Al Michaels has been telling anyone who will listen to him for years that he has never even thought about touching a vegetable and never will. And here we are writing about it. Again.
This is nothing new. Michaels told The New York Times in 2012, “If I died right now, I might be the human being who lived the longest without ever eating a vegetable.”
The Defector’s Drew Magary chronicled the same tale, although on a much broader scale, as his very well-written piece discussed the famed broadcaster and “the price of comfort.”
It seems to be that the first standard question that’s asked to Michaels in any interview is about the Miracle on Ice and then the questioning turns to his aversion to vegetables. If Al Michaels truly believed in miracles, he would try a vegetable, but he’s told everyone and anyone who will listen, including The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, and most recently, CNN’s Chris Wallace, they are are an absolute non-starter.
Wallace was so intrigued by this that he asked Michaels on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace on MAX if it was true that he’s never knowingly eaten a vegetable in his life.
“That is true,” replied Michaels. “I was born when my parents were 18. And my mother hadn’t even read Dr. Spock at that point. So she just let me have the run of the course. And I always push the vegetables away. To this day, no. And I guess what I’ve proven Chris, is that man does not need vegetables to survive.”
The interview with Wallace and his subsequent answer was eerily similar to the one mentioned above, as he referenced Dr. Spock on both occasions.
The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand also revealed during their interview with Michaels that Michael Kay and Ian Eagle do not eat vegetables themselves. And while that’s a story for another day, we definitely need to do some much bigger digging into it. What we did find by digging into Michaels’ curious vegetable tails, peeling back the onion if you will, is that the 78-year-old once ordered French onion soup—hold the onion—to the absolute amazement of the late John Madden.
Back to the interview with Wallace, where the host appeared to be trying to talk a toddler into trying a vegetable. Wallace mentioned that perhaps Michaels would try something like a carrot. To no one’s surprise, he was met with immediate pushback.
“Oh, please. No, that’s an objectionable vegetable,” he said.
How would Michaels know if he never tasted one before?
“I look at it. I just don’t even like the look of it. And I surmise what it might taste like in terms of the texture of it. I think a lot of it probably has to do, it just doesn’t look like something that would go down well. Now you put a big steak in front of me and I’m going, let’s go.”
Perhaps trying some vegetables would help with some of those low-energy calls on Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football that Michaels has criticized before. But as is his stance on vegetables, he’s also objectionable to a lot of the criticism he’s received. And he’ll surely receive plenty for not trying a single one during his 78 years on Earth.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.