Al Michaels Has No Plans Of Preemptively Announcing Retirement Amid Current Criticisms, Which Is A Move You Have To Respect

It's fair to say that Father Time is catching up with Al Michaels. The legendary broadcaster turns 79-years-old later this month, but beyond the simple fact that Father Time is undefeated, Michaels hasn't exactly been his normal, charismatic self in the booth as the 'Thursday Night Football' play-by-play man this season.

Everyone slows down as they approach the age of 80, but not everyone approaching 80 is paid millions of dollars to call NFL games on Amazon Prime.

Michaels is arguably the greatest broadcaster in American sports history, but for the first time in his career criticisms are growing noticeably loud, and he's hearing them.

The longtime NBC man recently spoke with Andrew Marchand of the New York Post and flat-out asked him "how do I sound to you," signaling that he's at least paying some attention to his critics.

Marchand explained that in his prime, Michaels was firing a 97 mph fastball while on the call, but today is "throwing 85 at times." Michaels said, "your assessment is fair."

While us humans like to complain and nitpick everything, Michaels' call on what was the game-winning touchdown in the Jaguars-Saints Thursday night game in October garnered deserved criticism.

Michaels appeared to be the only one in the stadium who didn't realize Christian Kirk had scored on the game-defying play.

It's a bit upsetting, and even sad, to watch that clip of Michaels' call, but it's also tough to watch it and think 'hey, maybe it's time he considered hanging up the mic.'

While that day will likely come sooner rather than later, Michaels is all-in on being in the booth again next season.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m doing next year,” Michaels said. “There’s no question about that in my mind.”

While that's all fair given his three-year contract, preemptively announcing his retirement in order to have a 'farewell tour' doesn't sound like the worst idea, but it does to Michaels.

“No, I mean, Keith Jackson had one of those things and came back and did it another seven years,” Michaels said. “No, no, no, no, no. Look when I’m done. It’s the way John Madden was done. Two words and a contraction: ‘It’s time.’ I don’t need any parade or that nonsense.”

Michaels has every right to go out on his own terms, he's earned that over his 60-year career.

Honestly, it's badass that Michaels just wants to leave whenever that inclination hits him seeing as how in today's day and age everyone wants to go down the path of least resistance.

Follow Mark Harris on X @ItIsMarkHarris and email him at mark.harris@outkick.com