Al Michaels

By Tom Kirvan

It is a line etched in Olympic lore. It was uttered on the fly by sportscaster Al Michaels, who in 1980 became a household name with his description of a stunning U.S. win over a heavily favored Soviet Union hockey squad in the medal-round game of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“Do you believe in miracles? Yes!,” shouted Michaels as U.S. players streamed onto the ice in celebration of an improbable 4-3 victory over the mighty Soviets, a team that had pounded the American squad 10-3 less than a month earlier.

Due principally to Michaels’ epic call, the monumental upset during the heart of the Cold War became known as “The Miracle on Ice,” a true-life story retold in movie form in “Miracle,” a hit film starring Kurt Russell as U.S. coach Herb Brooks.

Al Michaels*

Michaels, who was born in Brooklyn on November 12, 1944, remains forever linked with the call that ranks as the best of the best by a play-by-play man.

“I consider it to be one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven (in my broadcasting career), and the next thing would be about number eight,” said Michaels, an alumnus of Arizona State University who was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2013. “I think the way it happened, how it happened, and what it meant to this country, it was just unbelievably special.”

Michaels began his sports career calling games for the Cincinnati Reds, a gig that helped propel him to work in ABC’s coverage of the national pastime. While covering Game 3 of the 1989 World Series at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, Michaels was forced into improv mode when the Bay Area was rocked by an earthquake of 6.9 magnitude on the Richter Scale.

“Well, folks, that’s the greatest open in the history of television, bar none,” Michaels said with his characteristic quick wit.

Three years earlier in 1986, Michaels began a 20-year run as the play-by-play announcer on “Monday Night Football.” He joined NBC in 2006 as the voice of “Sunday Night Football” and now is paired with Kirk Herbstreit for “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime Video.

His national profile has given him the license to be quotable:

“It’s the bane of both the news and sports businesses, both electronic and print – ‘You heard it here first.’ Who cares? That’s nothing but a vanity play. If it’s not right, it’s garbage.”
“People didn’t know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline.”
“There are some things in life where it's better to receive than to give, and massage is one of them.”
“I always believe in miracles.”