Al Michaels called his 20th game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants on Thursday night, a messy stop-start affair that ended with a 20-15 Cowboys victory.
It was far from a football exhibition, with the number of penalties throughout the contest continually criticized by the legendary broadcaster . But at least it was a close game that was up in the air entering the final minutes, especially if you considered the six point spread in favor of the Cowboys.
With Dallas holding onto their five point lead in the final minute, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy chose to kick a long field goal instead of pinning the Giants deep in their own territory with no timeouts. And as he has done for many years now, Michaels made a cheeky, veiled reference to the fact that a field goal from Brandon Aubrey would impact the gambling lines in a major way.
Shockingly, Aubrey missed his first kick from 50+ yards in his career, and Giants +6 betters were able to count their winnings even though Daniel Jones failed to lead a miraculous comeback in the closing seconds. For those of you who bet the over 45, you probably tuned out long before the field goal attempt.
One of Michaels’ trademarks has been his wise guy approach to acknowledging betting lines, whether it’s the spread or the over-under late in games. He’s been doing it long before sports betting was legalized by the Supreme Court in 2018. And he’ll probably continue to do it until the very last game that he calls. In fact, Michaels has noted the only time he heard from the NFL about his gambling references came all the way back in 1994 during a Monday Night Football broadcast .
But in 2024, it just comes across as a throwback to a simpler time.
The NFL has had official betting partners since 2021 to the tune of $1 billion . Ever since the sports betting floodgates opened, the industry has been fully embraced by all the major sports leagues, especially the NFL. What once was taboo is now commonplace. Sports betting is now legal in 38 of 50 states. Gambling sponsorships are everywhere, sports betting ads are everywhere, and lines are prominently acknowledged all over NFL game telecasts. NFL owners can even have an ownership piece in sportsbooks .
Michaels admitted back in 2021 that the NFL welcoming sports betting took the fun out of his wink and nod at the audience and Vegas bookies. And maybe he’s just that committed to carrying the act all the way through. But it’s been multiple seasons now that the NFL and sports betting have gone hand in hand. In 2024, the veiled references almost serve as an acknowledgement that maybe we really shouldn’t be doing this sports betting thing so publicly and so universally.
But since we are, shouldn’t the NFL just cash in like they are doing everywhere else and let Michaels’ late game betting calls be sponsored by DraftKings or FanDuel?
The post Al Michaels still making veiled betting references even though NFL has embraced sports betting appeared first on Awful Announcing .
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