'I still get excited': Approaching 77th birthday, veteran announcer Al Michaels doesn't plan on slowing down
Turning 77 later this week, Al Michaels is content. In his life and future, in his high-profile job anchoring television’s No. 1 show – and in his absolute disdain for anything that looks or smells like a vegetable.
Michaels spoke to Paste BN Sports in a wide-ranging interview before Sunday night’s matchup between the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Rams ,reminiscing about the teams that are playing – and their previous matchup for the Lombardi Trophy.
The teams have only met four times since Super Bowl XXXIV in January 2000, with each time winning twice. On Sunday, they meet under vastly different circumstances. The Rams are now in Los Angeles and bring one of the league’s best teams in the matchup, while Tennessee will be without the league’s leading rusher, Derrick Henry.
Michaels remembered feeling that Super Bowl would be close and recalls a conversation between Rams owner Georgia Frontiere and team president John Shaw in 1998.
In the second game of the preseason, Rams quarterback Trent Green was lost for the year after a knee injury. Frontiere was known for sleeping during the day and hosting dinners late at night. Shaw, now somewhat depressed, had the inevitable task of telling the owner, who was unaware of Green’s injury.
Frontiere had no idea who the backup, Warner, was.
“Oh, John, keep your head up, this guy Kurt Warner could be the next Johnny Unitas,” she said.
Maybe not quite Unitas, but Warner did win a Super Bowl, two NFL MVP awards and has a bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Michaels’ ability to rattle off a story from two decades ago with precise detail is another reason he isn’t straying away from your television anytime soon.
He recalls some advice sportscasting legend Curt Gowdy gave him as a reason why he is still around.
“He told me, ‘Don’t get jaded.’ I watched some of the guys in this business, including some big names, begin to moan and groan, about how they are not going to do this much longer and complain about the travel and the assignments,” he said. “I never get that way. But even today, Curt’s words still resonate.”
“It’s adrenaline to me. As a kid, I loved sports. As an adult, I loved sports and never lost my passion for it. I love the drama. I love the stories and I think part of it is just having that passion. When I walk into a stadium, I still get excited. I am excited about the technology and with how a football game is consumed and televised. It is fantastic.”
As the NFL has evolved over the years, gambling has become a mainstay with the league, after some initial resistance. Twenty-six states and Washington, D.C now allow betting and more than 45 million people will place wagers on NFL games this year, according to the American Gaming Association.
While Michaels may have more information about players than the average fan and handicapper, his bosses at NBC don’t and haven’t given him guidance on what can be mentioned when it comes to betting – but he will bring it up during broadcasts when it's relevant. He admits being evasive when asked about it on a weekly basis as he doesn’t want gamblers to lose their livelihood on his advice.
Before the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize gambling in 2018, Michaels would be a self-proclaimed “rascal” and mention it sporadically to have fun and even then, the league would “moan and groan about it for a second.”
“People would ask me, ‘Who do you like?’ I don’t mind gambling. I love playing craps in Vegas. But when it comes to betting on football, here’s what I know: I know that nobody knows. Save your money. Here is a dartboard and a dart and throw it. That’s how I would be too. There are too many components here.”
Michaels says he wouldn’t necessarily change anything with the league today and is fine with most aspects of it.
“I think it’s pretty good. There is nothing terribly wrong with the game, but everyone wants to find the warts and the pimples. You could make the replay process faster, but they are working on that. And obviously, make the game as safe as possible.”
For the detractors who say football is too violent, Michaels agrees, but with a caveat.
“This is a voluntary endeavor. Kids growing up playing football, love to play football. Everyone has to understand the risks. This is the compromise you have to make if you want to play football. You don’t want to do that, you go bowling.”
Michaels, whose contract is up with NBC at the end of the season, feels confident he will call games somewhere next season. He said he still has a passion and enthusiasm about the game especially when producer Fred Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff, who he has worked with for over two decades, are involved.
In his 36th year of calling NFL games in primetime, Michaels said he studies for his assignment for as many as 70 hours each week, researching and watching tape and still gets a buzz when he enters a stadium.
For now, Michaels will continue to work until Super Bowl 55 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, which is less than 10 miles from where he lives. And he makes it a point to continue to steer away from vegetables.
“Oh, hell no, and it’s too late to even start,” Michaels said when asked if he will ever try one. “My whole life’s been steak, lamb chops, chicken, fish, and that’s it.”
A fitting answer for a man who once, while having dinner in Green Bay with his Monday Night Football partner John Madden, ordered French onion soup ... without the onions.