Al Michaels on growing up in Brooklyn, sports TV icons and the Super Bowl
Steve Serby takes some time to talk with NBC’s legendary sportscaster Al Michaels, who is preparing to call Super Bowl LII:
Q: What’s your take on Super Bowl LII?
A: I think this is going to be a very close game, I really do. Look, the X- factor is Nick Foles. Which one do we get? But even if you don’t get the great Nick Foles, I still think they have enough to win. Some of these games are determined by turnovers. I sound like a coach now, you run the ball, you don’t turn the ball over, you got a good chance to win.
Q: What are your thoughts on Tom Brady playing at such a high level at age 40?
A: Unbelievable. I guess he’s going to win the MVP award, that seems to be ordained right now. I see a guy with a lot of passion, and he and I have talked about this a little bit, about careers that are closer to the end than the beginning. And you begin to savor it maybe even more — I know I’m savoring what I do, probably more than ever because I know the end is closer than the beginning obviously. And I think with Brady, I think maybe with Drew Brees. … It’s great to see guys at that age perform the way they do and a lot of it has to do not only with keeping yourself in fantastic physical shape, but knowing the game better than ever. I can’t imagine Tom has ever worked any harder than he does right now. He loves it. He wants to sustain it. It’s a hard thing to give up, I gotta tell ya.
Q: What is Bill Belichick like during the production meetings?
A: I’ve been meeting with him for 32 years ever since he was the defensive coordinator of the Giants going back to 1986. He can be very grumpy. … He can also be very effusive. You get Bill going about the history of football, you know, what took place when he worked for Ted Marchibroda and all of that. He can sit there and regale you with stories for over an hour. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get with Bill. Let’s put it this way — it’s never not interesting. I don’t want to say we have a special relationship with him, but I think he’s more comfortable talking to people that he’s talked for 30 years than he might be with sitting down with somebody for the first time.
Q: What will game day be like you for this Sunday?
A: Just get up in the morning, have a nice breakfast, my wife is here. You can’t avoid thinking about the game like around the clock, so I’ve got a ton of notes and stories and things that I prepared, and just kind of go over them, not try to memorize anything, but just refresh myself. The key to doing the game is let the game come to you. We have 18 gazillion stories, and most of the stories will not be close to getting told, because they won’t be germane to the game. So I’ve always felt that the key is let the game start, see where it’s going, then fold in the information you have to what’s taking place on the field.
Q: What’s the one sporting event in history you wish you could have announced?
A: I’d like to know if Babe Ruth really did point to the bleachers before he hit the home run at Wrigley. The Babe Ruth called shot, which nobody seems to know whether he did or he didn’t? I would like to have done that game. Just to see if it really happened.
Q: The most electric sporting events you’ve done?
A: No. 1 absolutely without question, hands down, top of the show, never could be replaced — Lake Placid. Can’t beat it, that’s untouchable. I would say after that, I had Super Bowl XLIII, which was Pittsburgh-Arizona, phenomenal game. I would throw Super Bowl XLIX in there too, Seattle against New England. I would put the fifth game of the 1986 American League Championship series with the Angels, one strike away from getting to the World Series, and Dave Henderson hits the home run for Boston to give them the lead, the Angels tie it, Boston winds up winning it in 11. And the other thing that would round out my Top 5 would be Hagler-Hearns.
Q: Your best call other than your Lake Placid call (Do you believe in miracles)?
A: (Laugh). I’ve been lucky enough to be on top of a couple of calls. (Malcolm) Butler’s interception would have to factor into that, I think because it happens bang-bang and you want to make sure you’re right. And then in the ’99 Super Bowl, Kevin Dyson getting tackled at the 1-yard line by Mike Jones, can he get in? No, he cannot. Those are calls that have to happen instantaneously and quickly and if you blow it, you got to live with that forever.
Q: Your worst fear during a Super Bowl broadcast?
A: I never want to go into doomsday scenarios. We can all imagine stuff that could happen, but I’ve never let myself go there.
