Al Michaels

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Image:Michaels.jpg Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American television sportscaster. Currently employed by NBC Sports after nearly three decades (1977 – 2006) with ABC Sports, Michaels is one of the most prominent and respected members of his profession. He is perhaps best known for his broadcast of the Miracle on Ice, which culminated in his widely-quoted catchphrase, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"

Michaels has won numerous awards during his career, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality (Play-by-Play Host) four times, the NSSA Award from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association three times (he was also inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1998), and "Sportscaster of the Year" once each from the American Sportscasters Association and the Washington Journalism Review. In October 2004, Michaels was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

To date, Michaels is one of two sportscasters to be a play-by-play voice or host for the championships of the four major American pro sports, having called the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Championships, and Stanley Cup Finals (the latter as a host, not play-by-play). In addition, Michaels has served as host for all three Triple Crown races and the Indianapolis 500. Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Wolff has also called the championships of the four majors, with the difference that Wolff's initial NFL Championship coverage came before the Super Bowl era.

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Early life and career

Michaels attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California, where he was a football and baseball player. Michaels graduated from high school in 1962. He later attended Arizona State University, where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism. He worked as a sports writer for ASU's independent student newspaper, The State Press, and is rumored to have been fired from that publication. He was also a brother of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He began his broadcasting career in Hawaii in 1968, calling the games of the Hawaii Islanders baseball team in the Pacific Coast League. He also called play-by-play for the University of Hawaii's football and basketball teams, and was named Hawaii's "Sportscaster of the Year" in 1969.

In 1971, Michaels moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became the lead announcer for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. In 1972, he made his first historic call ever. In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, with the Reds trailing the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-2 in the 9th inning, Johnny Bench was at the plate with one ball and two strikes and on the next pitch Al said "1-2 the wind and the pitch to Bench, change hit in the air to deep right field, back goes Clemente at the fence...it's gone!!!" The Reds would win that game 4-3 and advanced to the World Series. He covered the World Series in 1972 for NBC Sports.

In 1974, he moved on to a similar position with the San Francisco Giants, and also covered basketball for UCLA and regional NFL games for CBS Sports before signing with ABC in 1977. Over the next three decades, Michaels covered a wide variety of sports for the network, including Major League Baseball, college football, ice hockey, track and field events, figure skating, and many events of the Olympic Games.

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Monday Night Football

Template:Main His longest-running assignment was that of the lead play-by-play announcer on ABC's Monday Night Football telecasts, which he began in 1986. Before that, Michaels most notable NFL assignment for ABC was hosting the pre-game coverage of Super Bowl XIX. In 1988, Michaels called his first Super Bowl. Three years later, Michaels was on hand to call the thrilling Super Bowl between the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills. When Bills kicker Scott Norwood, missed a potentially game winning field goal (and thus, ensuring the Giants victory), Michaels simply described the play by calmly proclaiming "No good! Wide-right!"

The trio of Michaels, Dan Dierdorf (who joined Monday Night Football the year after Michaels' first), and Frank Gifford lasted until the 1997 season, when Gifford was replaced following disclosure of an extra-marital affair. Michaels briefly became the center of controversy due to a verbal slip on the final Monday night game of the 1998 season (between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers on December 28). Michaels said, "No shit" in response to a question posed by Dan Dierdorf about Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie. Dierdorf said to Michaels about the halftime interview with Doug Flutie, "Are you gonna tell 'em how you're sick of all this B.C. stuff?" It turned out that Michaels thought that a commercial break was going on and that his microphone was turned off. Incidentally, Michaels reportedly opposes the FCC's attempts to tighten censorship rules, saying that there are much more important things to worry about than trying to protect people from every little thing.

