Announcer finds comfortable flow

The most important thing to Alan Horton is telling a story.

Horton is finishing up his fourth season as play-by-play announcer for the Timberwolves and Lynx, his second doing it alone. Every night, win or lose -- and there's been a lot more losing than winning lately -- Horton goes it alone.

Oh, there is an engineer, and a stats man. But on air? Just him and his story.

During Horton's 10 years in San Diego, during which he learned every aspect of the business, where he called everything from high school water polo to an occasional San Diego Padres game, he became one of many fans of Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully.

"I loved the way he talked," Horton said. "He has that flowing style. Now, I don't think a basketball broadcast can be just like that. But I think you can get that smoothness, make it easy to listen to. I love to have a flow to the broadcasts."

During the Wolves' recent game with Boston at Target Center, in four quarters of action, Horton didn't make a mistake. He didn't miss a name, didn't miss a play. The basics? Yes. But there is a story. He will describe the importance of early fouls. With the Wolves down big, he tells you how many times this season they've trailed by 20. Emphasizing the need for Wes Johnson's game to grow, he notes how many times the rookie has failed to reach the free-throw line.

More information, less yelling. Horton doesn't have a catch phrase and doesn't want one. He believes in contrast and the creative use of silence. His volume knob does not go to 11.

Horton said at least half of the teams in the league have a single announcer at least part of the time. But Horton is the only guy who does radio for both the NBA and WNBA teams in a market. And that has given him the opportunity to hone his craft. One way he has worked around not having a sidekick is to conduct extensive interviews with both the Wolves and that day's opponent. Then he breaks them down into sound bites, labels them and puts them on his laptop.

If Darko Milicic is having a good day defensively, Horton can cue a short clip of Milicic talking about his defense. Noting Boston was playing a strong team game, Horton played a clip of Celtics coach Doc Rivers talking about unselfish play.

When Horton does raise his voice for a big play, it stands out. When a game is lacking intensity, he reflects that, too. Horton said working without a color man has made him better.

"Before I would let Billy [McKinney] or Kevin [Lynch] talk about matchups," Horton said. "Say Michael Beasley is struggling against LeBron James, or they've switched so-and-so onto Beasley. That's something usually the analyst would say. I keep a better eye on that now. So much of the NBA is about matchups, who is on the floor."

Horton grew up in Clarksburg, Mass. As a boy he would mimic calls on TV, then go outside and do play-by-play while he was playing with his friends. One of his first gigs was calling a local tennis tournament on cable access when he was in high school. No bios of the players were available, and it was on clay.

But it took a while. Horton got a political science degree at Skidmore College, then went to Jackson, Wyo., and was a ski bum for a few years.

Finally, he got a master's degree in communications at Syracuse and began his career. And he did it all. High school sports and ski reports in Vermont. His girlfriend (and now wife) Amy, who was from California, suggested a move to San Diego in 1997, and that's when things started clicking. He got a job as an intern with the CBS-TV affiliate, eventually becoming a sports producer. From there he went to that station's radio affiliates, and did pregame shows for the Chargers and San Diego State and doing on-air updates.

He started doing SDSU baseball games on the Internet and formed a company to sell ads to support it.

Ultimately he called most SDSU sports. Horton's experience in both broadcasting and producing got him to Seattle, where he called games for the WNBA's Storm and ran the radio network for the NBA's SuperSonics. From there Horton got his Minnesota break. He finalized his deal on a Wednesday, got in the car on Friday, got to Minneapolis on Sunday and was on a plane with McKinney to Indiana for a preseason game three days later.

Horton loves his job, though calling both Wolves and Lynx games takes him away from his wife and two children quite a bit. And while his job doesn't change that much, win or lose, Horton is eager to see the Wolves improve.