Al zero-emotion Michaels returning

[pmedic920]

I'll always remember his call in the 1980 Winter Olympics hockey game, USA vs. USSR: "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!!!"

But nowadays, and I don't know whether it's due to my advancing age or if I simply have a more refined filter in my brain, but I honestly don't notice or care about most of the announcers and their style. I hear them call the player's names, down and distance, etc., but I don't process the editorial stuff, especially from the color man and the sideline babe.

And that's a big change from what I used to be like. I remember not liking both Michaels and Dennis Miller when they were teamed together on MNF. God, I hated hearing Michaels laugh at Miller's stupid jokes.

Wow
I had forgotten all about Miller.

Glad that went away.

 

[RiverDog]

Wow
I had forgotten all about Miller.

Glad that went away.

Yeah, Dennis Miller lasted just two seasons on MNF before they realized what a huge bomb he was. He had no sports broadcasting experience when ABC hired him, and as such, he was very poor at breaking down plays or talking strategy. The broadcast booth just wasn't an appropriate spot for stand-up comedy.

What really got me was Al Michaels' reactions, and I'm sure he was told to do it, where he had to laugh at Miller's jokes. And some of Miller's humor was so obscure that you couldn't figure out what he was talking about and here is Michaels, who was probably just as much in the dark as the rest of us as to what the hell Miller was talking about, making a poorly masked attempt to make the audience think it was funny by yucking it up.

 

[Seahwkgal]

I like Al Michaels quite a bit, but the OP has a point about his monotone and lack of comparative excitement in big moments against other analysts.

Huh? Didn’t he call the Miracle On Ice. “Do you believe in miracles”?

 

[RolandDeschain]

Huh? Didn’t he call the Miracle On Ice. “Do you believe in miracles”?

I didn't state this part of it in my message, but I meant in recent years / as he's gotten pretty old.