Al Michaels has logged more hours on live primetime network television than any American in history.
The famous sports commentator was the lead voice of the American institution, Monday Night Football, for two decades and has covered major sports events ranging from the Olympic Games to the Kentucky Derby.
His most famous line is, “Do you believe in miracles, Yes,” after the USA upset the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament.
I recently read his autobiography, You Can’t Make This Up. It was a fascinating and easy trawl through his lengthy career and a period of considerable transformation in the coverage of live sports.
Michaels was raised in New York, the son of sports-mad parents. His mother used to pick him up from school for “crucial dentist appointments” which ended up at the local racetrack while his father was a talent agent and later a television broker with a huge appetite for baseball.
Michaels started his commentary career at high school and his first professional employment was covering minor league sports in Hawaii.
The sheer workload to get recognised is staggering!
His first major break was big and small at the same time. He was employed as a colour commentator for the legendary LA Lakers commentator Chick Hearn. Hearn despised Michaels whose only airtime was reading out halftime stats.
Michaels was the play-by-play voice for the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants baseball teams before being snapped up by ABC.
Michaels stayed at ABC for 29 years and covered every sports event imaginable. His reflections of Olympic ice hockey, boxing and even ice skating are fascinating. Even more interesting are his comments on Howard Cosel and Roone Arledge, two giants of television.
Cosel was a nasal-voiced Brooklyn lawyer turned sports commentator. His eloquence and ability to generate controversy by rattling the establishment was peerless. He was essentially a pioneer of the ‘loudmouth’ talkback host. According to Michaels he was also an alcoholic with a narcissistic personality.
Arledge invented the action replay and many of his ideas still influence live sports broadcasting. His hospitality – limos, flash hotels and expensive champagne was legendary – but he was not accessible and carried on past his used by date.
Michaels explains how cable TV and the internet has changed sports broadcasting, but the most valuable insights and clues to his longevity are provided when he explains his philosophy of sports broadcasting.
Homework and non-interference have been winning formulas. On describing exciting play Michaels said the following.
“I’ve always felt the hotter the action gets, the cooler you want to stay. You don’t want to underplay what’s going on, because it’s exhilarating. But you don’t want to be over the top either, because when the crowd is out of its mind and the action is intense and the audience is riveted, if your screaming you’re a nuisance… Let the pictures tell the story.”
Another valuable remark.
“A game is a game. But what distinguishes one game for the other are the people involved. Make the audience care about them.”
It’s a pity many sports commentators ignore this sound advice. A lack of research and screaming is sadly apart of many commentators repertoire today.
The negatives of the book are few, but the chapter on who he has played golf with was self indulgent and his excessive praise of his current employers NBC was tiresome, otherwise a book well worth reading.
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