1. Al Michaels certainly sounded like a man who will probably call it a career after this season during Thursday night’s Vikings-Chargers game, because he was in full Don't Give a Blank mode.

Michaels, who currently is on a year-to-year contract basis with Amazon Prime Video, has always slyly referenced point spreads and over/unders throughout his illustrious career when they are in play at the end of the game, but he was really leaning into on Thursday when the total was 45 points and the game sat at 34–10 with two minutes left and the Chargers driving. Of course, this was all the more amusing given the big news events of Thursday.

What was even more eye-raising, though, was Michaels basically letting everyone know that the NFL was forcing him to make a ridiculous on-air correction during the game.

Michaels had referenced Vikings kicker Will Reichard’s field goal attempt hitting a camera wire during Minnesota’s game against Cleveland in London a few weeks ago.

Apparently, the league is VERY sensitive about anyone thinking Reichard’s kick hit a camera wire, because the NFL ordered Michaels to let the audience know the cable was not hit and it was just an optical illusion.

How do we know the league forced Michaels to change the story? BECAUSE MICHAELS TOLD US!

But what stands out here is how Michaels issued the correction and the tone of his voice during the correction. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that Michaels was saying, "Can you believe I have to deal with this bull---t"

2. Ratings are in for the NBA’s opening night on NBC.

The Rockets-Thunder double-overtime thriller drew 5.9 million viewers, while the Lakers-Warriors nightcap pulled in 5.1 million viewers.

This was the most-watched opening night since 2010. There are two caveats, however. Opening night has aired on TNT in recent years, so you’re always going to have a higher rating when you move from cable to an over-the-air network. In addition, ratings for everything in sports across the board are up big because Nielsen is now using a different system to measure viewership.

The 5.1 million, though, for a game that started at 11 p.m. ET, is impressive no matter the caveats.

3. In Thursday’s Traina Thoughts, I wrote about how Inside the NBA, now on ESPN, was just the same as it always was on TNT.

I have discovered one issue, though, with the network change. When Inside the NBA aired on TNT, all of their clips would live under the “NBA on TNT” Twitter/X account. However, now that the show is on ESPN, there isn’t one feed dedicated to the show. If anyone from ESPN is reading this, please create separate social media accounts for the show so we know where to go to watch clips. Thank you.

I was able to track down this clip, though, from Thursday’s show where the guys played, “Who He Play For?” which is always a good time.

4. If you have YouTubeTV, do not worry about this. They will come to a deal with ESPN and will not go dark despite the fighting both companies do on social media.

5. Apparently, it was all right there for a couple of years.

6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with Fox’s Greg Olsen.

The NFL analyst talks about what it’s like to work with a different partner for a few weeks during the season (while Joe Davis calls the MLB playoffs), what he tries to do differently than other analysts and whether a full-time international schedule would appeal to him as a way to get a lead analyst job.

In addition, Olsen explains why he doesn’t want the Tush Push banned, why he thinks we’re going to see fewer and fewer field goal attempts in the NFL, whether coaches have adjusted to the new NFL where comebacks are so easy to pull off and much more.

Following Olsen, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss New York football controversies, the World Series, the return of the NBA on NBC, my favorite bet and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: As soon as I saw this line in CNN’s report about Chauncey Billups:

“The investigation involved two major operations. One centered on the use of insider information to place bets on various NBA games and another revolving around underground poker games, where ‘high-tech cheating technology’ was used to steal millions from victims.”

I could only think of one thing.

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 Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Al Michaels Was Not Holding Back on Thursday Night.

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