Mike Barrett (sportscaster)
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the basketball announcer. For the basketball player by the same name, see Mike Barrett (basketball player)Mike Barrett (basketball player)Michael Thomas "Bird Man" Barrett was an American basketball player.He was reared in Richwood, West Virginia and attended Richwood High School....
.
Mike Barrett (born 1968), widely known as "MB", is the television play-by-play announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
.
Early years
Mike Barrett was born in 1968 in Albany, OregonAlbany, Oregon
Albany is the eleventh largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and is the county seat of Linn County. It is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the Calapooia River and the Willamette River in both Linn and Benton counties, just east of Corvallis and south of Salem. It is...
, the son of a high school basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach. He grew up as a fan of the only professional major league team in his home state of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, the Portland Trail Blazers
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the...
, regularly attending games with his father.
Following his graduation from West Albany High School
West Albany High School
West Albany High School is a public high school in Albany, Oregon, United States.West Albany High School was formerly named Albany Union High School prior to the completion of South Albany High School in 1972.-Academics:...
, Barrett attended Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
(OSU), located about 10 miles away in neighboring Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462....
. He graduated from OSU in 1991 with a degree in Journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
.
Broadcasting career
After graduating from OSU, Barrett went to work for radio station KUIK-AM 1360KUIK
KUIK is a radio station broadcasting in a news talk information format, and licensed to Hillsboro, Oregon. It is currently owned by Dolphin Communications, Inc....
in Hillsboro
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
calling high school basketball games. He became Sports Director at KXL-AM 750 in Portland, flagship station of the Trail Blazers, in 1992. While at KXL Barrett anchored the station's morning and afternoon sportscasts as well as working as a sideline reporter for University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
football broadcasts.
In 1999, he was hired by the Portland Trail Blazers as radio studio host and editor of the Blazers' official magazine, Rip City Magazine. The next year he went to work as a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the WNBA's Portland Fire
Portland Fire
The Portland Fire joined the Women's National Basketball Association in 2000 as the counterpart to the NBA team the Portland Trail Blazers. They played their games at Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. The team folded after the 2002 season, after just three seasons in the league...
, a role which he continued until the team disbanded in 2003.
Barrett was named the play-by-play announcer for the Trail Blazers for the 2003/04 season, working for the first two years next to Steve "Snapper" Jones
Steve Jones (basketball)
Stephen Howard "Snapper" Jones is one of the most esteemed and watched National Basketball Association television analysts.-Basketball career:...
. From the 2005/06 season he has been joined by "The Wild One," Mike Rice
Mike Rice (basketball announcer)
Mike Rice is a National Basketball Association color commentator, one half of the Portland Trail Blazers' television broadcasting team. A former player and coach, Rice holds the distinction of being the only broadcaster ever ejected from an NBA game....
on Blazer telecasts, an assignment which has often caused him to assume the role of straight man
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
for his loquacious and unrestrained broadcast partner. Barrett has said of his partner:
"Rice is good, he's a character, and you strip away some of that cartoon character, and I'm so lucky to work with him. I think his calls are probably as memorable as anything I say. I like to give him that room. Some of the traditional broadcasters really want their own space, who get upset when their analystColor commentatorA color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
gets in and steps on their call. I'm not into that. I want to be there to fill in the blanks and to provide some information and entertainment."
In addition to calling the play-by-play, Barrett and Rice appear on a weekly radio and television show, Trail Blazers Courtside.
Barrett also writes voluminously for his blog on the Blazers' website, offering game reviews and a behind-the-scenes perspective on the team. Barrett recalled the origins of his on-line publication in a 2008 interview:
"The funny thing is that when the blog started at Summer League like 3 or 4 years ago, they said write some stuff for training camp, and that was kind of strange, but then they saw I could write in a real conversational way, that involved people. It was one of those odd things that you stumble into and all of a sudden you've created a lot of work for yourself. It's not a bad thing it's a good thing.
"It takes a lot of time, as you know. To do something like that and to maintain it — I moderate 95% of the comments, I see them all, I put the picture up, I do the headline, it's like my own little newspaper. And that's pretty cool for somebody who was into journalism anyway. Writing has always been pretty easy. To sit down to write after a game or after an event, positive or negative news, it's almost my way of going home and unwinding and reliving it. I think a lot of writers would say that. That's my way of going home and coming down from the high of the night. * * *
"I get wordy, I get long, I start writing. They tell me, 'just write a paragraph,' and I said, 'I get going, I can't.' The next thing I know I'm at 2,000 words. I've enjoyed sitting down after my kids and wife go to bed, sit down, and process through some things. It helps me remember the game better, it helps me realize it, the next time we play somebody, I remember not only the game but the blog. I can go back and review it if I want to."
Family
Mike Barrett lives with his wife, Shelly, in Tualatin, OregonTualatin, Oregon
Tualatin is a city located primarily in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. A small portion of the city is also located in neighboring Clackamas County. It is a southwestern suburb in the Portland Metropolitan Area that is located south of Tigard...
. The couple have two children, a son named Jack and a daughter named Gabby.
External links
- Mike Barrett Official Blog. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
- Ben Golliver, "Interview with Mike Barrett," BlazersEdge.com, August 24, 27, 31, 2008. Part One. Part Two. Part Three.