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Traina Thoughts: Al Michaels Now Mentioning Actual Betting Lines and It's Wonderful

NBC's Al Michaels told viewers outright that the Bengals-Chiefs over/under was 56 points.

Jimmy Traina

Golf Channel

1. Al Michaels is a pioneer. Al Michaels is a hero. Al Michaels is a champion of the people.

The legendary NBC play-by-play man has always coyly and slyly referenced point spreads throughout his career while calling NFL games. Who can forget his "that was OVERwhelming" call a couple of years ago?

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But Sunday night, Michaels wasn't playing games or getting cute. He flat out mentioned that viewers still tuned into Bengals-Chiefs for the final seconds were waiting to see if the game would go over the 56.5. Yes, he mentioned the actual number—something that I can't recall happening yet on an NFL telecast. 

What's interesting about this is that from everything I've heard, networks were clearly told by the NFL this season not to mention gambling and point spreads during games even though sports betting is now legal in several states.

Al Michaels though, is 73 years old and isn't going to be intimidated by Roger Goodell and his stupid rules. Bless you, Al Michaels.

2. More notable items from Week 7 in the NFL:

• I stand by this statement regarding FOX's Chris Myers and Ravens kicker Justin Tucker (turn your volume up).

• Kareem Hunt had the run of the day.

• I'd love to know what Bill Belichick thought about Cordarrelle Patterson high-fiving a teammate before he got to the end zone during his 95-yard kickoff return touchdown.

• Mitch Trubisky had the longest eight-yard touchdown run you'll ever see.

3. Not that we need more proof that football coaches are very, very weird human beings, but here you go.

4. Nike's new LeBron James commercial is absolutely outstanding.

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5. Nice job by Russell Westbrook paying tribute to the late Craig Sager over the weekend.

6. After going 90 minutes with John Cena on last week's SI Media Podcast I kept it tight this week, going 30 minutes with New York Post sports media columinst Andrew Marchand as we discussed a variety of topics, including the MLB playoff crews for TBS and FS1, Vin Scully’s refusal to do a cameo in the booth, the backlash against Jason Witten in the Monday Night Football booth, which NFL announcer has flown under the radar, the bizarre bit with Alex Rodriguez putting on a Red Sox uniform, 85-year-old Hubie Brown inking a multi-year contract extension with ESPN, Mike Francesa’s app and much more. You can listen below or download the podcast on iTunes.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: I miss the old days of Vince McMahon doing play-by-play on Monday Night Raw. As Something To Wrestle With podcast listeners know from Bruce Prichard's imitation, McMahon's repertoire was limited, so he had to oversell everything. Just listen to him in the final minute of this clip. Pure magic.

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Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here. And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.

IN CLOSING: You have to be a real degenerate to bet Monday night's Giants-Falcons game since these are two teams that are impossible to figure out. Having said that, give me New York +4.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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