'Thank you for 51 wonderful years': Al McCoy calls his last Phoenix Suns game
"I just want to say thank you for 51 wonderful years, and allowing me to bring the stories of the Suns and the NBA to you."
Those were the last words Al McCoy uttered as a Phoenix Suns play-by-play announcer.
No, Al. Thank you.
McCoy said goodbye Thursday night after a five-decade career, the longest of any announcer with one team. He hosted a postgame show after the Suns' miserable 125-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday at Footprint Center in Phoenix. But that's how he signed off of the broadcast proper.
He has called Suns games since 1972: Al McCoy isn't done talking just yet
His final sign-off after the postgame show was a gut punch: "We'll just say so long ... for now."
He deserved better.
McCoy has been calling Suns games since 1972
McCoy has been calling Suns games since 1972 — the longest active tenure of any announcer with a single team. He used to call TV games for the Suns, and called games that were simulcast on TV and radio. But he moved to radio-only in 2003, where he called games on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM until Thursday night.
Thursday night's loss hurts for Suns fans, of course. It was the second season in a row that their season-ending performance was so miserable it was hard to watch — frankly, not even worth watching.
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Don’t take my word for it. Listen to what ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, never at a loss for words, at halftime said: “This is over. This is embarrassing. … An absolutely pathetic performance.”
But it was still worth listening to on Arizona Sports 98.FM, if only to hear McCoy’s swan song.
McCoy was as salty as ever during the Suns' blowout loss
McCoy's enthusiasm never waned — not just Thursday night, which would have been understandable, but throughout his long career. There was never a doubt who McCoy worked for, but he was not a homer — he just talked about the game from a Sun's perspective.
Thursday night was no different. For instance, when the score was 108-82 Denver in the fourth quarter, McCoy said, “If you’re wondering why I’m not giving the score out as often as I normally do, just think about it for a while.”
The Suns went into the tank early. By halftime, they were down 30 — just as they were last season when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs.
“I’m sure Phoenix fans are having flashbacks,” said Dave Pasch, who called the game on TV for ESPN.
Ouch.
Twitter mourned Al McCoy even before the Suns officially lost
At that point, Twitter had already begun mourning McCoy’s exit.
“Man, I hate to see Al McCoy go out calling this mess,” Bob Young, a former Arizona Republic sports reporter who covered the Suns, tweeted. That about sums it up.
"The worst part of this dumpster fire of a game is it’s the last time we’ll ever hear Al McCoy call a Suns game." What a sad way to end an illustrious career.
The last 'shazam'
McCoy is a member of the Suns Ring of Honor and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s 90 years old and he still sounds great. Happily, the Suns hit a few 3-point shots, so we got to hear one of McCoy’s signature calls: “Shazam!”
(Personally, I miss when Whataburger was a sponsor of broadcasts, and McCoy would say, “Shazam! What a shot, Whataburger!” You had to be there.)
So much has changed in sports in general and the NBA in particular since McCoy started. Yet he has remained a constant, a comforting presence. But if McCoy decided it’s time to step down, it’s time. He has earned that, and so much more.
Still. McCoy sounds like a Suns game. A Suns game sounds like McCoy.
How do they replace that?
They don’t, of course. They move on to someone else. And they will be fine. Good, probably, maybe even great.
But not as great as McCoy, the best there ever was.
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Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Al McCoy calls his final game as Phoenix Suns eliminated from playoffs
