Fans linked arms around Al Michaels as the season-long slander he received continued during the NFL Wild Card weekend.
On Saturday night, the 80-year-old called the Baltimore Ravens‘ game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Amazon Prime with Kirk Herbstreit.
Routinely, fans flooded social media with comments about his commentary. Much of the backlash was aimed toward the lack of enthusiasm and energy in his calls.
As the negativity flowed in on comment sections, other fans complemented Michaels’ body of work throughout his legendary career. However, they still alluded to his retirement while pointing out other factors working against his favor.
‘Al Michaels is a legend. Great voice,’ one user pointed out. ‘But it’s over. Keeping him on whatever-night football is looking more and more like elder abuse.’
‘I think Al Michaels is still a pretty good broadcaster and I like Herbstreit too but they’re not great together,’ another added. ‘Kirk is too low key and even keeled to complement an older Al Michaels who can occasionally phone it in. Collinsworth is excitable so they were a better duo.’
Fans rallied around Al Michaels as the backlash he’s faced all season continued on Saturday
Michaels called the Steelers-Ravens Wild Card game alongside Kirk Hebrstreit on Amazon
‘I love Al Michaels but it may be time to hang ‘em up,’ a third suggested.
‘Al Michaels is hilarious. Can’t be bothered to show any excitement on this call,’ a fourth user chimed in.
‘I see people shitting on Al Michaels as an announcer, saying he’s too old, Motherf***er he does just fine and he brings us meme worthy s*** too,’ a fifth wrote.
Throughout his tenure with Amazon Prime Video, fans had accused Michaels of sounding bored and uninterested on the call.
After 15 years at NBC, the 80-year-old inked a deal with Amazon Prime to cover their Thursday Night Football games with Herbsreit.
In December, The Athletic reported that Amazon Prime expects to keep Michaels on board until his contract expires at the end of the season.
Andrew Marchand also noted that Michael is taking his new deal on a ‘year-by-year’ basis moving forward.
Michaels has called 11 Super Bowls, countless NFL prime-time games, and iconic MLB and NHL moments throughout his legendary career.
He is also best known for his ‘Do you believe in miracles?’ call during the waning moments of Team USA’s miraculous upset over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
