Al Michaels, the venerable voice of sports broadcasting, has captivated audiences for over four decades. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, the Stanley Cup Final to the NBA Finals, Michaels has seen it all. At 76, he remains a prominent figure, currently holding court in the Sunday Night Football booth. While his peers in the sports world are often decades younger, Michaels' enduring presence speaks to his dedication and mastery of his craft.
From Student Newspaper to Center Stage
Michaels' journey began at Arizona State University, where he honed his skills writing for the student newspaper and calling games on the radio. After graduation, he entered the sports industry with the LA Lakers, before moving to Hawaii. There, he landed a job at a local TV station, covering minor league baseball, high school sports, and college action. In 1971, Michaels left Hawaii and headed to Ohio, where he started calling Cincinnati Reds games; before long, he was also covering the NFL.
A Broadcaster's Appetite: Food in the Booth
One of the more peculiar aspects of Michaels' routine involves his eating habits during broadcasts. Cris Collinsworth, his Sunday Night Football colleague, revealed on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take that Michaels enjoys a full meal during the game. “He definitely has appetizers and a main course,” Collinsworth explained. Collinsworth has not seen him get all the way through dessert and after-dinner drinks.
The Anti-Vegetable Crusader
Adding another layer to the mystique, Al Michaels is known for his aversion to vegetables. Drew Magary, in a Defector profile, stated, “Al Michaels has never eaten a vegetable. This has been reported before, but I’m here to tell you it’s absolutely true." Michaels' mother indulged his childhood refusal of vegetables by frying him up cheap cuts of steak and lamb chops instead. If a burger comes with a leaf of lettuce, Michaels has them re-plate it.
A Career of Unforgettable Moments
Michaels' career is filled with memorable moments. He recalls his first visit to Ebbets Field to see the Brooklyn Dodgers play. He remembers looking up into the press box. He was looking at everything at that point, how unbelievably green the grass was. The Dodgers uniforms are, as Vin Scully has always described them, "wedding cake white." Perfect. There's signage on the outfield walls. And Ebbets Field was just the most wonderful place. He was mesmerized and thought to himself, "How can I come here every single day?".
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He also recounted a harrowing experience on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, where he suited up for a segment on motorcycles on ice. He had never been on a motorcycle before. At one point he was revving it up to the point where it must be screaming at like 15,000 revolutions per minute, and he was ready to let the clutch go because he didn't know what the clutch was. Fortunately at that point, somebody grabbed his hand and made sure the clutch got engaged again.
When asked about being unprepared, Michaels stated that he would never let that happen. There have been events where he will come on the air, and you might slightly lose a train of thought.
The "Miracle on Ice"
Perhaps the most iconic moment of Michaels' career was his call of the 1980 Winter Olympics hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union, known as the "Miracle on Ice." In terms of the television production, it wasn't very good. Michaels stated that in that particular case, the game is ending. He didn't have anything scripted, and it came out of his heart. The word that came into his mind was "miraculous."
Reflections on Sports Broadcasting
Michaels has witnessed the evolution of sports broadcasting firsthand. He notes that there is so much more of it. For people who can't get enough of it, it's phenomenal. Some people think, "Well, there's too much of it," he always tell them "Hey look, if you like sports, but you feel there's too much of it, there's a little button, it's an on/off button, so turn it off. So just watch what you want."
He also believes that football is much better to watch on television than in person. In person, at the stadium, you have a different experience. You have that communal experience with the fans and you can go to the office the next day and say, "I was at the game last night" and that gives you a certain cachet. But you can see the game about a hundred times better on television.
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