 Ronn Torossian |
The New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, and so is announcer Al Michaels. While Brady and company will be competing for their sixth ring, Michaels will be calling his tenth Super Bowl in a big game broadcast career that began 30 years ago.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Michaels said he was excited to call another game on the biggest stage in sports. “It’s every bit as exciting and even more so in a way … As you get older and you get the opportunities to do these events, you probably savor it more …”
At 73, Michaels says he’s in no mood to consider retirement. He’s seen incredible success calling “Sunday Night Football,” which remains TVs highest-rated program seven years running, even though the NFL as a whole had what was, for them, a down year. As he has all year, Michaels will be joined in the broadcast booth by former NFL star and longtime broadcaster, Cris Collinsworth.
The pair makes a solid and entertaining duo for football fans, and it’s clear Michaels is having too much fun to consider hanging it up. When asked how much longer he plans to go, Michaels quotes former Buffalo Bills coach, Marv Levy, who recommended no one ever consider retirement.
“If you think about retiring, you’ve already retired … That rings in my ears. I have a great amount of passion for what I do, I love what I do … I work with the greatest people I’ve ever worked with in this business top to bottom … I love walking into a stadium … I love sports …”
And it’s clear that sports loves Michaels back. He’s had, without doubt, an incredible career in sports broadcasting, having called multiple World Series matchups, as well as many Olympic Games and, as previously mentioned, nine previous Super Bowl games.
Of those Super Bowls, Michaels has certainly called some stellar matchups. He had the historic game back in ’87 when Doug Williams helped the Redskins whip the Denver Broncos. Then there were Eli Manning’s two comeback drives in an epic duel with Brady, the Steelers defense stealing the game away from Arizona, and Buffalo coming up a kick short, losing to the Giants by one point in what was, easily, one of the most nail-biting games in Super Bowl history.
Rewind back to all of those and others, and there’s Michaels, calling it quick, crisp and very, very well. Will the Eagles and the Patriots give him another instant classic to call? We won’t know that until the game is played. But there’s one thing we can be sure of: Michaels will once again show everyone who comes after him how it’s done.
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Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, and one of America’s leading PR firm owners.
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