- Sunday, January 11, 2015

YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP: MIRACLES, MEMORIES AND THE PERFECT MARRIAGE OF SPORTS AND TELEVISION

By Al Michaels with L. Jon Wertheim

William Morrow, $28.99, 288 pages

The advent of ESPN and other sports-focused cable networks coupled with the rise of the Internet have created endless opportunities for fans to indulge in their games of choice and become expert analysts in their own right.

While broadcasters still play an important role in shaping how people view sports, they aren’t as influential as they were in earlier time periods. Veteran sportscaster Al Michaels has seen it all and succeeded in both the modern era and the time when there were just three networks — and cable television was a curiosity. His memoir, “You Can’t Make This Up: Miracles, Memories and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television,” is an engaging narrative on how both sports and television have evolved together during the last 50 years.

Mr. Michaels has covered many of the seminal sports events of that time period and his book recounts many of them. Since most people won’t have the opportunity to buy him a drink and hear the war stories, reading his book is the next best thing.

He cites as the most memorable event the victory of the U.S. Olympic hockey team over the Soviet Union at the 1980 games in Lake Placid, N.Y. The game itself was spectacular, and the added drama of the tense relations between the two countries at the height of the Cold War made it even more riveting. While he recounts the details of the game (which he broadcast even though his experience covering hockey was minimal), the more fascinating aspect of the book is his description of what went on in his head.

Immediately after the game he weighed lots of things he could have said, but he concluded: “[T]he best thing I could say was nothing. Just let the audience absorb and enjoy the moment. Don’t try to tell them what they should be thinking. There’d be plenty of time down the line to examine all the elements,’’ he recalls.

Mr. Michaels also gives a technology history lesson when recounting how primitive some of the technology was and noting that the broadcast was aired on a tape-delayed basis so it could be shown in prime time. He noted that the crew (headed by the legendary ABC Sports and News President Roone Arledge) feared technical mishaps that wouldn’t happen now: “It might seem nutty now but in the television world of 1980, you lived in fear of a technical problem or transmission snafu that could become disastrous in a worst-case scenario. Roone Arledge could never have enough backup material as insurance. We’d call it ’filling Roone’s saddlebags.’”

Mr. Michaels, who grew up as a sports-obsessed child in New York and Los Angeles and wanted to be a broadcaster at a young age, paid his dues in markets such as Honolulu, Cincinnati and San Francisco before making it to the network. Anyone who has taken a similar career path will identify with the chapters on the challenges and rewards of that vagabond lifestyle.

While the book is filled with the author’s impressions of events and places, the most interesting parts are his descriptions of people.

Among the larger-than-life personalities he worked with, none loomed larger in many ways than Howard Cosell. The lawyer-turned-sportscaster with the permanent scowl and terrible hairpiece was a polarizing and ever-present force in television with his abrasive manner and highly opinionated analyses. Those who thought most highly of Mr. Cosell are apparently those who never had to work with him. Mr. Michaels originally liked and admired his ABC colleague but eventually grew tired of his massive ego and unwillingness to play well with others.

“We had a lot of fun, especially at the beginning. But Howard always had something eating at him. Even in the good times, no matter the circumstances, it was never enough. If you elected him senator, he’d want to be president. If you made him president, he’d want to be king. If you made him king, he’d want to be God,’’ the author notes.

The book, which he coauthored with Sports Illustrated Executive Editor L. Jon Wertheim, has a breezy conversational style that makes it easy to read in short bites. Messrs. Michaels and Wertheim don’t tackle controversial subjects such as the use of steroids in sports and the increasing occurrence of head injuries among football players. Given his access to many key players, owners and league officials, it would have been especially interesting to learn Mr. Michaels’ views on these subjects.

That’s a small shortcoming. On balance, “You Can’t Make This Up: Miracles, Memories and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television” is an enjoyable look at an important period in sports and television history by a man who helped shape it.

Claude R. Marx is writing a biography of William Howard Taft.

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