He has worked on network sports television since , with his most recent work being with NBC Sports after nearly three decades β with ABC Sports. He is also known for famous calls in other sports, including the Miracle on Ice at the Winter Olympics and the earthquake-interrupted Game 3 of the World Series.
He grew up as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. Michaels attended Arizona State University , where he majored in radio and television and minored in journalism.
He worked as a sports writer for ASU's independent student newspaper, The State Press , and called Sun Devils football, basketball, and baseball games for the campus radio station.
His first sportscasting job came in , when he was hired to do public relations for the Los Angeles Lakers and serve as a color commentator on the team's radio broadcasts alongside veteran play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn. However, he was terminated after appearing on just four games due to Chick Hearn's displeasure on working with someone so young. He resumed his broadcasting career in after moving to Honolulu , where he worked as a sports anchor for KHVH-TV now KITV and called play-by-play for the Hawaii Islanders baseball team in the Pacific Coast League as well as the University of Hawaii 's football and basketball teams and local high school football games.
He was named Hawaii's 'Sportscaster of the Year' in In , Michaels moved to Cincinnati , where he became the radio play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. He also was the network's play-by-play man for the hockey coverage at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. In , he left the Reds for a similar position with the San Francisco Giants and also covered basketball for UCLA , replacing Dick Enberg on the Bruins' tape delayed telecasts of their home games, during a period when UCLA was in the midst of an game winning streak.
