Week Throat
KENNY ALBERT CALLED all but one of the six NHL Eastern Conference finals games between New York and Montreal for the MSG radio network, while working all seven of the Kings-Blackhawks Western Conference finals on TV for NBC Sports. In all, Albert has spent the better part of the last two months crisscrossing North America, covering 34 postseason games in 45 days (through June 1) while averaging five hours of sleep a night (chart).
How's his voice? Early in the postseason he was buying two packs of cough drops every time he was in an airport. He even called Gwen Korovin, Broadway's "throat doctor," to get a restorative elixir: hot water, baking soda and salt. ("I swallowed one gulp before I realized I was only supposed to gargle it," he says.)
As the rounds have worn on, Albert, like the players, has had to dig deep. "At this stage," he says, as he preps for the finals, "it's all adrenaline."
MAY 24
5 p.m. PDT: Western Conference finals Game 3, Staples Center
11:30 p.m. PDT: Red-eye to Newark
MAY 25
Morning: Slept a few hours at home in northern New Jersey; played with his two daughters
8 p.m. EDT: Eastern Conference finals Game 4, Madison Square Garden (overtime)
MAY 26
3 a.m. EDT: Sleep
6 a.m. EDT: Flight to L.A.
6 p.m. PDT: Western finals Game 4, Staples Center
11:30 p.m. PDT: Red-eye to Newark
MAY 27
8 a.m. EDT: Connection to Montreal
8 p.m. EDT: Eastern finals Game 5, Bell Centre
MAY 28
8 a.m. EDT: Flight from Montreal to Chicago
7 p.m. CDT: Western finals Game 5, United Center (double overtime, including a seven-minute, 56-second stretch without a stoppage)
MAY 29
7 a.m. CDT: Flight to New York
8 p.m. EDT: Eastern finals Game 6, Madison Square Garden (Rangers win series)
MAY 30
2 a.m. EDT: Sleep
6 a.m. EDT: Flight to L.A.
6 p.m PDT: Western finals Game 6, Staples Center
Overnight: Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep
MAY 31
Noon PDT: Flight to Chicago
JUNE 1
7 p.m. CDT: Western finals Game 7, United Center (overtime, Kings win series)
SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
An autocorrect snafu translated an official Blackhawks tweet hashtag from CHIvsLAK into a profane Spanish phrase about the president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto.
PHOTO
DAVID E. KLUTHO/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (ALBERT)
PHOTO
SUSANA GONZALEZ/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES (NIETO)