Al Michaels is probably best known to current sports fans as the voice of ABC’s “Monday Night Football,” NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football.” Yet during a legendary career in sports broadcasting, Michaels has called virtually every sport that’s been contested during his nearly 60 years at the mic.
That includes the medal round ice hockey match at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York between the United States and the Soviet Union.
This Saturday, Feb. 22, is the 45th anniversary of Team USA’s improbable “Miracle on Ice” 4-3 upset victory and Michaels is still best known to past generations of fans for his iconic call during the game’s final seconds, “Do you believe in miracles? YES!”
Amazingly, as Michaels explained on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Friday, the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” was only the second hockey game he had ever called. A big reason he got the assignment is because no one else at ABC had ever called a hockey game before. Howard Cosell and Jim McKay weren’t going to do it, nor were Frank Gifford or Bob Beattie.
“You know, it’s funny because I really wanted speed skating,” Michaels revealed to Eisen. “Because Eric Heiden was going to be the big story of those Olympics and clearly would have been. He was expected to win five gold medals and he won five gold medals. But they gave that to Keith Jackson.”
“When I got hockey, I wasn’t disappointed because among other things, if you’re doing a Winter Olympic sport, isn’t it better to be inside than outside?” he added. “When I did the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan — that’s where I did that one hockey game — among the other events I covered was the Biathlon at 10 below on the island of Hokkaido. So getting that assignment was pretty good.”
Michaels acknowledged that getting to do the USA-Soviet Union game was the most iconic moment of his sportscasting career, even with 45 years of work to follow. Does anyone remember Jim McKay’s call of figure skating from the 1980 Olympics? Or Frank Gifford on downhill skiing?
“Nothing will ever beat that,” Michaels said. “People say, ‘What’s your favorite?’ and I go ‘Really?’ I mean, I got a top five, but this is one, two, three, four and then number two is number five. Nothing can beat this.”
Eisen then reminded the audience that Team USA’s victory over the Soviets was not for the gold medal. The Americans still had to defeat Finland to win the tournament and Michaels punctuated the win with another great call, “This impossible dream comes true!”
Michaels also pointed out that the game was played at 5 p.m. ET and ran on tape delay in prime time. Had USA-Russia been played outside of prime time nowadays, fewer likely would have tuned in for the ABC broadcast and Michaels’ call would have already been all over social media, robbing viewers of so much drama and joy.
“Within a second and a half, Tik Tok has it or X has it or wherever it is has it,” said Michaels. “In those years, it’s like we’re working with an orange juice can and a string, right? It’s a different animal.”
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Another fascinating footnote to the “Miracle on Ice” broadcast, courtesy of Michaels, is that ABC had he and analyst Ken Dryden stay for the other semifinal game between Sweden and Finland. They called that game on tape, to be played if any technical difficulties had occurred for the USA-Soviet Union prime time broadcast.
“Think about how ridiculous that was,” Michaels said. “So Ken and I now had to do Sweden-Finland in a game that went to nobody and no place.”
Thankfully for U.S. sports and broadcasting history, there were no technical difficulties and generations can continue to listen to Michaels’ unforgettable call.
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