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Page 2 February 2 - 8, 2015 Michaels looks back at Super Bowls and a career in broadcasting By George Dickie © Zap2it Sunday marks some- thing of a milestone for Al Michaels. It was 30 years ago that the veteran of Olympics, Monday Night Football telecasts, NFL, NBA and MLB postseasons and many other high-profile sporting events took part in his first Super Bowl, doing studio duties for ABC for its coverage of Super Bowl XIX, won by Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers, who defeated Dan Marino's Miami Dolphins, 38-16, at Stanford Stadium in Northern California. Since, he's gone on to call play-by-play on six more NFL title games with various booth partners at ABC, and been "traded" in 2006 for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to NBC, where he's done two more. He's also seen the game go from champion- ship game to major TV event to cultural phenom- enon. Or, as he puts it, "They might as well de- clare it an official national holiday." Sunday, Feb. 1, he joins analyst Cris Col- linsworth to call his ninth NFL title game and third for NBC when the Seattle Seahawks seek to make it two championships in a row against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glen- dale, Ariz. As for past Super Bowl thrills, Michaels indicates his biggest came in 2009, when the Pittsburgh Steel- ers came from behind after blowing a big lead late in the game to defeat the Arizona Cardinals, 27- 23, in Super Bowl XLIII at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. It was the franchise's record sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy. "(It was) a back-and- forth game that featured two of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history," he says. "James Harrison's 100-yard interception re- turn for a touchdown as the half expired, and San- tonio Holmes' phenome- nal catch in the corner of the end zone to cap a 93- yard, game-winning drive in the final minute." While many broadcast- ers fondly remember their first Super Bowl, Michaels was underwhelmed by his first as a main play-by-play man for ABC in 1988, when the Washington Redskins blew out the Denver Bron - cos, 42-10, in Super Bowl XXII at Jack Murphy Stadi- um in San Diego. "The great thing was the nerves were gone once the game started," he says. "It could have been much more fun, ex- cept Washington led Den- ver 35-10 at the half." In addition to big games, the 70-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., has worked with his share of larger-than-life per - sonalities over the years, probably none more so than the man who was the face of ABC Sports in the 1970s and '80s, Howard Cosell. He recounts many of his career memories in his new book, "You Can't Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Per - fect Marriage of Sports and Television," in which Cosell is a featured player. "Let's put it this way," Michaels says, "it's worth 15-18 pag- es in my new book. He ran the gamut from charming to cantanker- Eddie Huang knows the ins and outs of a culture clash. The chef and television food-show personality's Asian- American family lived one in the 1990s, when they relocated from Washington, D.C., to Orlando – each member dealing with the transition differently, as Huang recounted in his 2013 memoir. The book becomes a same-named ABC sitcom when "Fresh Off the Boat" premieres with two episodes Wednesday, Feb. 4, then settles into its regular slot the following Tuesday. Hudson Yang plays the young Huang, whose brothers are portrayed by Ian Chen and Forrest Wheeler. Their American- dream-pursuing, steakhouse-running father and cook-at-home mother (Randall Park, Constance Wu) have differing views of making the move to a new locale ... but they won't hesitate to put up a united front, threatening to sue the school if one of their sons is expelled after being taunted by a new classmate. Yang auditioned on tape to play Huang, and the young actor says, "It's been a lot of fun. It's my first big thing, and it's been a great time hanging out with Eddie and everybody who's been in the show." Huang considers his on-screen counterpart "awesome. This was the toughest role to cast. What I liked about Hudson is how real he was. He's very raw, and he hasn't been consumed by this whole process." Noting "this is not an easy show to make," Huang wrote a recent article in which he deemed the series "pasteurized network television" while allowing that it still reflects that "the feeling of being different is universal." ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee responds, "We love Eddie. He's a firebrand. It's a comedy, and the show is not a documentary of his book." Hu ang maintains, "I care the most about the conversation that's going to happen because of this show. It's important for me that the show stays responsible to the book and the Asian community, and to people of color in general. And I believe the show is doing that." Clearly, Huang's parents are barometers of that, but he says, "My mom never read the book. She could care less. She just wants the checks. My dad was really proud of me. I showed him the pilot, and he understood what the show was doing. And I think the show is strategic and smart in how it's easing the viewer into that." BY JAY BOBBIN Newly relocated family is 'Fresh Off the Boat' on ABC Al Michaels gives the play-by-play call for Super Bowl XLIX Sunday on NBC.

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