George Michael, after many, many years, has left NBC-4  his final broadcast as sports anchor on NBC-4 was Thursday’s 11 PM news (the last episode of his syndicated The Sports Machine airs March 25).
He is a polarizing figure in the sports world. Some will miss him; he was undeniably a sports broadcasting pioneer in the early 1980s, mixing gimmicks and entertainment into his sports coverage. ESPN clearly took cues from Michael in its early days as the station developed its identity. Steve Levy, currently a SportsCenter anchor, even admits stealing footage from Michael when Levy worked at SUNY Oswego.
Others feel he overstayed his welcome and should have retired long, long ago  his increasingly self-congratulatory and cantankerous attitude wore on many people’s nerves, as did his glad-handing, back-slapping interviews with Redskins coaches and the like. OFB is firmly in the latter camp.
However, let us take a brief but fond look back at the good ol’ days. In 1984, George Michael’s Sports Final (Sports Machine precursor) covered the NHL Playoffs. This clip has everything: classic Capitals footage, cheesy props, a playoff sweep of the Flyers, and Olivia Newton-John.
Here, The Great One reminisces  again, though, he’s looking back fondly on the early 80s . . .
Sadly, as Michael became a sports broadcasting “personality,” he increasingly treated the NHL as red-headed stepchildren. Too often his hockey coverage  on both NBC and his own show  was a mention of the score and perhaps a brief highlight clip. Coverage of high school sports, boxing, and rodeo got more air time than hockey.
Rumors that the equestrian-loving broadcaster decided to retire so he could mourn Barbaro full time appear to be unfounded.
In truth, it seems that his decision to leave his post was born of loyalty to his staff, the victims of layoffs at the station. Michael told the Washington Post, “If I have to lay somebody off . . . I have to take the first bullet. It’s that simple.” In this regard, we salute him (a lesson many CEOs could take to heart). Not that Michael is hurting for money, of course  if one can afford a half-page ad in the Washington Post saluting one’s own career, one is not a pauper  but it was the right thing to do.
Regardless of his financial situation: as fans of hockey and of quality sports broadcasting, we will not miss him.
OFB hopes that Lindsay Czarniak, Michael’s Sports Machine co-host and NBC-4 anchor/reporter, embraces hockey more than her predecessor did. Regardless, she is certainly a bit easier on the eyes:
Lest readers accuse OFB of being age discriminators, Michael was never exactly of model-quality. In fact, some would say he has a face for radio; he may also be a Vulcan:
Those who remember Michael fondly from his early career may look on his departure as the end of an era. But to those who have watched the past decade of his increasingly poor broadcasting, that era ended a long time ago.
But it’s not over… as Michael told WJFK-FM’s Don and Mike on Thursday, “If you’ve got the money, I’ve got the time.” Those inspiring words accompanied his announcement that he will begin covering NASCAR for Fox Sports.
So his career follows a Strom Thurmond-like trajectory  it just doesn’t end. But NASCAR can have him, and hockey fans are well rid of him. George Michael isn’t really retiring; we’re just glad that Skeletor will no longer be the face of DC sports.
Yea, a couple of us were watching yesterday’s broadcast at home and caught NBC analyst Pierre McGuire’s bizarre, I-had-an-indulgent-Sunday brunch-at-Clyde’s claim that “50 percent” of Verizon Center was comprised of Flyers’ fans. How ’bout a sobriety checkpoint between the players’ benches?
Check your calendar and your watches! Implementing their “flexible scheduling policy”, NBC has selected the March 9th visit by the Penguins to Verizon Center as it’s Game of the Week — in HD no less. Because of the broadcast change, the puck will drop several hours earlier at 12:30 pm instead of the original 3 pm. Make sure you write yourself a note, show up at 3 and you may miss the whole game.
If you are a subscriber to NHL Center Ice and have watched telecasts from all the different broadcasters, you’ve probably noticed that some are better than others. Not surprising, you’ve probably found that CBC, TSN, and Rogers SportsNet are among the best. While going through some hockey blogs, 
