and Rangers games, and serving as Sports Director and anchor at WNBC's radio and television station in New York where he anchored the 5:00, 6:00, and 11:00pm sports segment, all in one year. In 1977, he joined NBC Sports, where he received acclaim for his work at the controversial 1988 Summer Olympics boxing competition, and as the playbyplay voice of the NBA on NBC, among other events.
Veteran Washington Post television critic Leonard Shapiro called him "the best basketball voice in the business, maybe the best in hockey and football as well."
Albert had a distinctive style all his own; a New York accent which played to a national audience, an obvious natural love for sports, a comedic, biting wit asked once who he admired most, he answered "Richard Lewis' therapist, for plain perseverance" and a trademark shout of "Yesss," a simple, yet seemingly perfect phrase for describing fleeting athletic success.
After four days in a Virginia courtroom though, he was an ex-sportscaster, a disgraced public figure, a man who had become the butt of countless jokes with Victoria Secret and Mike Tyson as punchlines and the recipient of a ridiculous offer from a Tampa radio station to provide sports commentary.
For a man who never craved the attention of the public, this was certainly not the publicity he wanted ever. He had moved from the back pages of reputable newspapers the sports sections to the front pages of tabloids across America.
"Menage A Marv" blared the New York Post after the first day of testimony, "Marv Bites Back" followed, and "Marv Wigged Out" proclaimed Newsday after the third day. Readers woke up to see "Marv Gets the Pink Slip" after he had decided to end the ordeal "for myself, my wonderful family, my fiancée, my friends and supporters" by stating "guilty" when asked how he plead to the charge of throwing his accuser, Vanessa Perhach, onto a bed and repeatedly biting her back.
With those words, a trial that included a cabdriver named "Biggie," toupee-lifting, cross-dressing and lurid sexual allegations came to a close. Within hours, Albert was fired by NBC Sports, and resigned from the MSG network.
Until the next public job offer, or exclusive interview, or shocking revelation, the story is done with - over - examined, scrutinized, and publicized enough for everyone's taste. And so, for that matter, is the legendary, 34-year broadcasting career of Marv Albert.
Andrew Golding is a junior majoring in Communications and a staff writer for the Review.