Marv Albert Recalls 1992 'Dream Team' Moments on Olympic Channel Special

Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with "Dream Team Week," presenting all eight original broadcasts on eight consecutive nights in primetime, beginning this Monday, August 28, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

The celebration of the Dream Team - arguably the greatest collection of basketball players ever to play on one team - on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA will be highlighted by an 11-hour marathon on Labor Day, Monday, September 4, culminating with the 1992 Gold Medal Final against Croatia. For most viewers, this will be the first time they can see all of the Dream Team games in their entirety, as NBC mostly showed only portions of the early games during its 1992 Olympics coverage.

Legendary basketball play-by-play voice Marv Albert handled play-by-play duties for NBC Olympics' coverage of the 1992 Barcelona Games, and was courtside to chronicle the gold medal-winning run of the Dream Team.

Below are Albert's memories and impressions of the Dream Team.

On his most memorable Dream Team moment: "The first time they ran onto the court, I got the chills because I knew then that we were seeing the greatest group of athletes assembled in the history of team sports - it was stunning."

On the celebrity of the Dream Team: "It was extraordinary to see the reaction the team received from their time in Monte Carlo (where they trained) before the Games. They were the Beatles. This was a time when the league didn't have many international players and we were taken aback by how much people knew about the team. They couldn't walk the streets - although Charles (Barkley) did nearly every day with legions of fans who accompanied him along Las Ramblas."

On the celebrity of the Dream Team (cont.): "There was a [pre-Olympics] game in Monte Carlo against France, and one of the guards on the French team was going against Jordan. He was playing him very rough, and Jordan was getting annoyed - they were taunting and pushing. The U.S. won, and at the end, the French player comes up with a photographer to take photos with Michael and puts his arm around him. You thought it was going to lead into fisticuffs during the game - but this would happen after every game, even at the Olympics."

On the Dream Team's impact on international basketball: "On OPENING DAY of the 1991-92 seasons, the NBA had 23 international players. Today, there are over 125 international players. This was so influenced by the Dream Team. Over the years after the '92 Games, players from oversees would always refer to the effect watching the Dream Team on TV had on them."

On having the opportunity to call the Dream Team games: "It was one of the great thrills of my career. The drama was seeing these guys together, and seeing them on the stand receiving the gold. Even now when I travel around the country to call games, I'm constantly asked about it."

To post a comment, you must register and login.