Al Michaels out for NFL playoffs on NBC in move he wasn't expecting

[Punching Bag]

20 minutes ago, Dick_Cheney said:

The NFL season is scheduled largely in part by machine learning powered by the AWS cloud. Whatever the scheduling rules and year by year alignments are, they punch all that into the system and they get the NFL schedule.

 

Honestly would be curious to know more about how it works on a deeper level, and what manual human input it still utilizes.

I did this type of work for a client.  There is a set of basic rules (opponents for next year), things NFL does not want (i.e. no more than 3 away games in a row, conference battles in last 2 weeks, up to 5 prime time games, each team appearing on a network), things NFL wants (Superbowl winner playing early game), exceptions when stadiums are not available (i.e. conventions, concerts, etc) and this reduces millions of combinations to thousands. 

More rules, wants and exceptions are added until a set NFL schedulers look at and depending on number left process them again with changes requested.

 

Note: I use AWS at work and things do not always work as promised.

[Eastport bills]

Much respect for the incredible career covering over 50 years in all the professional sports. Now at 80, Michaels doesn’t bring the fire anymore and the he wines publicly about being given bad matchups. It’s time for Al to call it a career. I personally don’t think his heart is in it anymore.The pairing with Herbstreet has little chemistry and the ratings are low by NFL standards.

[djp14150]

1 hour ago, Limeaid said:

 

Many of the games looked better when scheduled by the AWS algorithm. 

Maybe NFL needs better parameters for the program.

AWS did not program the games.

 

the “national” games are set before the schedule is filled out.  Thr “ national” games sre those on nbc, espn, Amazon, 425 feature games, and thanksgiving/ Saturday games, as well as international games. Others are plugged in as blocks like you see weekends you might have 3 games in east/ central/ north at west team set for the same weekend….this isn’t the luck of computing.  They have a set of 120 team pairs they can choose from. 
 

the computational complexity makes it difficult to run programs to do.

 

[strive_for_five_guy]

On 12/13/2023 at 2:55 AM, chongli said:

 

Yeah, it was a weird call. Collinsworth seemed to enjoy it though. I actually thought it was hilarious:

 

 

I did not even remember Collinsworth was in the booth with those guys at one time.  Talk about three guys I cannot stand.

[PBF81]

At 79 he's lucky he's still doing anything at all in this way.  

 

 

[ExWNYer]

On 12/13/2023 at 10:03 AM, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

I figured you would say "We'll always have Lake Placid, Al..."

🤔

 

"DO YOU BELIEVE IN 'MIRACLE-EAR'?!!!"

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, Eastport bills said:

Much respect for the incredible career covering over 50 years in all the professional sports. Now at 80, Michaels doesn’t bring the fire anymore and the he wines publicly about being given bad matchups. It’s time for Al to call it a career. I personally don’t think his heart is in it anymore.The pairing with Herbstreet has little chemistry and the ratings are low by NFL standards.

 

Agreed. Al was great. But he has always fely like he is half assing it on Prime. Herbstreet is so low energy. The combo doesn't work. We all end up bored.

[chongli]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Agreed. Al was great. But he has always fely like he is half assing it on Prime. Herbstreet is so low energy. The combo doesn't work. We all end up bored.

 

3 hours ago, Eastport bills said:

Much respect for the incredible career covering over 50 years in all the professional sports. Now at 80, Michaels doesn’t bring the fire anymore and the he wines publicly about being given bad matchups. It’s time for Al to call it a career. I personally don’t think his heart is in it anymore.The pairing with Herbstreet has little chemistry and the ratings are low by NFL standards.

 

Well, I guess everyone has their own opinions. I try not to focus too much on the announcers. Mike Freeman, from USA Today, who wrote the article above, says they work well together:

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/mike-freeman/2023/12/29/amazon-prime-al-michaels-kirk-herbstreit/72053806007/

 

"Michaels has actually been a miracle for Amazon Prime. He meshes well with analyst Kirk Herbstreit who isn't flashy but his straightforward bluntness with little bombast is refreshing.

 

"Kirk has been wonderful to work with," said Michaels.

 

[...]

