When You Lose Al Michaels: We've Entered The Penalty Phase

NBC Sports has announced that legendary broadcaster Al Michaels will not be doing any NFL postseason games. No reasons were offered why the almost-octogenarian is getting shoved aside for lesser talents. 

Which is too bad because Michaels’ insouciance is a remedy for the erratic product of the NFL. His not-so-subtle references to the betting lines and player props defies the approved league standards on topics not to be discussed openly during games. 

He’s also been waging a guerrilla war against NFL officiating and the avalanche of penalty flags during games. See: the capricious call/ no call debate after last Sunday’s Kansas City loss to Buffalo thanks to an offside call. Showing insubordination doesn’t work for the suits in Manhattan and the video judges in New Jersey. 

Not that refereeing gaffes are exclusive to the NFL. Michaels isn’t the only high-profile broadcaster to wonder WTF about refereeing. In March my old friend Peter Mansbridge invited me on his SiriusXM podcast The Bridge to discuss whether refereeing is on the level. This after then-Raptors star Fred VanVleet was fined $30 K for criticizing NBA refs. 

Here— with an Al Michaels reference— is what we wrote after the podcast went to air. “Peter was wondering if the Raptors star had a legitimate beef with a league that has had gambling scandals with referees (hello Tim Donaghy). He’d also noted, as a season ticket holder in Toronto, that the NHL’s referees sometimes act as if they believe they are the reason the fans tune in. This sentiment gained credibility in 2021 when soon-to-be-former referee Tim Peel was caught on mic saying that, to balance a game, he wanted to give a penalty to Nashville regardless of no infraction.

We were unable to reassure Peter that this tension would resolve, as the influence of legal gambling has put results and the men who call them under ever-greater scrutiny. With the new massive revenues coming from casinos and online gambling advertising the leagues have an added imperative to guarantee the integrity of results by creating a surveillance state on refs and players.

The late pass-interference call against Philadelphia in the 2023 Super Bowl that swung tens (maybe) hundreds of millions in bets is indicative of the tightrope they now face. You take house money, you had better keep the house happy. Made worse when these calls are handled by part-time NFL referees or NHL refs who never face the media over their calls. 

Lamenting the officials’ work is an age-old issue. In an earlier time, the vagaries were put down to “puck luck” or “bad breaks”. With little recourse, coaches, GMs and players bit a lip and hoped next time they’d be the beneficiaries. The gripes increased as leagues began using referees to create more scoring or prevent  injuries, manipulating results. Fans noticed, and did not like it.

In December of 2018 we wrote, “It is a cliché in city planning that, adding roads to prevent congestion, in fact ends up in more cars and more congestion. IDLM was reminded of this seeming contradiction while watching another episode of Law & Order: NFL Crappy Refereeing. In this week’s episode, what was considered pass interference on Thursday is Saturday’s “let ‘em play”… Attempts to clarify what constitutes a catch open new vistas for opaqueness. Not a good look.

The reason for much of this confusion lies with the league’s attempt to prevent injuries by adding new rules to their rule book. As this (manipulation) has done to city streets, the additional nuance and subtext has only produced greater congestion in games. Endless referee conferences. Players dumbfounded. TV announcers criticizing. 

And still the bodies are broken, the injury lists groan with victims and the fans simmer in disappointment. As they like to say, Epic Fail… The NFL has long been lauded for its ability to gerrymander the rules of its sport to encourage scoring and more dynamic plays. The result, however, is a rule book that more resembles the IRS tax code than any sporting competition. 

“As Al Michaels laments, the flow of games is constantly interrupted by a scrum of referees huddling to divine which of the million NFL bylaws been breached. The (now Vegas) Raiders recently chalked up a record 23 (!) penalties accepted in a single game. As a result, games are unwatchable tedious. 

“On most occasions there is some foul detected. But the proliferation of penalties says that the game might be too difficult to play by the Spanish Inquisition standards of the rule book. Any game that has more than five flags per team is a problem the league needs to address. And don’t get us started about consistency from one officiating crew to the next.”

And that quote was from 2018. Multiply the additional rules and complexities inflicted upon referees by leagues. Add in the visibility created by gamblers parsing every minute trend for an advantage. Increase the number of cameras covering a game by ten. Then season with analytics. It’s a recipe for conspiracy theories. 

So, yes, Peter, the issues with refereeing have never been more prominent. But blame the leagues, not their employees, for making them worse.”  You could call Al Michaels, however, if you to want a friendly reception for your suspicions.

Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent.  https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5 

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.