Sarni's Scrolls: NBC Shows Michaels No Respect

Al Michaels is out of NBC's NFL playoff coverage.

Doesn't seem right.

Michaels is a legend, the greatest NFL play-by-play broadcaster in my lifetime.Monday Night Football from 1986-2005. Sunday Night Football from 2006-2021.

 Now, at 79, the voice of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime.Michaels had been named into an "emeritus" role at NBC following his departure in 2022 at the expiration of his contract

.And there was Michaels back on NBC for one of the network's two postseason games during Wild Card weekend last season. He and Tony Dungy teamed up for the Chargers-Jaguars thriller last year.

Next month, NBC has three playoff games.

 The network’s No. 1 team, Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, will handle two of them, including one that will be exclusive to the network’s streaming service, Peacock

When NBC has two games on the first weekend of the playoffs, its No. 1 college team, Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will be on the call. 

Not Michaels and Dungy

.Eagle and Blackledge did a good job on Big Ten games this season, and it makes sense that NBC would want to reward them and give them more exposure with an NFL game.

But how about a little respect for Al?

***

Fourteen weeks down, four big weeks left in the NFL regular season.

And now that college football's regular season is over, Saturdays are in play.

Week 15 (Dec. 16)

■ 1: Vikings at Bengals, NFL Net

■ 4:30: Steelers at Colts, NFL Net

■ 8:15: Broncos at Lions, NFL Net

Week 16 (Dec. 23)

■ 4:30: Bengals at Steelers, NBC

■ 8: Bills at Chargers, Peacock

Week 17: (Dec. 30)

■ 8:15: Lions at Cowboys, ABC

Week 18 (Jan 6)

■ 4:30: TBD, ESPN, ABC

■ 8:15: TBD, ESPN, ABC

***

ESPU televised the NCAA Volleyball Tournament quarterfinals last Saturday. Nice.

The scheduling. Terrible.

Each match was crammed into two-hour windows, which can accommodate 3-setters, but are too tight for longer play.

Viewers were forced to jump around to ESPN+ and ESPNEWS to see everything.

Final Four schedule in Tampa:

Thursday

■ 7: Nebraska vs. Pitt, ESPN

■ 9:30: Wisconsin vs. Texas, ESPN

Sunday

■ 3: Winners, ABC

***

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics has a math problem.

A $100 million-plus budget error has led organizers to explore the possibility of holding some events outside Italy — and the U.S. is among those ready to act if needed.

Milan-Cortina officials are facing construction estimates for a sliding venue approaching $160 million, after originally proposing a roughly $60 million spend.

Lake Placid, host of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics, has submitted a proposal to host the 2026 sliding events, which include bobsled, skeleton, and luge.

American, German, Austrian, and Swiss Olympic committees have been contacted to serve as potential sliding hosts if necessary.

No portion of any edition of the Winter Games has ever been held outside the host country.

***

"Under Pressure: The U.S. Women's World Cup Team" is out on Netfix.

The four-episode docu-series follows the USWNT through its preparation for the World Cup, the tournament itself and its aftermath.

Rebecca Gitlitz, the two-time Emmy Award-winning director of "Under Pressure," was interviewed by "Sports Illustrated."

Excerpts:

Sports Illustrated: The three-peat sets the stakes pretty high. What was your vision when you signed on for this project?

Gitlitz: "This was my white whale. I wanted this story so badly. I have been dreaming about a story of powerful women who have willed themselves into this sort of pinnacle of power and competition. And that is this team. And I wanted to be a part of the story and I wanted to be able to paint women’s sports in a way that I think that they should, which is just as athletes and not as women athletes. And I think that what I set out to do was show that this team has so much to give and so much that we should be thankful for and they are powerful in a way that we haven't seen before. And so, while the World Cup was the spine, I think the larger story of this women’s soccer team was at the heart."

SI: I’m sure once at the World Cup, things started to go in a different direction than the team or anybody thought was going to happen. How did you adjust as the trajectory of the tournament came into view? How did you change direction?

RG: "What’s interesting is that we didn’t change direction. I think we stayed the course of pressure. Pressure was singularly our focus in showing how much pressure this team has in a three-peat, how much pressure this team has on the heels of equal pay, how much pressure this team has in young players, in a new coach, in an aging team. So as the tournament unfolded, and as they have a 3–0 win over Vietnam and all of a sudden it’s full criticism, you saw that pressure was only going to rise and the noise was only going to get louder, and so we followed that story line really hard. And so the Netherlands and the pressure coming up to them, I think we stayed the course and we followed how much chatter there was and how much just noise was coming at them all the time. The pressure was constantly building, and that became our backbone."

***

ETC.

■ Has Bill Belichick's fate been decided?