Q: The Buttfumble — what were you thinking as that unfolded?
A: (Laugh) You saw it, you weren’t sure exactly what it was. You thought you saw what you saw, but it wasn’t until the replay. It was almost like I’m thinking, “Man oh man, if this doesn’t sum up the Jets season at that point, nothing will.
Q: Do you think the NFL is in trouble with the CTE findings now?
A: Overall, I don’t. I know a lot is made about ratings and all of that, but my feeling is that it’s the No. 1 show in television. Thursday Night just went for a ton of money. Thursday Night was the No. 2 and No. 4 show on television this past year with only Big Bang Theory in the middle. So the NFL still had the 1, 2 and 4 shows on network prime time television. I look at it like Apple stock, if you had bought it in the ’90s. You’re rich, but that thing didn’t go straight up. Sooner or later there had to be a little bobble. And this is the period right now where the NFL is bobbling. But I do think it comes back. People love football, they just love it.
Q: Would you let your children or grandchildren play football?
A: My feeling would be I’ve always let my kids and to this point now my grandchildren, I want them to make their choice. I want to let them know, what I think, point out the dangers, obviously — in anything. My feeling is you give them as much information as you can and then let them make the choice.
Q: What would you change about the NFL game right now?
A: This replay system has to be sped up — quickly. And obviously, let’s figure out what a catch is and stop all the permutations.
Q: What was your favorite John Wooden anecdote from the 1973-74 season?
A: We made a trip to the Northwest, it was the weekend that they played Washington. So Seattle was Saturday night, and then they played at Washington State on Monday night. The team flew to Spokane on Sunday, the day off, got on the bus, two-hour ride down to Pullman, and before we got to the hotel, it was kind of a raw 33 degree day, cold and nasty. And John had the team get off the bus and worked out for about 45 minutes at the arena. So I just sat there on the side watching it. They finish up, they go into the locker room to shower, and Coach gets up there, he’s on the blackboard and shows you what the schedule is the next day, and then turns and he says to the fellas, he says, “Now listen. Boys, it’s very, very cold and damp outside. When you come out of the shower, I want you to dry your hair extremely thoroughly.” And I leaned against the wall and just thought to myself, “Not only is their my father figure, he’s their mother too.” That’s what a mother would say.
Q: Describe Cris Collinsworth’s announcing style.
A: Never saw a guy work as hard. For my money, I’ve had the two best analysts ever over the last 16 years — I had John Madden, who recreated the template for what an analyst does back in the ’80s. I had John for seven years, I had Cris for nine. Cris sees things that nobody else can see. And it’s not just a matter of predicting plays, but he just gets to the essence of everything … and has a great understanding of the business of television. So it’s not just that he knows football. He knows how to impart the information. He knows how to make it interesting, he knows how to make it relevant. And he entertains. He’s the whole package,
Q: Madden’s style.
A: Games were done a certain way in the ’60s and ’70s. And then John came along and kind of rewrote the book. He made the game so accessible to the average fan. So he could tell you as much about as anybody’s ever been able to tell the audience. And yet he did it in a way that made the audience have a lot of fun with it. He spawned a ton of imitators. But there’s only one John.
Q: Dick Enberg’s style.
A: Dick was a master storyteller, and an extremely comfortable listen. When Dick was doing a game, it was almost like a melody. He cut to the core of not only the game itself but … the human interest elements of it.
Q: What made Vin Scully Vin Scully?
A: In his 67th year of broadcasting, he was as enthusiastic and excited to be there as he was when I first heard him when I was a child. He never lost his edge. You could tell that he was just happy to be in the ballpark. He brought it every single night — nobody’s heard more Vin Scully than I have through the years. I don’t think he had an off night. He really didn’t. It was just so astonishing to me a couple of years ago just driving around town and pulling into my driveway, and then having the car idle in the driveway for another 25 minutes because I wanted to hear the rest of Vinny’s stories.
Q: Howard Cosell’s broadcasting style.