 

Also, Michaels' trademark cornball humor is still intact. During Thursday night's game, and after hearing fans making banging noises, Michaels said: " “Somebody’s pounding on that trash can. The Astros must be in town.”

 

He was of course referring to the Houston Astros' sign-stealing enterprise from their 2017 season.

 

After a few seconds, Michaels added: "I'm sorry. Don’t rip me."

 

I won't. It was funny."

 

 

[Draconator]

2 hours ago, chongli said:

Also, Michaels' trademark cornball humor is still intact. During Thursday night's game, and after hearing fans making banging noises, Michaels said: " “Somebody’s pounding on that trash can. The Astros must be in town.”

 

He was of course referring to the Houston Astros' sign-stealing enterprise from their 2017 season.

 

After a few seconds, Michaels added: "I'm sorry. Don’t rip me."

 

I won't. It was funny."

 

 

Astros can suck it

Al Michaels is a world class broadcaster

Edited December 30, 2023 by Draconator

[machine gun kelly]

On 12/12/2023 at 4:16 PM, eball said:

Sucks if they blindsided him with this, but I'll say he has really dropped off over the last couple of years.  Happens to the best of 'em and he's a legend at his craft.

 

Yep Edog.  He’s in the same ballpark as Frank Gifford, Dandy Don, John Madden, Pat Summerall and the great…

 

 

The legend that is Howard.

[May Day 10]

You would think we aren't that far off from being able to create an AI version of Madden and Summerall that is pretty dynamic and authentic sounding.  

[Solomon Grundy]

I heard Steve Tasker, yesterday, say that CBS let him go because he was "aged" out

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 hours ago, Draconator said:

Al Michaels is a world class broadcaster

And as far as we know, never wore his woman's underwear.

🤔

[Billsatlastin2018]

On 12/12/2023 at 8:31 PM, dpberr said:

Yay, more company man Mike Tirico...

Yep. Hasn’t that guy become the absolute Shield bootlicker?
He won’t take a stand on ANY game FUBAR!

 

As for Al, the time to head off the frozen tundra, is when you start whistling through your dental implants! That was years ago.

 

Did become waaaay more gambling edgy recently.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Billsatlastin2018

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

28 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

You would think we aren't that far off from being able to create an AI version of Madden and Summerall that is pretty dynamic and authentic sounding.  

All the Summerall AI has to say is "Amp Lee", and "OK, John."

[JESSEFEFFER]

9 hours ago, Eastport bills said:

Much respect for the incredible career covering over 50 years in all the professional sports. Now at 80, Michaels doesn’t bring the fire anymore and the he wines publicly about being given bad matchups. It’s time for Al to call it a career. I personally don’t think his heart is in it anymore.  The pairing with Herbstreet has little chemistry and the ratings are low by NFL standards.

For the last few years of Ryan Fitzpatrick's playing career, I kept making the point that he would be a great candidate for a network broadcast job if he wanted one.  His 9 city playing career, smarts and personality made him a uniquely qualified candidate to add to an NFL broadcast.  But, I was not thinking of a Harvard version of the Terry Bradshaw studio commentator role. I thought he could be a better version of Tony Romo.  Smarter, more fun, more league wide connections, more self aware, more energy.  I think the only thing Herbstreit brings to the role is that he has many more years of having done it, albeit in his unremarkable, lowkey style.

[WhoTom]

17 minutes ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

For the last few years of Ryan Fitzpatrick's playing career, I kept making the point that he would be a great candidate for a network broadcast job if he wanted one.  His 9 city playing career, smarts and personality made him a uniquely qualified candidate to add to an NFL broadcast.  But, I was not thinking of a Harvard version of the Terry Bradshaw studio commentator role. I thought he could be a better version of Tony Romo.  Smarter, more fun, more league wide connections, more self aware, more energy.

 

Agreed. I'd love to see Fitz as an analyst. I rarely watch the pre or post-game shows, so I don't really care who's in the studio.

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

For the last few years of Ryan Fitzpatrick's playing career, I kept making the point that he would be a great candidate for a network broadcast job if he wanted one.  His 9 city playing career, smarts and personality made him a uniquely qualified candidate to add to an NFL broadcast.  But, I was not thinking of a Harvard version of the Terry Bradshaw studio commentator role. I thought he could be a better version of Tony Romo.  Smarter, more fun, more league wide connections, more self aware, more energy.  I think the only thing Herbstreit brings to the role is that he has many more years of having done it, albeit in his unremarkable, lowkey style.

