Excerpt from the interview with Eric Collins:
First off, forever grateful to Hornets fans because they didn’t run me out of town. I had a run out in L.A. and I really enjoyed doing Major League Baseball, but I don’t think people were quite ready for kind of what I was doing. And so I was fully committed to who I wanted to be as a broadcaster and what I wanted to sound like. And I remember when I interviewed for the Hornets’ job, I said, ‘Hey, it’s not your traditional sound, the way I do games. Are you guys OK with that? Is that something that you want? It’s going to be quirky, it’s going to be unpredictable, it’s going to be fearless.’ And they all signed off on it.
Eric Collins is a generational talent
We must do whatever it takes to never lose him to a national broadcast team.
If Breen can stay with the Knicks I think we can keep Eric at least for a large chunk of the year. He’s already been doing some prime games I believe too.
Yeah I watched the YouTube highlights of the game he called (CLE vs MIN). Wanted to throw up in my mouth, however he was much less exuberant about those teams. I know he needs to be unbiased for national games, but no hum diddly dees were mentioned lol. He’s Hornets through and through, I truly believe he loves this team and city.
Eric Collins and Kon Kneuppel are the two reasons that converted me to a full time fan who tunes into every game
EC is probably my favorite sports broadcaster. He loves the game, he isn't a total homer, and beyond getting hyped for basketball, I ALWAYS learn something from games he calls. I can think of no one else who is as good at it.
He has an insanely deep bag of basketball trivia knowledge lol. Always found it super endearing how big of a nerd for the game he is, the amount of joy you can hear in his voice when he drops some new knowledge on Dell or learns a new random fact mid-game is always hilarious.
The one nfl game he did was epic
Stay with the Hornets forever, EC!
He would have loved the Jazz game. Their commentators sounded so depressed. Not just "We're down by 40 and it sucks" depressed, like live, laugh toaster bath kind of depressed.
That’s great. I’m stealing that
I’d part with anyone on the roster before Eric Collins. He’s made watching some terrible teams enjoyable.
The catch phrases and humor gets most of the national attention, but he is also a treasure trove of basketball history and is extremely knowledgeable about the players on the court. Love that guy.
The fact that Lamelo ended up on EC's team might be prof of the existence of a greater power:)
I see clips all the time on r/nba featuring other teams local broadcast guys and there is no one doing it like EC. He along with Dell have the most unique voice in sports broadcasting right now.
I think it helps that we had Big Pat as a PA announcer for so long (RIP). Eric’s style sounds like if Big Pat was in th booth. Both guys have this exaggerated delivery that sounds kinda like a used car lot salesmen from the 70’s-90’s. The corny phrases and high pitched inflections idk, it just works in a city like Charlotte. It wouldn’t work in a major city where people are afraid to smile and in general take themselves too seriously. I met Eric last summer and my message was just to Never Change!! He’s the goat
Every game I go to I think about how much I miss Big Pat. I'm so pleased the team added him to the Hornets Legends wall.
Honestly hated Eric at first simply because Steve Martin was was damn good but Eric grew on me and now he's as important to the team as Steve was during his time here.
Him not having enough words to describe Kon is funny though.
I love Eric so much. I feel so lucky as a Hornets and Mets fan to have the incredible Mets booth and Eric and Dell.
Then he should make up new ones
Me either.
Love Eric, and I love Dell along with him. Dell plays with him and has even adopted some of Eric's slang
Eric Collins is so awesome, I love him.
i feel like we're gonna lose EC completely before too long
I am a lot less worried than I was. He has said time and time again doing Hornets games is the thing he wants to do with his life. Literally told Amazon that covering the Hornets was more important to him than doing national broadcasts. You don't tell a trillion dollar org that unless you mean it
The take away from that excerpt is:
“i feel like we're (never) gonna lose EC completely
before too long”He loves the team too much and has to deep of a respect for what they’ve given him, in allowing him to be himself.
He just wants to fill his schedule, try some different things, but it sounds to me like that’s only when he can’t announce for other reasons, broadcast contracts etc
EC and Lamelo are why I became a Hornets fan
deadass this dude makes games so much fun to watch
EC and Dell have been the ONLY reason to be a Hornets fan since he got here. Im a life long hornets fan from the original version so been lucky to have Steve and EC. Not so sure i could take it if EC ever leaves.
Goat
Can’t believe it’s been 11 years. He took some getting used to but now I can’t imagine games without him. Hope he sticks around for a long time.