When ABC “traded” Al Michaels to NBC this off-season to be their number one play-by-play announcer for their new Sunday night NFL football package, it became clear that he is still perceived to be the best play-by-play announcer in the business. However, is that perception still a reality?

Michaels began his career back in 1986 on ABC’s Monday Night Football, where he remained until switching to NBC for the 2006 season. While at ABC, Michaels was part of several broadcast teams including the likes of Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford, Boomer Esiason, Dennis Miller and Dan Fouts, and most recently John Madden. Despite the frequent changes, Michaels always remained because of his innate ability to convey an array of information to the casual viewer.

With NBC’s recent signing of Michaels and John Madden to man their Sunday Night NFL booth, it shows that Michaels is still the most sought after announcer in the business. NBC decided to woo Michaels over Fox and CBS lead play-by-play announcers Joe Buck and Jim Nantz respectively, as well as veterans Dick Enberg and Mike Patrick, and newcomers Kevin Harlan and Gus Johnson..

The amazing thing about Michaels (and probably the reason why NBC chose him) is that he is nearly flawless. He rarely misses a call, is always up to date with the latest news, knows the rules, and adds just enough humor. His only real “flaw” may be his desire to mix in references to the point spread and over/under of games despite the fact that the NFL would rather he not.

Of those mentioned above, Buck, Harlan and Johnson have talent but are still too raw, while Enberg is on the tail end of his career. Both Jim Nantz and Mike Patrick can certainly make their cases as the best play-by-play announcer in the sport.

Nantz (paired with Phil Simms) likely was not targeted because of his value to CBS as a college basketball announcer. I doubt that CBS would likely let him go, at least not without a fight. Michaels on the other hand, did not have an NFL job with ABC after MNF moved to ESPN. His only job on ABC was with the NBA, something he wasn’t particularly good at.

With Sunday Night Football moving to NBC, Mike Patrick was left out of the NFL, which is an absolute travesty. Patrick, who will now work College Football for ESPN, handled the ESPN Sunday Night booth with Joe Theisman and Paul Maguire with phenomenal skill. Theisman and Maguire would often engage in pointless arguments and make erroneous statements, and Patrick was able to pull it all together into a somewhat presentable booth. His abilities were most recognizable when he missed time in the 2004 season and was replaced by Pat Summerall for a few games. Those broadcasts were absolutely unwatchable. It is likely that he wasn’t considered for the NBC job because he didn’t come packaged with a respectable partner (like Michaels does with Madden) and because he doesn’t have the name recognition of Michaels. Both reasons are understandable, but make no mistake his skills are on par with Michaels.

In an industry with remarkable turnover and constant competition, Michaels has remained at the top of his field for nearly twenty years, as evidenced by his new deal with NBC. This is a testament to his dedication and work ethic in an extremely difficult and demanding industry.

Disagree? Make your opinion heard! Rate and review sports announcers at Announcers.SportsLizard.com.

Adam McFarland owns the SportsLizard.com Network – a network of sports sites including collectibles, movies, books, video games, and more.

SportsLizard.com recently won honorable mention in the Microsoft Start Something Amazing Awards and was featured in the February 2006 issue of Tuff Stuff Magazine.

Well it certainly wasn’t one of the best played Super Bowl games of all time. Key penalties, sloppy play and astounding turnovers marred the annual event. Seattle QB Matt Hasselbeck put up far better numbers (26-of-49 for 273 yards) than counterpart Ben Roethlisberger (9-of-21, 123 yards, no TDs, two INTs), who finally looked like a 23-year old after a brilliant postseason run. But it was Big Ben’s team that got the win — and the money — in a convincing 21-10 victory.

Look at it this way: The Steelers played about as bad as they could play, with dropped passes, two interceptions from their quarterback, and even lost the turnover battle 2-to-1. Yet, despite all that, they still won the game by double digits. This is a well coached team with a truly superb defense under imaginative coordinator Dick LeBeau. Once they got the lead, their run defense and zone blitzes played havoc with Seattle, just as they had the last three games with the Bengals, Colts and Broncos.