A: Unique. If Howard was in a good mood, he was a lot of fun to work with, and relevant, and was able to say some very interesting things. But if he was in a gloomy mood, which he was a lot towards the end of his career, it was difficult, he could cast a pall on the entire crew. And that led to the beginning of the end for Howard back in 1984 and ’85.
Q: Marv Albert.
A: Marv and Chick Hearn are the greatest basketball announcers that ever lived. No question. Love Marv.
Q: The horror of the San Francisco World Series earthquake.
A: First of all, you don’t prepare for it. It happens. I sort of knew what it was right off the bat. It was a petrifying few seconds where I felt as if we were going to be cast out of the broadcast booth. And then it calmed down. It was so stunning and then stopped. And then you had no idea as to what had taken place outside the stadium. And in fact what I remember about that too is about 20 minutes later — and again this is pre-social media, pre-Twitter, pre-everything, so information is not coming in as quickly as it does now obviously. The earthquake hit at 5:04, and by 5:25, you got the players milling around the field, and the fans start chanting, “Play ball, play ball.” Nobody had an idea what had taken place outside the stadium. It took us several minutes to find out the extent of it.
Q: No NHL players in the Winter Olympics — do you like it that way?
A: No, I really enjoyed having the NHL guys there. The caliber of play in Vancouver and then Soshi was fantastic. We can’t recreate 1980.
Q: Who is L.A.’s team?
A: Well the Rams are right now, but I think eventually, both teams will be very successful. My point’s always been that Southern California has almost 20 million people. You can’t tell me you can’t fill 60,000 seats twice. The Rams are playing in the old Coliseum, so when they move into the new stadium, it’s going to be a game-changer. The Chargers, it’ll take a little bit of time. They’ll be fine.
Q: One game to win, Brady or Jordan, who do you pick?
A: Which sport are we playing (laugh)?
Q: Your choice, Brady in football or a Jordan in basketball?
A: I think we go to overtime (laugh).
Q: What was Brooklyn like as a kid?
A: I lived there until I was 12 years old. Obviously I was a Dodger maniac, my father was able to walk me to Ebbets Field. When I was 10 years old, I probably saw almost 50 games. A Brooklyn kid would be growing up in an apartment building. We lived on Ocean Avenue. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment. My parents slept for all of those years on a Castro convertible in the living room. My brother and I shared the bedroom. We weren’t living high on the hog, but it was a wonderful way to grow up, and it’s just something about the whole … I don’t know what it is, it’s the DNA of Brooklyn. I run into kids from Brooklyn, they remind me so much of myself. Ringolevio to me was the national pastime of Brooklyn.
Q: Ebbets Field.
A: I saw Jackie Robinson in this wedding cake white uniform. You looked at the outfield walls — you had all the signage — hit this sign, win a suit, Abe Stark. The double decker outfield. It was unbelievably colorful. I looked at it and I said, “Man, oh man, oh man, how do I get here every day for the rest of my life?
Q: What do you hope viewers say about Al Michaels when Super Bowl LII is over?
A: Probably the same thing as after every game — made it more interesting and entertaining.
Q: What drives you now?
A: Still love sports. Have a lot of passion for it. I work with the best people EVER. I love the people I work with, I just do, I get excited. It’s the No. 1 package in sports television. The fact that it’s the No. 1 show for seven years, it’s something that we’re very proud of, and we almost feel as if we have to continue it. We push each other, we feed off each other, and we have a lot of fun along the way. So when people say to me, “Why don’t you think about retiring?” No. 1, Marv Levy once told me, “When you think about retiring, you’re already retired.” So I don’t want to go there? I don’t want to think about that. And [No.] 2. I can play golf now, doesn’t matter, what are we talking about?
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: Fargo
Q: Favorite actors?
A: Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Allison Janney.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Don Rickles (R.I.P.)
Q: Favorite meal?
A: A big ol’ juicy steak
Q: Why do you believe in miracles?
A: I’m always looking on the bright side.