Michael Baiamonte is an American professional
basketball announcer. He is the current public address voice of the
National Basketball Association's
Miami Heat, a position he has held since 1990.
Career
In addition to being the Heat's public address announcer, Baiamonte has hosted several events for various organizations and corporations as an
emcee. Such organizations he has emceed for include
Top Rank Boxing
Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...
,
Ritz-Carlton,
Hilton Hotels,
Nike, and
Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Nevertheless, Baiamonte is best known for being the arena voice for the Heat. He has seen his team make seven appearances in the
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
, winning the
NBA Championship in 2006, 2012, and 2013. The
Miami media has praised his unique style and creativity, referring to him as "One of the Most Recognizable Voices in the South Florida Sports Market". Baiamonte has also received recognition from national media outlets, such as
USA Today, who referred to his "Good Mourning!" call for an
Alonzo Mourning
Alonzo Harding Mourning Jr. (born February 8, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who has served as vice president of player programs and development for the Miami Heat since June 2009. Mourning played most of his 15-year ...
dunk as "The best call by a Public Address Announcer".
His style includes stretching long vowels for trademark phrases. An example is the game introduction of "And Now Stand Up and make some Noise...For your Miami Heat!" Some of Baiamonte's other signature calls include, "Too Many Steps!", "Three!", and at two minutes left in a quarter, "Two minutes... Dos! Minutos!".
On May 10, 2012, the Miami Heat publicly apologized for a call that Baiamonte made during a playoff game against the
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
. In Game 2 of the series, Knicks forward
Amar'e Stoudemire injured his left hand when he punched a fire-extinguisher case. In Game 5, Baiamonte announced Stoudemire had been "extinguished" when he was disqualified with his sixth foul.
''Last night at our game, our PA Announcer had a momentary lapse of judgment and used a poor choice of words in describing Amar'e Stoudemire's fouling out of the game. This is not who we are as an organization or who he is as an announcer. Both the Miami Heat and Michael Baiamonte apologize to Amar'e and the New York Knicks for the inappropriate choice of words.''
[ ]
Personal life
Baiamonte and his wife, Natalie, have 3 daughters and live in
Miami,
Florida.
References
External links
Baiamonte profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baiamonte, Michael
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Miami Heat
National Basketball Association public address announcers
People from Palmetto Bay, Florida
Gulliver Preparatory School alumni
Sportspeople from Miami-Dade County, Florida