Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth will do their customary prep work for NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVI in the two weeks leading up to the NFL’s title game – it’s the 11th for Michaels as the play-by-play man and the fifth for the former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver in the booth.
But when separately speaking to For The Win ahead of the big game in Los Angeles – fun fact, the first Collinsworth will call without Tom Brady on the field – the two broadcast vets both independently cited the same quote they remember from the late John Madden, who died last December at the age of 85 and who was Michaels’ broadcast partner for seven years.
The advice, basically: Let the game come to you.
“You’re prepared, you have all these stories ready to go, and then a game breaks out,” Michaels remembers hearing from Madden.
“That’s never more relevant than it is in a Super Bowl,” he reflected.
Collinsworth said he used to ask Madden for advice and would be turned down, with the ex-Raiders coach telling Collinsworth that he was doing great on the air. But when the legend finally relented, he told Collinsworth the same thing about going with the flow: “Don’t let your prep work decide what you’re going to say.”
Perhaps that’s what makes the NBC duo that normally welcomes fans to Sunday Night Football such a success. They’re obviously as prepared as any broadcasters for games, but their chemistry comes from the moments they let loose and allow the action on the field to dictate where they go when, as Madden said, “a game breaks out.”
And there’s one thing they share in common that contributes to that atmosphere.
“The great thing about both of these partners is I could go anywhere with them and know they’re ready,” Michaels said. “I had seven years with [Madden], 13 with Cris. That’s 20 years. I hit the lottery.”
The secret, aside from their close friendship forged from those 13 spent years together, which has included dinners the night before games to get away from all that football prep work? Collinsworth has a theory about the legendary Michaels.
“Al, more than any broadcaster I’ve ever worked with, has a little bit of … he calls it ‘the rascal,’” Collinsworth said. “He likes to have a little fun, be a little cute. It keeps you on your toes, it makes it fun.”
Listening to Al Michaels brings me so much joy. He just referenced this as a “don’t touch that dial” game. Also described Bruce Arians’ communication pack as a “Rube Goldberg” device. 80’s baby!
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) January 23, 2022
Both Michaels and Collinsworth cited a reference that the play-by-play announcer made while broadcasting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs last month. Michaels pointed out Bucs coach Bruce Arians’ bulky radio unit, which is strapped to his chest, and compared it to a Rube Goldberg machine.
Collinsworth had no idea who Michaels was talking about, which Michaels later said is the first time in 13 years that he’s made a reference that Collinsworth didn’t get.
“Everybody on the planet knew who Rube Goldberg was, but I didn’t,” Collinsworth said with a laugh. “I was just going to let it go, but he’ll say, ‘Well, you do know who Rube is.’”
“For the rest of the game and in every commercial break, my phone is getting bombarded with Rube Goldberg. I showed it to Al,” he continued. “It’s really like being two kids and the teacher can’t see you, and you can make whatever faces you want to make at the teacher. It’s kind of how we live our lives up there, whether for the Super Bowl or a preseason game.”
One more step closer to normal: The Collinsworth Slide returns! pic.twitter.com/ATTWsutrzW
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 10, 2021
That fun includes the viral sensation that’s become known as The Collinsworth Slide. Every NBC NFL broadcast begins with a tight shot on Michaels, who welcomes viewers in and then brings in Collinsworth, who’s just off-camera, usually to Michaels’ left shoulder.
Collinsworth usually slides in next to his partner, and – in recent years – Twitter celebrates week to week, to the point where he hears about it if it’s not up to the standards fans have come to expect.
“My wife told me I let everyone down the other day. She said that I was too serious, that I bit my lip too hard,” he said. “It wasn’t my best slide, so I’m going to work on it.”
A loose atmosphere, experience and humor in the booth. Seems like a perfect recipe for keeping an audience engaged and entertained no matter what the game is. But there’s still the fact that it’s the biggest game of them all. How do you not think about the enormous audience that’s tuning in? Michaels recalled being asked about whether he gets nervous and came up with a good point.
“We live in a country of 330 million people,” he said. “One-hundred million are watching, but 230 million are not!”
