Al Michaels Can’t Hide His Bias

Yeah, weird thread but bare with me.

I love Al Michaels. His voice is synonymous with football to me, period.

But I can’t dismiss this weird thing I have noticed in recent years. Whenever he is broadcasting a game with the Seahawks, I swear to you that his voice inflection is much different when the Seahawks make a big play versus the opponent. Now before you call me a typical uber-sensitive 12 that sees slights in every corner, I ask you to look no further than the game against the Eagles. Russ runs for nearly 30 yards and he barely raises his voice.

Russ throws an amazing ball to DK for an incredible TD and his voice barely raises above the level you would expect for a first down catch off a third down play.

So here I am rewatching the game and there are times when the Eagles make a pedestrian play and he sounds like it was the most incredible play all game. WTF?!?!

Look, I am not that sensitive, I get we can be a sensitive bunch but come on man.

I think Al Michaels is the best to ever do it, but you are on to something. I didn't notice it tonight, but I will never forget his call for Beastquake 2.0. It's the run of the year at that point and he sounds like he's reading a grocery list.

[youtube]vmelivYV5cc[/youtube]

Who cares? What does it matter? So a broadcaster doesn’t like a team as much as you. I don’t get how that matters and why you care.

HawkerD":2pj2ona9 said:

Who cares? What does it matter? So a broadcaster doesn’t like a team as much as you. I don’t get how that matters and why you care.

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If you have kids, I'm guessing you'd take umbrage with your kid's coach speaking to them in a monotone voice while he sounds excited and interested when speaking to the rest of the players on your team. No?

This sport is entertainment. Live game analysts shouldn't let bias creep through.

HawkerD":1rbu9v7n said:

Who cares? What does it matter? So a broadcaster doesn’t like a team as much as you. I don’t get how that matters and why you care.

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I don't disagree with your point. I was simply agreeing with Aros. He likely has a bias. It doesn't actually bother me. I still think he's the best to ever do it and would love it if he called every one of our games on TV.

RolandDeschain":1rbu9v7n said:

This sport is entertainment. Live game analysts shouldn't let bias creep through.

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I also agree with this.

I would wager this mostly has to do with situations where the Seahawks are the favorites and Michaels is trying to make the other team sound competitive.

LargentFan":x6fufjf6 said:

I think Al Michaels is the best to ever do it, but you are on to something. I didn't notice it tonight, but I will never forget his call for Beastquake 2.0. It's the run of the year at that point and he sounds like he's reading a grocery list.

[youtube]vmelivYV5cc[/youtube]

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Good lord. I had totally forgotten how bad his call was on such a cool play. Essentially just mailed it in.

Wait until next week if he calls the GB game.
They are going to beat us over the head with the “wail Mary” game once again.

RolandDeschain":4zq8m4vf said:

HawkerD":4zq8m4vf said:

Who cares? What does it matter? So a broadcaster doesn’t like a team as much as you. I don’t get how that matters and why you care.

Click to expand...

If you have kids, I'm guessing you'd take umbrage with your kid's coach speaking to them in a monotone voice while he sounds excited and interested when speaking to the rest of the players on your team. No?

This sport is entertainment. Live game analysts shouldn't let bias creep through.

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Gee Scott, is that you?

I noticed he was getting excited for a few Philly plays and I was wondering why as they were not even much. Didn't notice he was monotone on our though, good find. Typically I can't stand Collinsworth.

Al usually has seemed pro Seahawk to me..
Maybe he is a Eagles fan from way back like in 50's?

lol. those voice inflections.

I can hear them in my head.

Aros":3507kt66 said:

Russ runs for nearly 30 yards and he barely raises his voice.

Russ throws an amazing ball to DK for an incredible TD and his voice barely raises above the level you would expect for a first down catch off a third down play.

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Funny thing, I noticed the exact same things when they happened. Wow! Great plays ... but Al's acting like these are off-tackle runs that net 2 yards. Then I just focused on the next play. I had actually forgotten about all this until you brought it up here. I don't know if it's anti-Seahawk, or Al just trying to be impartial, but yeah, if you like football at all, you have to be impressed -- and show it -- when you see those plays.

and next week we get the happy couple of Troy Buck And Joe Aikman
great

Remember the days of taking your portable radio and putting it next to the TV with Pete Gross so we wouldnt hear the Seattle haters like Merlin Olsen on TV? I wish we could still do that

I agree with you. I love Al, but his calls over the years of big Hawks plays have been terrible.

IndyHawk":2799ggtu said:

Maybe he is a Eagles fan from way back like in 50's?

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None of these guys are fans of teams in the way that we think about fandom.

I'm sure they're fans of particular players or coaches or locker rooms, but being a fan of a team over the years as everything changes over and over again? No way.

If they have any rooting interest at all it is for matchups that present good and coherent storylines and things to talk about. That's it.

Can't remember which 9ers beat writer it was this week who said it, but he leveled with fans and explained that he was hoping the 9ers don't play the Hawks again in the playoffs because by the third matchup of the year there's just much less to write about as you've already burned your stories on that matchup. That's what reporters and analysts care about. It's just business.

More generally the players keep explaining ot us that it's a business, but we don't like that, so we refuse to listen. When the 9ers players were asked about the rivalry with the Seahawks this year they said they cared because (1) it was a division game, (2) the Seahawks are a good team, and (3) they cared for Joe Staley.

Why Joe Staley? Because he's the only person on the 9ers who even gave a rat about the 49ers when the Seahawks/49ers rivalry was a thing. For the rest of them they basically had as much feeling about the rivalry as you or I have for the rivalry between the Dolphins and the Bills: they know it's a thing, but like us, they seriously don't care. They were all busy on other teams or trying to win college games.

To be totally honest I'd be shocked if more than 25% of the 49ers roster could correctly name the 49ers head coach in 2015 (Tomsula).

If you think that sounds crazy, I'd guess less than 5% of all the rabid football fans on this board can correctly name the Dolphins head coach from 2015 without cheating. :lol: (I had to look it up, it was Joe Philbin).

AgentDib":2xap7jkt said:

I would wager this mostly has to do with situations where the Seahawks are the favorites and Michaels is trying to make the other team sound competitive.

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Seahawks weren't the favorites and Al Michaels is not the best ever.

JonRud":2k82tq14 said:

I agree with you. I love Al, but his calls over the years of big Hawks plays have been terrible.

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I definitely noticed the lack of amazement in his voice on the DK catch. He might be biased since this goes back a ways. At the time I was thinking it simply overwhelmed his old ass brain and he couldn’t catch up. And what’s with the spray on hair? Looks ridiculous.

seahawksny":2gmdnyvc said:

and next week we get the happy couple of Troy Buck And Joe Aikman
great

Remember the days of taking your portable radio and putting it next to the TV with Pete Gross so we wouldnt hear the Seattle haters like Merlin Olsen on TV? I wish we could still do that

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AM710 streams Steve Raible every game. If you want a Seahawk homer, he's your guy. :mrgreen:

100 percent accurate Aros. You flat out can hear it. And NO, I'm not saying everyone the Hawks blah blah blah. But some guys just sound more disappointed when the Hawks do something.
How in the world could ANY announcer not go nuts on that flat out NAILS throw and catch by Russ and DK? He threw the ball on 3rd and long from about the 5 yard line. That is a MASSIVE play.