Al Michaels 'didn't know how to describe' Taylor Swift at Chiefs-Broncos Thursday Night Football game
Taylor Swift has caught the NFL world by storm. Her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has captured more than a few people’s attention, especially with all the games that she’s been attending. Recently, that included a Thursday Night Game when Al Michaels was on the call.
Michaels was, admittedly, awkward when the cameras panned to her. However, as he later explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live, that was because he really didn’t know what to say or how to describe Swift.
“We love it, man.” Al Michaels said. “We had to be judicious, we had the game last Thursday night in Kansas City, we knew she’d be there. So, how much do you show her? She had been on twice and football fans were going, ‘Enough!’ But we were praying she’d come into the booth and sing for us.”
Al Michaels knew he had to say something when they showed Taylor Swift. However, that’s when he couldn’t come up with much besides referring to her as Travis Kelce’s “good buddy and girlfriend.” Admittedly, it was a weird description for the most famous pop star in the world.
“I had to acknowledge it, but what do you do? We had a shot of her, and I didn’t know how to describe her.”
In Al Michaels’ defense, he was clearly out of his element when it comes to celebrities. At the same time, for someone with as much experience as he has had over the years, he probably could have done better than he did.
“You’re doing a game like that, I know the internet’s going to blow up, Page Six is waiting for whatever I say,” Michaels said. “You know what I really wanted to say? Fiancé. I didn’t because I figured Travis would beat me up at the end of the game. It’s hard because people tune in to watch a football game, I’m not doing Access Hollywood. At a certain point, it’s like, where do you go from here?”
Al Michaels and all other broadcasters better find a good way to describe Taylor Swift because, for the time being at least, it looks like she’ll remain a fairly constant figure at these games.
Al Michaels on celebrities at football games
Al Michaels admitted that he rarely talks to a celebrity who comes to a football game that he’s broadcasting unless they decide to come to the booth for an interview.
“Rarely [does he talk to them], because I don’t get to go see them,” Michaels said. “Except in the old days on Monday Night Football, we’d bring people into the booth. We had David Letterman in the booth one time.”
However, Al Michaels actually blamed an appearance on Monday Night Football by Jimmy Kimmel for why this doesn’t happen anymore.
“Jimmy had one of the great lines of all time. This is the year after I leave, thank God. First of all, Jimmy says to Joe Theismann, ‘How’s the leg?’ Joe had the worst injury on Monday Night Football…then Michael Vick had gone to jail because he was in a dog fighting ring. So, he’s in jail. He’s not playing for Atlanta. They have a new quarterback, Joey Harrington, and Jimmy says, ‘Well, Joey Harrington might not be a very good quarterback, but he’s very nice to his pets.’”