Al Michaels sounds off against people asking him to ‘sell this crap’

Al Michaels is one of the most storied sportscaster there is, with the current Amazon play-by-play caller currently sitting at his new home following two giant stints with ABC Sports and NBC Sports. And he wants you to know that he's always going to keep it real.

In his recent appearance at the Pat McAfee Show, the caster was asked about a perceived lack of enthusiasm during the games he called in Amazon Prime's Thursday Night Football in 2022. Michaels, however, made it clear that the problem was not in him, but in the games:

“I thought a lot of people didn’t understand what was going on. I have a great feel I think since as a six-year-old, watching games, being a fan, I can feel where a game is. And I’m not going to oversell a game to you. That’s wrong. I can’t come on the air yelling, holleringnand screaming. Where do you go from there? And people expect me to be in rhythm with the game.

“I’ve had a lot of talks with Jim Nantz and Joe Buck and my brother about this too. Where is the game? I’ve always said, in a way, the game is a melody and you provide the lyrics. And if the lyrics don’t match the melody, it sounds cacophonous. It sounds like, ‘What? What is that?’ The great thing is as a fan, I can feel where the game is. I can feel what the fan feels. And I’m just trying to stay in sync with that and reflect that.”

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He continued:

“It’s just a matter of, a lot of the games we had weren’t very good, so if I didn’t sound excited…If I sounded too excited, people would go, 'Oh, he’s just trying to sell this crap.’ No! Can’t do that and I won’t do that. I think that’s been my M.O. for almost four decades now.”

What is the salary of Al Michaels on Amazon?

In his three-year contract to broadcast Thursday Night Football games, Michaels earns $15 million per year. He has been on the business for more than 50 years and his voice is one of the most iconic in the American television.

Before that, he was a part of the Sunday Night Football broadcast crew from 2006 to 2021.

About the author

Henrique Bulio is an NFL and College Football journalist at Sportskeeda and the Editor-in-Chief of Pro Football Brasil. He has a total 13 years of experience working in American Football, and playing quarterback at an amateur level in Brazil has given him a unique perspective of the game.

Henrique follows the Philadelphia Eagles closely due to Michael Vick's historic performance on MNF against the Washington Commanders in 2010. His all-time favorite player is Ed Reed; he believes that Reed is the greatest safety to ever play the game. Bill Belichick gets the nod as Henrique's favorite coach for coaching the Patriots to glory over two decades.

If Henrique were to be able to go back in time and watch one game, it would be Super Bowl XLIX, where the Patriots and the Seahawks played a complete, back-and-forth game that concluded with one of the biggest talking points in NFL history.

Technical deep dives are Henrique’s specialty, and he ensures never to use misleading words in his articles, since he himself consumes a lot of information off the web. He has had the privilege of interviewing Cairo Santos, Lamar Jackson, Jim Harbaugh, Sean McDermott, Bruce Arians, Matt LaFleur, among others.

Aside from football, Henrique likes to play poker and Counter-Strike.

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Edited by Rajdeep Barman