Vikings voice Paul Allen goes national with Buffalo calls, gets love from LeBron James and others

Allen's energetic style is not for everyone, but he has a knack for viral moments.

November 17, 2022 at 5:25PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Paul Allen's frantic, Vikings-focused style is not for everyone.

He's both polarizing and popular as the team's radio play-by-play voice, which is a pretty good way to go viral. It seems like at least once a year, a clip of Allen describing an incredible play with typical frenzy makes the rounds on social media.

But Sunday's 33-30 Vikings win at Buffalo, which had enough bonkers moments to fill an entire season, catapulted Allen into a new level of recognition — which I talked about at the end of Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast.

Pat McAfee of "The Pat McAfee Show" blasted out Allen's calls against Buffalo to his more than 2 million Twitter followers, saying of Allen, "I didn't know this incredible human existed until now … I feel as if I've missed out on so much electricity. The talent … the passion … the storytelling. Paul Allen, Minnesota Viking PxP, is FANTASTIC."

If those incredibly kind words weren't enough, LeBron James saw McAfee's tweet and retweeted with comment, "WOW!!! Paul Allen is a National Treasure!!" to his 52 million followers.

Reached Thursday, Allen wrote in a message that the "whole thing is surreal, no doubt. That's how we call games. ... Waking to what LeBron said was flattering. All good, happy the following is growing, and there are many new ears out there for whatever is next."

In case you missed what all the fuss is about, the Vikings put together a compilation of Allen's biggest calls from Sunday's game — everything from Justin Jefferson's miracle catch to Josh Allen's goal line fumble to Patrick Peterson's game-clinching interception — along with the video as the plays happened.

It's worth your 2 minutes because no matter what you think of Allen, that game deserved all the over-the-top commentary it could get.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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