Former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason replaced Gifford in 1998, and Dierdorf was dropped after that season. Esiason and Michaels reportedly never got along, and it led to ABC firing Esiason shortly after they called Super Bowl XXXIV together. Esiason complained to the New York Times that Michaels "could have been better for me, and I tried with him, but it never clicked with me because he never wanted it to click.” To that, Michaels gave a terse response to Esiason's claims in a released statement:"I will not join in this juvenile vitriol." Unexpectedly, comedian Dennis Miller joined the cast in 2000 along with Dan Fouts. The move was considered by some to be a bust (despite the fact that Michaels has acknowledged that he enjoyed working with Dennis Miller), and in 2002, John Madden joined him in a well-received pairing.

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Leaving ABC for NBC

Template:Main In 2005, it was announced that Monday Night Football would be moving from ABC to ESPN beginning with the 2006 season, and partner John Madden announced he would be joining NBC Sports, which had acquired the rights to Sunday Night Football games. Despite speculation that Michaels might be joining NBC as well, Michaels stated that he would continue as the MNF play-by-play announcer, stating "I feel like I'm a creature of Monday night. I'm home and I'm staying home." Plans were for Michaels to be teamed with Joe Theismann (who would be coming over from Sunday Night Football) on the Monday night telecasts. [1]

However, in the weeks leading up to Super Bowl XL, it was widely speculated that Michaels was attempting to get out of his contract with ESPN to join Madden at NBC. Michaels added fuel to the fire by refusing to state his future plans, and he couldn't "respond to rumors ... because that would become a distraction." [2] On February 8, 2006, ESPN announced that its Monday Night Football team would consist of Mike Tirico on play-by-play, with Theismann and Tony Kornheiser as analysts. ESPN explicitly stated that Michaels would not return to either Monday Night Football broadcasts or ABC's NBA broadcasts (on which Michaels had been lead NBA play-by-play man).

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Traded to NBC for a former Walt Disney asset

On February 9, 2006, NBC confirmed that Michaels would be joining Madden at NBC to broadcast football on Sunday nights, thus ending Michaels' 20 year run on Monday Night Football and almost 30 years of service with ABC/ESPN.[3] In exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract with ABC and ESPN, NBC Universal sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights, and sold to parent company Disney the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character developed by Walt Disney (which he lost in 1927) himself but previously owned by Universal Pictures (now NBC Universal). NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol explained: "We earn nothing from those rights; they've had no value in the United States."

Michaels had a bemused take on the trade. After it was noted to Michaels that the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets a draft pick as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract, Michaels stated.

Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday.
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"The Miracle on Ice"

Template:Main Two of Michaels' more famous broadcasts were of the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round match between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the attempted third game of the 1989 World Series.

In 1980, an unheralded group of amateur ice hockey players from the United States won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Winter Games. The medal round match on February 22—which, contrary to popular belief, did not assure the team of the gold medal—was of particular interest, as it was played against a heavily favored squad from the Soviet Union, and was in front of a partisan American crowd in Lake Placid, New York whipped into a patriotic fervor by the Cold War. Michaels' memorable broadcast of this game, including his interjection—"Do you believe in miracles? YES!"—as time expired on the 4-3 U.S. victory, earned the game the media nickname of "The Miracle on Ice."

Michaels along with broadcasting partner, Ken Dryden, recreated their Olympic commentary in the 2004 movie Miracle. Although Michaels and Dryden recreated the bulk of their commentary for the film, the closing seconds of the game against the Soviet Union used the actual original ABC Sports commentary from 1980. Gavin O'Connor, the director of Miracle, decided to use the last 10 seconds of Michaels' original "Do you believe in miracles?" call in the film because he felt he couldn't ask him to recreate the emotion he experienced at that moment. Thus they cleaned up the recording to make the transition to the authentic call as seamlessly as possible.

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1986 American League Championship Series

Template:Main Even though the events of October 17, 1989 in San Francisco are widely considered to be the most memorable baseball-related moment of Al Michaels' career, three years earlier he was on hand for what he says was "the greatest of all the thousands of games I've done."

