Boomer Esiason’s time with Al Michaels on Monday Night Football was abruptly halted due to his complicated relationship with Al Davis. Recently, Esiason appeared on Andrew Marchand’s sports media podcast. During the discussion, the former NFL MVP reflected on his transition from the field to the broadcast booth in 1998, a chapter he and Michaels had anticipated would be lengthy. Their first season featured the trio of Esiason, Michaels, and Dan Dierdorf; initially, things looked promising, with Michaels even predicting that Emmys would soon follow. However, after Dierdorf’s unexpected departure post-season, Esiason felt a shift in his rapport with Michaels in the second year.
“It was me, Al, and Lesley Visser. I thought everything was going well until we had a game against Denver and the Raiders,” Esiason shared with Marchand. “I spoke with Al Davis prior to the game and gathered valuable insights from the Raiders. Then Al Michaels warned me in the booth that ‘If you mention his name, you’re going to get dead air. We don’t get along with Al Davis.’ I was completely unaware of the underlying issues.” Esiason pointed out that Al Davis was a prominent figure in NFL history, and given the Raiders’ presence in the ’90s, discussions about him were expected. Despite his good relationship with Davis, getting insider information from him right before a Monday Night Football game should have been advantageous.
“From that moment on, I felt a real disconnect. It was palpable,” Esiason recounted. “Out of the blue, I received a call from (Bobby) Beathard, the GM for the San Diego Chargers, asking if I might consider coming out of retirement to play for them. It caught me off guard, and shortly after, Howard Katz from ABC Sports contacted my agent to say, ‘I think we’re going to move on from Boomer.’ This happened after the Super Bowl between the Titans and the Rams, leaving me a bit shaken.”
Esiason also recalled Al Michaels requesting a “misery shot” during a Raiders game on Monday Night Football. Unfamiliar with the term, he looked at the monitor and saw a visibly upset Al Davis. Esiason was unclear about the specific issues between Michaels and Davis, but he recognized the tension was significant.
