Marty Glickman

Some names last forever.

Marty Glickman is one of them. He was such a special person and the legacy he left for sports, for fans and for human is just inestimable. His life was composed with one great story after another.

The documentary film was fantastic. From the interviewees of this film, we can tell how much impact Mr. Glickman had on the sports media industry. Many of them who are very famous now were actually Marty’s students. It is really hard to make such a documentary film. After the movie, the producer, James Freedman, talked about the process of gathering information and footage. He spent two years searching for footage. Because of his effort, 90% of the footage was actually donated.

Mr. Freedman told us a story about Marty that adequately showed how great Marty was as a sports announcer. There was a time when New York city could not air Giant’s game on TV. Marty was the only source from which people could know what was happening on the court. Marty, as a sports announcer, could perfectly make people visualize the game just by hearing his voice. He was probably the only guy who could manage to do that. During his reporting, the cars on the street would pull over because his voice was full of energy and excitement that drivers could not drive safely.

He invented many words to describe the actions. My favorite term is “swish”, which describes the sound of the basketball falling into the basket without touching the rim. That is also my favorite sound and now I know how to call it.

The most impressive scene of this movie was the story Marty told at the very end. He talked about an experience he had with a Japanese runner. Before the game, as they were digging the starting hole, the Japanese runner, Suzuki, friendly smiled to him. After the game, although Marty beat him, although they could not communicate with language, Suzuki still came over and congratulated him. A few months later, during the wartime, Marty was a first lieutenant in marine and Suzuki was in Kamikaze, one of the scariest troops in history. They were enemies. Suzuki died in a mission. However, Marty cried for his enemy for the relationship they had in no more than five minutes. That is the essence of sports. It brings people together whether they are friends or enemies.

To be honest, I had no idea who was Marty Glickman before seeing the movie. I guess that is the enchantment of documentary film. It gives me the chance to know and admire a man like Marty.

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