On October 12, 1986 at Anaheim Stadium, Michaels along with Jim Palmer called Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The California Angels held a 3 games to 1 lead of a best-of-seven against the Boston Red Sox. In the game, the Angels held a 5-2 lead going into the ninth inning. Boston scored two runs on a hit by Wade Boggs and a home run by Don Baylor, closing the gap to 5-4.

When Donnie Moore came in to shut down the rally, there were two outs, and a runner on first base, Rich Gedman, who had been hit by a pitch. The Angels were one out from getting into the World Series for the very first time in their existence. But Dave Henderson hit a 2-2 pitch off Moore for a home run, giving the Red Sox a 6-5 lead. The Angels were able to score a run in the bottom of the ninth, pushing the game into extra innings.

"The pitch . . . Deep to left and Downing goes back. And it's gone! Unbelievable! You're looking at one for the ages here. Astonishing! Anaheim Stadium was one strike away from turning into Fantasyland! And now the Red Sox lead 6-5! The Red Sox get four runs in the ninth on a pair of two-run homers by Don Baylor and Dave Henderson." - Michaels on the call. He also said, "Dave Henderson, its a long way from Seattle." Pointing out that Dave Henderson had played for the last place Seattle Mariners earlier in 1986.

Moore continued to pitch for the Angels. He was able to stifle a 10th inning Red Sox rally by getting Jim Rice to ground into a double play. Nevertheless, the Red Sox were able to score off Moore in the 11th-inning via a sacrifice fly by Henderson. The Angels could not score in the bottom of the 11th, and lost the game 7-6.

The defeat still left the Angels in a 3 games to 2 advantage, with two more games to play at Fenway Park. The Angels were not able to recover, losing both games by wide margins, 10-4 and 8-1.

Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS ended with Calvin Schiraldi striking out Jerry Narron. Just prior to the moment, Michaels set-up the situation by summarizing the Red Sox's dramatic come back in the series. "The Red Sox can go from last rites to the World Series...and they do!" - Michaels on the call.

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1989 World Series

Template:Main Image:McCarver, Michaels, Palmer 1989 World Series.JPG On October 17, 1989, Michaels was in San Francisco, California, preparing to cover the third game of the 1989 World Series between the home team, the Giants, and the visiting Oakland Athletics. ABC's network telecast began with a recap of the first two games, both won by Oakland. Soon after Michaels handed off to his broadcast partner, Tim McCarver, who started assessing the Giants' chances for victory in the game, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck. McCarver fell into a stunned silence, but Michaels astutely said into the microphone, "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth--!" just as it went dead, providing the only concurrent broadcast account of what had happened. Audio was restored minutes later (a green ABC Sports graphic replaced the picture though) where Michaels, over a telephone line started off by trying to make light of the chaotic situation by quipping that it was "The greatest open in the history of television -- bar none!" After ABC restored the telecast with a backup generator, Michaels (reporting from ABC Sports' production truck) gave an eyewitness account of the aftermath at Candlestick Park, the Giants' stadium, for which he later was nominated for an Emmy Award for news broadcasting.

Al Michaels, Tim McCarver, and Jim Palmer remained a calm and reassuring presence in what could have been a scene of panic. According to Tim McCarver, when the earthquake hit, he, Michaels and Palmer immediately grabbed a hold of what they perceived to be the armrests. In reality, the announcers were clutching on each others' thighs and they were left with bruises the next day. Years later, Al Michaels would boldly admit his strong belief that had the earthquake lasted much longer than 15 seconds, he would've been killed. Michaels added that the only time that he really had been scared during the earthquake was when he moved in a position which he perceived to be backward. The three announcers were simply sitting on a ledge with their backs turned and nothing else behind them in the booth.

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National Basketball Association

Template:Main After disastrous ratings in the 2003 NBA Finals, ABC decided to completely revamp their lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler was demoted to the second broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle. Al Michaels was hired to replace Nessler as lead broadcaster of the NBA.

