Michaels’ Feud With Si Grows
Whatever you do this holiday season, don’t invite ABC’s Al Michaels and Sports Illustrated managing editor Mark Mulvoy to the same party. The salads might not be the only things tossed.
A nasty private feud between the two media heavyweights exploded publicly last week, triggered by Michaels’ on-air criticism of SI’s recent cover piece on the rise of Pat Riley and the fall of Don Shula in Miami.
As it turns out, SI writer Peter King’s halftime role on Monday Night Football has also been a sore point between Mulvoy and Michaels. On Tuesday, Mulvoy trashed Michaels on New York’s WFAN radio, saying he didn’t appreciate the broadcaster’s comments about the cover story and accused him of regularly “mistreating” King by not promoting his reports.
Michaels, offered the chance to respond, bluntly fired back on Wednesday’s “Mike and the Mad Dog” show with scathing comments on King, the magazine’s ethics and Mulvoy himself.
When host Mike Francesa asked Michaels if he was unhappy with King’s work, Michaels said: “I don’t have a problem with anything on the show that betters the show. You show me something that makes this show better and I’ll embrace it.
“In the recent reports, he’s done a lot that I’ve seen earlier in the day on CNN Headline News. … I’m waiting to hear something that I haven’t heard before. The feedback I get from it is very ordinary. I’ve never heard anybody say, ‘That was really terrific.”’
Said Mulvoy: “Al’s got a problem with ABC’s management and he’s taking it out on Sports Illustrated. He’s got a problem with the halftime format and Peter is the innocent victim.”
Mulvoy defended King, listing stories that King broke on MNF: the details of Deion Sanders’ Cowboys deal; that ESPN’s Sterling Sharpe would come out of retirement, maybe with the Philadelphia Eagles; of Jimmy Johnson’s secret meeting with owner Tom Benson in New Orleans. “He’s done all this with the 24 seconds that they allot him,” Mulvoy said.
The bitterness became obvious during the most recent Monday night broadcast when Michaels voiced his dismay over SI’s piece. He said it was a shame that Shula was denigrated and that Riley was unknowingly dragged into the situation.
Mulvoy was so outraged that he called Michaels’ agent, Art Kaminsky, to complain, and according to Michaels on WFAN, “told (Kaminsky) that he intends to use the magazine to personally attack me.”
Michaels said Mulvoy “went wild, saying he was going to call my boss, my boss’ boss and the chairman of the company. Here is a man who combines arrogance and immaturity in a form I rarely see.”
Mulvoy told WFAN: “I did not say I was going to get Al Michaels. I’m mad when somebody mistreats a member of my staff and mistreats my journalism. I don’t believe he’s treated Peter King with the respect that he deserves. … I have mentioned it to ABC management. I was going to call (ABC Sports president) Dennis Swanson on Tuesday, but my cooler head prevailed.”
Michaels explained the furor this way: “SI and ABC have a deal and he doesn’t know if the deal is going to be extended to next year, and if it’s not, he is very craftily setting me up as the heavy. … I know where Mulvoy was coming from. He’s had a problem with television for years. It’s very well known in TV circles, but there are people that want to kiss up to him. He’s got his buyout, three months retirement; now he can go shoot down all the guys on his enemies list.”
Michaels defended his MNF remarks: “I wasn’t casting judgment. This was a news story in Florida that had national interest.”
Michaels said he called Riley, who was “very angry that he was elevated at the expense of Shula. … The issue is that Pat was personally angered because he was deceived and double-dealt with. You owe it to someone to tell them where you’re going with a piece.”
On WFAN, Mulvoy said: “No one’s ever been promised a cover. I don’t decide until Sunday night or Monday. … I don’t think they practice journalism on network TV.”
One observation: The 12 minutes at halftime on Monday Night affords little space for serious “journalism.” ABC could do more, but how much more?
Two questions: Why does a quality sports magazine let its writers work for a network, raising the possibility of conflicts on who gets information and when? And why does the same magazine break with 40 years of print tradition and announce its “Sportsman of the Year” on TV and not in its pages?
NBA a hot ticket?
There’s something to be said for loyalty, but if I were NBA commissioner David Stern, I wouldn’t rush to re-sign with NBC without letting CBS, ABC or Fox bid for the broadcast rights to the NBA when the package is available in about two years. With Westinghouse (CBS), Disney (ABC) and Rupert Murdoch (Fox) all boxed out of the Olympics until 2010, there should be many coins in those corporate piggy banks.
Given the two pre-emptive strikes that NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol has made - with General Electric’s blessing - to secure future Olympics rights and to snatch a piece of baseball, the three rivals better develop a strategy now. The best fit? Probably CBS, which did a classy job with the NBA for 17 years and will carry 100 regular-season NCAA games and the NCAA Tournament through 2001.
CBS would have a natural stage to showcase college players and then follow them through their pro careers. We’ll also see a real donnybrook for the NFL rights through 2000. The current $4.4 billion deal, shared by Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN and Turner, ends in 1997.
Channel surfing
Boomer Esiason will be the studio analyst, live from Tempe, Ariz., for all four CBS Bowl games: Fiesta, Orange, Cotton and Sun.
Sign of the times: Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith has millions in the bank but told ESPN he’s going to sell all but two of the balls he’s saved after his 94 TDs. Smith should donate half of them to charities.