Al Michaels

[TheVTCGuy]

For those of you that watch the Thursday night football games on Amazon Prime…

Is it me, or is Al Michaels really (really really) losing his broadcasting ability? I don’t mean to be critical, the man was an exceptional announcer for years, but there just doesn’t seem to be the Excitement(?) Spirt(?) Presentation(?) that there used to be. I find Kirk Herbstreet very entertaining and a good broadcaster, (although I prefer him doing the college game) but the TNF broadcast is really lacking and actually turning me off to watch the game.

Is it me?

[huncho]

well...have you seen the games they put on thursdays? i'd rather watch the lions

jokes aside, you're not the first one to say this but i can't really confirm because i can't get myself to watch any of these games

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by huncho

well...have you seen the games they put on thursdays? i'd rather watch the lions

jokes aside, you're not the first one to say this but i can't really confirm because i can't get myself to watch any of these games

Agreed, I just turned it off.


Hey! Were you making fun of my Lions!?!?

They won last Sunday and this starts their undefeated run to the Super Bowl!!!

[herts9]

He gets $1M A GAME per his Amazon contract to broadcast a game.

He's probably drifts off thinking of ways to spend all that.

[Star Ferry]

Originally Posted by huncho

well...have you seen the games they put on thursdays? i'd rather watch the lions

jokes aside, you're not the first one to say this but i can't really confirm because i can't get myself to watch any of these games

Bezos must be furious. They gave him a terrible slate of games

[huncho]

Originally Posted by Star Ferry

Bezos must be furious. They gave him a terrible slate of games

i'm honestly surprised he got such a horrible slate given who he is and how much money he has. i think there's been 1 good thursday game and it was the the chiefs chargers week 2. maybe he fought hard to get bills rams on opening night but no one expected the rams to be completely washed up after 4 months off, that game was horrible

[joeychitwood]

I feel sorry for the guy. The games are terrible. It’s impossible to make them sound interesting or exciting.

[GradyPhilpott]

Old school players aren't much into the antics of today's players.

If Michaels seems to be lacking in enthusiasm the answer might be all of the above.

[hdrazor251]

Originally Posted by joeychitwood

I feel sorry for the guy. The games are terrible. It’s impossible to make them sound interesting or exciting.

Agree. Great jockeys don’t look so good when riding a lame horse.

[AzPaul]

The guy is pushing 80.

[dddrees]

When I used to watch more football just as any other pro sport there really were only very few really good games a week in my opinion anyway. To begin with there generally are only so many really good teams every year anyway. You simply can't have every night and every game be special because there just isn't enough great teams or even good teams to begin with. Just as there are very good quarterbacks there are very few good football teams.

Besides if you know anything about Pro Football and the toll it takes on players you would understand that day is much more about the money than it ever was about great competition. They simply don't have the time to recover that football players need between games. Thursday Night may have been special when they did it in a limited fashion but I'm sure it has become less so once they required more teams to rotate through that schedule.

[scarlet knight]

All of the above. The games stink. Remember Broncos vs. Colts? Rather watch a test pattern.
Al has definitely lost a step. There must be one hundred good broadcasters in their 40s and 50s. What is this, the Presidency?

I like to pick professionals at their peak, 45 to 55. The younger are inexperienced, the older have one foot out the door.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by AzPaul

The guy is pushing 80.

Right?

[Chiboy]

I like football, and have Prime, but have barely turned it on on Thursdays. Atlanta/Carolina? Who cares? FWIW, and perhaps this is because I went to University of Michigan, but I really dislike watching (ex-OSU) Kirk Herbstreit announce a game, especially one with OSU or Michigan playing. I'm probably sensitive to it (ya think?), but find it very hard to see him as impartial.

I truly probably haven't listened to five minutes of Al Michaels this year, but agree that it's hard to take what should be an off night for football, put on two mediocre/bad teams and make it sound exciting.

[Blansky]

Use to love Howard Cosell and Don Meredith doing Monday Night Football.....

Howard........."this is without a doubt THE most boring spectacle of a game of football in the history of the National Football League"


Don..... "turn out the lights, the party's over"......

The tell it like it is crew.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Use to love Howard Cosell ...

Who can ever forget his boxing coverage as well

[SDGT3]

I have no interest in watching Thursday night football and sometimes forget that a game is on. Moving it to a pay platform with crappy matches is stealing money from Amazon.

[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Who can ever forget his boxing coverage as well

"Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!"

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by AzPaul

"Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!"

His interviews with Ali were also fantastic. He wasn’t afraid to dish it out.

[knyshcollection]

He's a little past his prime to be nice haha

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Use to love Howard Cosell and Don Meredith doing Monday Night Football.....

Howard........."this is without a doubt THE most boring spectacle of a game of football in the history of the National Football League"


Don..... "turn out the lights, the party's over"......

The tell it like it is crew.

When I was in college at the University of California, I was undecided until my sophomore year. I watched those guys, I was enthralled. That led me to decide on my major, Telecommunications Engineering. My goal was to eventually be the guy in the truck running the tech for Monday Night Football. Obviously, that never came to be but I am still happy I made that decision for my major, and my subsequent civilian career with Sony broadcast. Those guys were part of the reason for my decision.

PS My minor was History, with a specialty in classical studies (Ancient Greek civilization)

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Use to love Howard Cosell and Don Meredith doing Monday Night Football.....

Howard........."this is without a doubt THE most boring spectacle of a game of football in the history of the National Football League"


Don..... "turn out the lights, the party's over"......

The tell it like it is crew.

It was a clown show, but it was a show and with only one special game a week there was a much better chance it would be a better game.

[TheVTCGuy]

The subject on the sports talk shows is all about how there is no energy from Michael’s on TNF. I guess it’s not just me

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

When I was in college at the University of California, I was undecided until my sophomore year. I watched those guys, I was enthralled. That led me to decide on my major, Telecommunications Engineering. My goal was to eventually be the guy in the truck running the tech for Monday Night Football. Obviously, that never came to be but I am still happy I made that decision for my major, and my subsequent civilian career with Sony broadcast. Those guys were part of the reason for my decision.

PS My minor was History, with a specialty in classical studies (Ancient Greek civilization)

Loved Meredith singing "Blue Bayou" (blew by you) when someone blasted past someone else for a touchdown.

[Chiboy]

Originally Posted by Blansky

Loved Meredith singing "Blue Bayou" (blew by you) when someone blasted past someone else for a touchdown.

Ha! I remember when Tim McCarver was the Mets broadcaster, he’d talk about a Linda Ronstadt fastball (same idea).

[OYptL]

I didn’t like him when he called the USSR vs US game. Unwatchable as are many others.

[bgriz]

Terrible games on Thursday nights. Al was ushered out the door at NBC after doing what most consider to be the best games of the week, now he’s doing some of the worst games. He’s probably salty about it and just over everything.

[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by Chiboy

Ha! I remember when Tim McCarver was the Mets broadcaster, he’d talk about a Linda Ronstadt fastball (same idea).

I remember Johnny Bench talking about a 'Peggy Lee' fastball (Is That All There Is?)