 Patriots insider Tom E. Curran reported during an appearance on the NBC Sports Boston "Arbella Early Edition" program that team owner Robert Kraft made the final call to part ways with Belichick following the club's 10-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany on Nov. 12.

■ NFL's expanding global presence. Owners are expected to vote on a proposal to require all 32 clubs to play one designated home game outside the U.S. every four years. Currently, it's every eight years...The Miami Dolphins may open next season in Brazil.

■ ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes combined to average 19.8 million viewers for a pair of competing Monday Night Football games, with Packers-Giants averaging 11.41 million on ABC, Titans-Dolphins pulling 7.30 million on ESPN, and a Peyton and Eli “Manningcast” of both games adding 940,000 on ESPN2.

■ Eddie Murphy predicted the outcome of the Giants' victory over the Packers Monday night in 1988's "Coming To America."

■ The NFL salary cap is reportedly expected to increase significantly to $240 million from $224.8.

■ North Carolina QB Drake Maye, a possible No. 1 NFL Draft Choice, opted out of the Duke's Mayo Bowl.

***

■ The Lakers plan to hang a banner to celebrate their winning the NBA In-Season Tournament.

■ In-Season All-Tournament Team: LeBron James (MVP), Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Tyrese Haliburton and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

■ The top five picks in Yahoo Sports' first WNBA mock draft: Iowa's Caitlin Clark, UConn's Paige Bueckers, Stanford's Cameron Brink, UConn's Aaliyah Edwards, Virginia Tech's Georgia Amoore... Gatorade is Clark's latest endorsement.

■ Hockey reporters like hockey players are tough. Sabres' ringside reporter Rob Ray was hit in the face with the puck on Monday night. He got patched up and kept doing his job.

■ Netflix's second sports telecast will be a match between Rafal Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in March. Its first was a celebrity golf event.

■ Iga Swiatek is the first player since Serena Williams to be named WTA Player of the Year in consecutive seasons.

■ Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, topped "Sports Business Journal's" list of the Most Influential People in Sports Business.

***

■ Clemson defeated Notre Dame 2-1 to win its fourth men's College Cup on Monday.

■ Boston College and Boston University are ranked 1-2 in the USCHO men's hockey poll for the first time ever.

■ Miami's men's and women's basketball teams are both ranked No. 24 in this week's AP polls.

■ Mystics star Elena Delle Donne launched Deldon Wines.

■ Messi and Inter Miami will face Ronaldo and Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.

■ Soccer chaos in Turkey. A club official punched the referee in the face, sending the man to the hospital. All matches were suspended.

***

■ "SNL" controversy.

 In Saturday's cold open sketch mocking the Congressional hearings on anti-semitism on college campuses, former cast member Cecily Strong played N.Y. Rep. Elise Stefanik in dress rehearsal... while new cast member Chloe Troast played her on the telecast. Strong was reportedly "uncomfortable" in the role. The sketch was lame and didn't connect with the audience.

■ Stephen Colbert is back... with the tale of his ruptured appendix.

■ Seth Meyers went day-drinking with Dua Lipa on Monday's show. Hilarious.

■ Olivia Rodrigo's busy week: "SNL"... NPR's Tiny Desk Concert... "Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on Monday, where she sang "Can't Catch Me Now" from "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."

■ "New York Times" media reporter John Koblin reported that USA Network aired repeats of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" for 44 hours during a 46-hour stretch last week in his story "Zombie TV Comes For Cable."

■ Kevin Costner and Jewel?

■ A Paddington musical is in the works.

***

THEY SAID IT

■ "I hope America liked what they saw." -- Titans QB Will Levis after Tennessee stunned the Dolphins 28-27 on Monday night.

■ "Even in Miami, December nights can turn bitter. There's nothing worse than losing a game you had all but won." -- "Hard Knocks."

■ "I will be unable to join my colleagues when ESPN makes its return to Melbourne for the Australian Open next month. But I'll be ready for the rest of the Grand Slam season!" -- Chris Evert, who is receiving treatment for a recurrence of ovarian cancer in a statement through ESPN.

■ "It's unimaginable. You can't even wrap your head around it. ... You can't even dream this up, let alone have it. I keep asking my friends, 'Am I dead? Are you not telling me that I'm dead?" Tom DeVito, Tommy's father to ESPN's Jordan Raanan.

■ "For Barça, this isn't losing to a little brother who you never regarded as a rival; this is losing to your pet goldfish." -- ESPN's Gabriele Marcotti after surprising Girona upset Barcelona to take charge of La Liga's title race.

***

Jim Sarni, BC Class of '69, is a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He resides in Fort Lauderdale and watches a lot of television. If you have a comment or an opinion, we'd love to hear from you Jksarni@aol.com