Seattle had close to 400 total yards, but in the end all they could muster was 10 points. Like the Eagles last season, the underdog Seahawks had countless first half opportunities and great field position to put some pressure on the Steelers. They could have been up 10-0 or even 14-0, but failed to capitalize. And in the blink of an eye, it was 7-3 Pittsburgh at the half. You knew the Steelers wouldn’t play that badly in the second half, so Seattle kind of missed their opportunity. From then on they played a desperate game of catch-up, especially after Willie Parker’s electrifying TD run made it 14-3 Pittsburgh. The Steelers are not a team that you want to play catch up on.

The Pittsburgh coaching staff has pulled out trick plays all during the playoffs, and Antwaan Randle El’s 43-yard TD pass to Hines Ward clinched Pittsburgh’s 21-10 victory. Congratulations to Bill Cowher, too, one of the best coaches in the NFL for a long time. It was nice to see a guy pay his dues and get a ring. He, and the Steel City, deserve it.

Now that football season is behind us, it’s time to delve deep into both college and pro basketball. Here are some statistical tidbits to chew on in college basketball. Georgetown is 8-1 SU, 5-3 ATS at home as it makes some noise with a dynamite offense. Injury-plagued Cincinnati may have won 11 of its first 14 home games, but they have been money-burners at 3-8 ATS.

Understand that some teams are worth a look at over or under the total for significant reasons. Louisville started 13-3 under the total largely because of injuries and a young offense. However, they just got Taquan Dean back, so perhaps the offense might begin to improve. But coach Rick Pitino has admitted all season that they are very young, which explains why they’ve been overvalued at 5-13 ATS.

A couple of teams continue to be strong plays under the total because they play a brilliant, choking, slow down defense. Southern Illinois of the Missouri Valley Conference is 15-8 under the total. They had a recent stretch going 12 straight games under the total! This team takes great pride in shutting down opponents, and notice they are 9-1 under the total at home. Northwestern, too, plays a slow down style allowing 59 ppg. The Wildcats are 11-5 under the total.

In addition, as conference play heats up, we are approaching tournament time. Over the next few weeks you will find many teams having bad seasons that just don’t care anymore. Here are some money-burners to chew on that may be packing it in: James Madison is a poor 2-9 SU, 3-7 ATS at home, St. Bonnie is 1-8 SU, 3-9 ATS on the road allowing 80 ppg, Western Michigan is 2-8 SU, 3-7 ATS on the road. And Utah continues to be overvalued based on its long reputation as a great program under Rick Majerus. Rick is long gone and the Utes are a poor 2-7 SU/ATS on the road, though they did cover at home last night for us. Good luck as always…Al McMordie.

Al McMordie is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Al_McMordie.htm.

October 3, 2005

Considering the mass popularity he has and the pressure that comes from it, it is hard not to be impressed with the way he has performed. The expectations we expected from Yao were way too high; his stats were gargantuan when he played in the Chinese league. I guess people imagined what Shaq would be like if he was 7’6, and how Yao should have an advantage over everyone.



Let’s look at some of the other 7’5 or higher NBA centers. Manute Bol at 7’7 was a great shot blocker (so was everyone else), but has been known lately for his stupid, zany shenanigans. Shawn Bradley at 7’6 simply is terrible; a field mouse could knock him down. Gourghe Muresan at 7’7 was a one-time all-star, but like Shawn Bradley was skinnier than most pencils, and became injured as well. In comparison, Yao is far and away better than any of the giants that played the game before him.



Yao Ming has the ability of some of the less tall 7-foot centers of the NBA’s past: Zydrunas Illgauskis, Arvydas Sabonis and Rick Smits. But the bottom line is that Yao can’t create his own shot the way those guys can. He averages 19 points and 9 rebounds a game, which are easily all-star status. However, Yao Ming averaged over 30 points and 20 rebounds a game in the pro-China basketball league, which in the NBA would set all kinds of records. So in comparison, he’s not great. But he’s better than Pervis Ellison.



But I am super-critical with his stats, because anyone with that size and talent should have better numbers. When you are the tallest person in the NBA you have to grab 13 rebounds a game. Charles Barkley got 14 rebounds a game, and he was only 6’6, a full foot smaller than Yao.



Ming doesn’t seem to assert himself in the action and become excited for a game, unless he plays Shaq. Superstars attempt more than 12 shots a game. And 2 blocked shots a game from a guy with a height advantage over everyone isn’t as productive as he should be. With a little more intensity, he could be the first Houston center since Hakeem Olajuwon to win the NBA title.

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