In the first of two parts, NBC sportscaster Al Michaels, who has called 10 Super Bowls, numerous World Series, and will be forever known for his “Miracle on Ice” call, joins Ken for an in depth discussion. In Part 1 Al talks about his baseball career, covering an earthquake, working for the Dating Game, MNF, and moving from ABC to NBC. You don’t have to love sports to love Al Michaels.
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As mentioned here, Marty Brenneman succeeded Michaels as the Cincinnati Reds radio play-by-play announcer and is retiring after 45 years in that role at the end of this season.
ReplyDeleteThe first broadcast Brenneman did for the Reds on April 4, 1974 had Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves tie Babe Ruth's all-time home run record by hitting #714 on opening day at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
Brenneman's call is on the Internet.
Aaron broke Ruth's record on April 8 in Atlanta.
Haven't read his book- so I was unaware that he worked in Hawaii in the late 60's early 70's. I see he did a Hawaii Five-O episode, and that he had to recreate Hawaii Islander road games in a studio. I also wonder how his wife reacted when he told her they were moving to Cincinnati. Not that Cincinnati isn't a nice place, but...
ReplyDeleteI have always admired Al Michaels as a terrific sportscaster. I could even forgive the interviews he used to do on Tony Kornheiser's show, because I cared far more about his talent than his politics.
ReplyDeleteBut I will confess to something that has always bothered me about Michaels. He used to say baseball was his favorite sport. So, Dick Enberg worked it out to return to local baseball coverage at the end of his career. Bob Costas was devoting almost full-time to MLB Network even before he and NBC had their unhappy parting of the ways. It isn't as though Michaels has (or had) a lot of assignments during baseball season. He couldn't find a way to do some games?
Can't wait to listen!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the treat.
ReplyDeleteFriday question: Passover starts tomorrow night, and I'm reading "From Shtetl to Stardom, Jews and Hollywood." Your partner David Isaacs contributed a wonderful chapter called "Comedy and Corned Beef: The Genesis of the Sitcom Writing Room." Do you still hold the Comedy Seder he describes? Can I get tickets?
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful holiday.
Really enjoyed the first part of the interview, Ken. Looking forward to Part 2.
ReplyDeleteI love Al but I will always remember him and the prank caller during the OJ debacle. Janice B.
ReplyDeleteReally nice interview. I've seen a number of interviews of Al Michaels but still learned a lot from this one.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview. I really enjoyed it. I remember the Hawaii Islanders. I would watch the Tacoma Cubs on Channel 11 and they would play them in the early 70s. That had to be a tough schedule for the team to half to fly to every away game. I also remember the Spokane Indians, who were long a farm club for the Dodgers.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview, Ken... hope part two includes some insight on Al's sneaky gambling references!
ReplyDeleteI'm always fascinated by going back and watching the coverage of the Loma Preita earthquake, for all sorts of dorky reasons I won't bore you with. But it's also interesting to listen to the CBS Radio pregame show. They were in a taped bit when the quake struck, but when they came back live, Jack Buck laughed as he described Johnny Bench diving out of the pressbox. Jack said, "If he moved that fast on the field, he'd never hit into a double play."
ReplyDeleteI misspelled Marty Brennaman's name above. My apologies.
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