This well thought out reply immediately caused me to picture a mash-up of:

[Buffalo ill]

I didn't realize he is 79.  The dude looks great.

[TheFunPolice]

I for one will enjoy listening to Al Michaels, even if he's not the same as he once was. One day we won't be able to. 

 

There's a lot of bad announcing out there. 

 

soon Tom Brady will be a #1 guy calling games for Fox and doing the "old school football guy" routine 

[Bferra13]

6 hours ago, Buffalo ill said:

I didn't realize he is 79.  The dude looks great.

And never touched a vegetable in his life before!

[sullim4]

15 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

I heard Steve Tasker, yesterday, say that CBS let him go because he was "aged" out

I loved Steve Tasker as a player, but Steve Tasker the announcer could barely put together a coherent thought.

 

Mind you the Tiffany network has Greg Gumbel announcing games at 77, had Verne Lundquist until he was 81, and had Dick Enberg announcing until he was nearly 80.

[davefan66]

Don’t really care for any network commentators any more. Romo was probably the last guy I liked, but he doesn’t give his insight as well as he did when he started.

 

As far as Al.  Like I said before he had his one big call in the Olympics and has been nothing special since.  Just my opinion.

[Buffalo Ballin]

Al Michaels should be commentating for this playoffs. We understand if he's not there for next season.

 

 c'mon man.

[Chandler#81]

He’s 79 yet his Mom just died last year? Thats some serious genealogy!

[Chandler#81]

23 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Yep Edog.  He’s in the same ballpark as Frank Gifford, Dandy Don, John Madden, Pat Summerall and the great…

 

 

The legend that is Howard.

In 1970, when MNF 1st began, bars all over the nation would have a patron blast a television with a shotgun when Cosell would 1st appear on the broadcast. It/he was a phenomenon!

[FireChans]

On 12/29/2023 at 11:45 PM, GunnerBill said:

 

Agreed. Al was great. But he has always fely like he is half assing it on Prime. Herbstreet is so low energy. The combo doesn't work. We all end up bored.

Nothing was worse than Al and Dungy last year in the playoffs during the Jags comeback.

 

Not surprising that performance ended his postseason career. They were like CSPAN commentators. 

[GunnerBill]

18 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Nothing was worse than Al and Dungy last year in the playoffs during the Jags comeback.

 

Not surprising that performance ended his postseason career. They were like CSPAN commentators. 

 

Yea they sounded bored in an exciting game. I did a very small bit of local radio soccer commentary back in my journalism days and the bit if advice the old boy who had been doing it for years gave me before my first gig was "make sure your excitement level is appropriate to the moment and the game, nobody wants Crewe 1 Shrewsbury 0 to sound like it was a world cup final on the radio."

 

And it is the same the other way around. If you get a miraculous play off comeback don't sound like you are watching the Bills-Browns 6-3 game.

[uticaclub]

9 hours ago, sullim4 said:

I loved Steve Tasker as a player, but Steve Tasker the announcer could barely put together a coherent thought.

 

Mind you the Tiffany network has Greg Gumbel announcing games at 77, had Verne Lundquist until he was 81, and had Dick Enberg announcing until he was nearly 80.

Dick Enberg called Padre games until the end. Also Tasker was a sideline reporter, a job once reserved for former players now only filled by attractive women (not complaining, would rather look at Pam Oliver than Steve)

[chongli]

1 hour ago, uticaclub said:

Dick Enberg called Padre games until the end. Also Tasker was a sideline reporter, a job once reserved for former players now only filled by attractive women (not complaining, would rather look at Pam Oliver than Steve)

 

This is true! Evan Washburn, Tom Rinaldi, Shannon Spake, James Palmer, and Steve Wyche, who all were side-line reporters this year, actually underwent sex changed before the season! 😄

Edited December 31, 2023 by chongli

[Einstein]

24 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea they sounded bored in an exciting game. I did a very small bit of local radio soccer commentary back in my journalism days and the bit if advice the old boy who had been doing it for years gave me before my first gig was "make sure your excitement level is appropriate to the moment and the game, nobody wants Crewe 1 Shrewsbury 0 to sound like it was a world cup final on the radio."

