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1. Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Mason Crosby were the stars of Sunday Night Football last night in a thrilling 30–28 win over the Niners, but, as always, there was another star on SNF.
Play-by-play man Al Michaels was as on top of his game as ever calling the wild Green Back comeback. Al’s voice has a big-game feel. Al’s work enhances a big game. And it was all on display last night.
Here are just two examples of his outstanding calls late in the game.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1442329527556870144?s=20
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1442330252236111873?s=20
Watching the game last night and listening to Michaels, I couldn’t help but think about the news that Andrew Marchand broke last week. According to Marchand, Michaels will end up calling Thursday Night Football on Amazon next and Mike Tirico will take over for Al on Sunday Night Football.
This has nothing to do with Tirico because he is great, but I don’t understand this move on any level.
NBC could have Tirico, Jim Nantz, Joe Buck, Ian Eagle or any other top-level play-by-play person waiting in the wings and it would still make no sense that Michaels would be pushed aside.
I went in depth with Marchand on this subject during last week’s SI Media Podcast and still haven’t heard a legitimate reason why Al is being pushed out.
If anyone has a reason, I’d love to hear it. I’m dead-serious. Email me, send me a tweet, message me on Instagram, whatever. I’d love to find out why his move is being made.
Here’s what the truth is: There is absolutely no reason—none, zero, zilch—that Al Michaels should not be the person calling Sunday Night Football.
The ugly truth is that there is only one possible reason people could give: Al’s age.
Unless someone can give me a sound reason why Al Michaels is going to lose his job, I have to believe it’s solely because he’s turning 77 years old in November.
And that sucks.
2. Whether you’ve listened to Gus Johnson lose his mind on the Jaguars’ 109-yard field-goal return touchdown zero times, one time, five times or 20 times, you should listen again.
As I said to Marchand last week on the SI Media Podcast, Gus Johnson was made to call the NFL.
3. The legendary David Letterman showed up to the Nets’ media day today and asked Kevin Durant some hilarious questions.
4. Surprisingly, the Lions’ radio call of Justin Tucker’s game-winning 66-yard field goal wasn’t filled with as much pain and anguish as you’d think. The Ravens’ radio booth had the appropriate amount of insanity going on.
5. And so begins a week filled with Tom Brady vs. the Patriots hype.
6. In addition to Andrew Marchand, as referenced in Item No. 1 today, AEW wrestler Bryan Danielson, formally known as Daniel Bryan, was also on last week’s SI Media Podcast.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: HBO has been rerunning The Sopranos in anticipation of the prequel movie coming out Oct. 1. On Saturday, I was flipping the channel and caught my all-time favorite murder during the show’s run.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.
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