Portland Trail Blazers fans generally remember television broadcasters Mike Barrett and Mike Rice with fondness. They worked the microphones together for a decade. Rice’s tenure with the Blazers extended back longer than that, to 1991. When they were fired in the summer of 2016, it blindsided them and caused ripples across the Portland landscape.
The “Mike & Mike” skeletons were resurrected briefly yesterday as Leo Sepkowitz of Bleacher Report penned an extensive article on the perils of NBA broadcasting. The thesis was clear: local broadcasters are expected to make their teams look good. Deviation from that norm results in career peril.