 

And it is the same the other way around. If you get a miraculous play off comeback don't sound like you are watching the Bills-Browns 6-3 game.

When you have a chance, go back and listen to the last few minutes of Brady’s first Super Bowl.

It was an announcing nightmare.

 

We had Madden advising the Patriots to kneel out the game, with almost 2 minutes remaining, rather than drive 45 yards for a game winning field goal.

 

Then we had Summeral announcing the game winning field goal as if the Patriots just won their first preseason game.

 

Its hard to listen to in retrospect, but at the time I didn’t think anything of it.

[SoCal Deek]

6 minutes ago, Einstein said:

When you have a chance, go back and listen to the last few minutes of Brady’s first Super Bowl.

It was an announcing nightmare.

 

We had Madden advising the Patriots to kneel out the game, with almost 2 minutes remaining, rather than drive 45 yards for a game winning field goal.

 

Then we had Summeral announcing the game winning field goal as if the Patriots just won their first preseason game.

 

Its hard to listen to in retrospect, but at the time I didn’t think anything of it.

I forgot about Summeral. He became a sure fire afternoon nap near the end of his announcing career. (zzzzzz)  Happens to so many of these guys. 

[stuvian]

Some guys hang on a little too long. Can we put Terry Bradshaw out to pasture too?

[BRH]

11 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

I for one will enjoy listening to Al Michaels, even if he's not the same as he once was. One day we won't be able to. 

 

There's a lot of bad announcing out there. 

 

soon Tom Brady will be a #1 guy calling games for Fox and doing the "old school football guy" routine 

I kind of think the networks have already realized that Brady sucks on camera.  He tells stories that have no point and he thinks he’s hilarious.  He makes Joe Montana look good. 

[uticaclub]

1 hour ago, chongli said:

 

This is true! Evan Washburn, Tom Rinaldi, Shannon Spake, James Palmer, and Steve Wyche, who all were side-line reporters this year, actually underwent sex changed before the season! 😄

Shannon is a women & Tom always works with Erin Andrews. So sorry there are still 3 male sideline reports out of a possible 16

Edited December 31, 2023 by uticaclub

[chongli]

8 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

Shannon is a women & Tom always works with Erin Andrews. So sorry there are still 3 male sideline reports out of a possible 16

 

I stand corrected on Spake, but Rinaldi is an SLR; the fact he does reporting with Andrews does not diminish this. There are less male SLR's, but your original sratement said they were only female SLR's, which was not true.

Edited December 31, 2023 by chongli

[FireChans]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea they sounded bored in an exciting game. I did a very small bit of local radio soccer commentary back in my journalism days and the bit if advice the old boy who had been doing it for years gave me before my first gig was "make sure your excitement level is appropriate to the moment and the game, nobody wants Crewe 1 Shrewsbury 0 to sound like it was a world cup final on the radio."

 

And it is the same the other way around. If you get a miraculous play off comeback don't sound like you are watching the Bills-Browns 6-3 game.

I don’t think Al has it in him to call night games. He’s reached the age where travel + staying up late means he’s done with the game at 10 pm and there’s still an hr or two plus to go. 
 

Even the last TNF game, he sounded like he just wanted to get off the air and go to bed.

[TheFunPolice]

2 hours ago, BRH said:

I kind of think the networks have already realized that Brady sucks on camera.  He tells stories that have no point and he thinks he’s hilarious.  He makes Joe Montana look good. 

 

It's weird because now he's all about the defense getting robbed by bad calls which is hilarious.

 

 

[jlgarsh]

8 hours ago, davefan66 said:

Don’t really care for any network commentators any more. Romo was probably the last guy I liked, but he doesn’t give his insight as well as he did when he started.

 

As far as Al.  Like I said before he had his one big call in the Olympics and has been nothing special since.  Just my opinion.

CBS told him to dumb down his commentary.

[chongli]

4 hours ago, stuvian said:

Some guys hang on a little too long. Can we put Terry Bradshaw out to pasture too?