The NFL and Basketball have always been my favorite sports. I grew up in New York. We basically lived on the schoolyards and played Basketball all the time. That was always my favorite. The sport lends itself to excellent radio in terms of capturing the games. It's the same for football.

When I was a kid I would take a tape recorder and pretend to do games on television. I was very shy. That was my outlet. Growing up if someone had told me I would have done professional games in New York ... I never thought I'd do what I would end up doing. It wasn't even a thought. Things just worked out very well for me. You have to be fortunate and take advantage of your circumstances.

People who don't watch the NBA on a regular basis say it always comes down to the fourth quarter and that's when they play hard. That's not true. They're playing hard from the opening tip. What happens early on is what influences the end result just as much. It's not like all of a sudden a switch is turned on and they pick it up in the fourth quarter. That's a major misconception about the NBA .

The greatest group of athletes from one sport I ever saw was the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. It was thrilling to see. You're talking about Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and all the other great players. They were rock stars the whole time they were in Barcelona. The games themselves weren't competitive because Basketball around the world wasn't what it is now.

Of all the Michael Jordan games I've covered, the one that stands out is the game in the NBA Finals against Utah where nobody knew what we knew - that Michael was sick with the stomach flu. It looked like he was going to faint. He was basically being propped up by teammates when they went back to the bench during timeouts. The game he played, under those conditions, was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen.

The game where Willis Reed wasn't supposed to play and dramatically walked onto the court, when he hit the first two shots the crowd went crazy at Madison Square Garden, is a game I'll never forget. Games very rarely end early in the NBA but that was one of those great Knicks teams with Bill Bradley, Clyde Frazier and Dave DeBusschere. His impact just dressing out, just trying to play, had a dramatic impact on that game.

I'm always big on dramatics. A Monday night game, where Brett Favre's dad had passed away and there was question whether he was going to play, was very emotional. Of course, he played, was stellar and led the Packers to a win.

Anytime a Super Bowl goes down to the final minutes, it's exciting. The one where Eli Manning led the Giants over the Patriots, everyone remembers when (James) Tyree had the catch that looks like the ball was stuck to his helmet. What people sometimes forget is Manning had to buy time to elude the pass rush and was pretty incredible on that play and that drive.

All the hours of preparation you put in to broadcast a game are much more than people realize. Some people think, 'What a great job. You get in the games free and just show up and wait for the game to start.' It's a great job, no question. It's not even work. I love what I do. I still get very excited. Whatever sport I'm doing, I try to read all the newspaper clips from the past two weeks and watch tapes from games and talk to players and coaches.

Football is the most preparation for me. I know the NBA well. When I do Monday Night Football there isn't a home team. You see different teams every week. It's similar when I do NBA games on TNT. You don't want to be surprised by something that happens in a game that the fans know about. I want to know about that, too, which requires a lot of reading to stay up to date on what's been happening. Now you can get it all online.

It's great watching games at the Ford Center. Everyone talks about it being a college-type atmosphere, but it's true. Fans stand until the home team scores. Playing in the Western Conference is tough, but the Thunder is a team on the rise. Scott Brooks did a great job. The front office is doing things the right way. And they have a lot of good players. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook are players you build around.

The (Nenad) Krstic pick-up was a good move. They were fortunate. I saw a lot of him playing with the Nets. He's a good player that will improve even more once he learns to play with their young players.

My advice to anyone, regardless of their occupation or dream, is to have a goal and just go for it. I don't want to be overly inspirational. And this might sound overly simplified. But you have to always feel that you can get it done because there will always be obstacles along the way. You have to have confidence in yourself and say, "I can do this."