For the first several weeks of the 2003-2004 season, Michaels had no partner. However, Doc Rivers, a critically acclaimed analyst when he worked with Turner Sports, became available after a 1-19 start by his Orlando Magic. Rivers was hired weeks before ABC's Christmas Day season opener. He and Michaels worked that game together, one of only six they did together during the regular season (all other games Rivers worked were with Brad Nessler). During the playoffs, the team worked every single telecast, including the 2004 NBA Finals, which saw great improvement in television ratings.

During the 2004 NBA Playoffs, Doc Rivers was hired by the Boston Celtics. Though Rivers continued to work games with Al Michaels throughout the rest of the playoffs, ABC would have to find a new lead analyst for the 2004-2005 season.

Early in the 2004-2005 season, ABC found a new partner for Al Michaels. Memphis Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown, a broadcasting legend with CBS, TBS, and TNT, was forced into retirement due to health reasons and was soon after hired to replace Doc Rivers. Michaels and Brown began their partnership on Christmas Day 2004, working the highly anticipated Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant game. After that game, the two did not do a game together again until March 2005. Michaels became sporadic in NBA coverage, doing two games in early March, and then three more games in April. Brown worked every week of ABC's coverage, broadcasting some games with veteran broadcaster Mike Breen.

Al Michaels received criticism from the New York Post for not broadcasting the game and seeming disinterested with the NBA in general. Michaels, who had only broadcast a combined twelve regular season games with ABC (with all but one of those games airing from either Los Angeles or Sacramento), did return for the NBA Finals, which scored its second lowest rating of all time (despite the fact that it was the first Finals in eleven years to go to a seventh game).

For the 2005-2006 season, Al Michaels and Hubie Brown were slated to remain as ABC's number one broadcast team. The duo worked that year's Christmas Day game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat and were expected to work the NBA Finals together as well. However, that plan did not come to fruition.

Replacing Michaels on The NBA on ABC was Mike Breen, who became the lead broadcaster for an over-the-air NBA package for the first time in his career. Breen is expected work the 2006 NBA Finals with Hubie Brown, as well as all the main games ABC will broadcast this year. This gives ABC its first consistent lead broadcaster since Brad Nessler, as Breen will likely be doing games every week.

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Personal

Michaels currently resides in Los Angeles, California (although he has often called games with a slight Brooklyn accent). Since August 27, 1966, Al Michaels has been married to Linda Anne Stamaton. Al and Linda have two children together, Steven and Jennifer.

Al's younger brother, David is a television producer. David Michaels has produced such programs as NBC's coverage of the Triple Crown and Fox Sports Net's Beyond the Glory series.

Michaels is a conservative Republican, and records indicate he contributed to the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign.[4] Michaels has been criticized for sometimes showing his Republican bias on the air during sports telecast.

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Trivia

  • It was Michaels who explained to Peter Jennings that Jennings had been the victim of a prank call in the final hour of O. J. Simpson's Bronco chase, after the Bronco had pulled into Simpson's driveway and parked. The prankster, claiming to be watching Simpson inside the van, described what he said to be the scene in perfect Stepin Fetchit dialect, then signed off with "...and Baba Booey to y'all." Michaels (unlike Jennings, apparently) understood the prankster's use of the term as an association of being a Howard Stern fan. Michaels is, himself, a Howard Stern fan, and has discussed that prank call as a guest on Stern's show.
  • Michaels has made no secret of his fondness for gambling in general and horse racing in particular. Though the NFL has a particular dislike of announcers mentioning anything to do with football wagering during its broadcasts, Michaels has often found sly ways to mention how the MNF game he's calling is faring in relation to betting lines — particularly when the game is a blowout and there's not much else to talk about. An example: During the December 5, 2005 game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles in which Seattle shut out Philadelphia 42-0, Michaels observed midway through the fourth quarter, "This game is 'over' in more ways than one." (The over-under line, on which bettors select whether the combined team scores will be over or under a certain line, was set at 39½ points, so the "over" wager was already a winner.)


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External links

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