Amazon’s $14-16 million annual investment in Al Michaels suddenly feels like a premium price tag for discount commentary.

Yet on October 23, 2024, during the Thursday Night Football clash between Rams and Vikings, the broadcasting legend turned “Clayton Kershaw” into “Curtain Clayshaw,” prompting one viewer to plead: “Please tell me I’m not the only one that just heard Al Michaels say Kertain Clayshaw?”

The 79-year-old veteran stumbled through what should have been a golden storytelling moment about two childhood friends who made it big. Instead of highlighting how Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Clayton Kershaw once shared Highland Park High School’s baseball diamond, viewers were treated to multiple variations of Kershaw’s name—from “Curtain Clayshaw” to “Kerton Clayshaw,” each version sparking fresh waves of social media outrage.

This verbal error hits particularly hard given the rich history between these athletes. Six-year-old Stafford and Kershaw looked so alike in their Blue Bombers soccer days that even their mothers couldn’t tell them apart. As Margaret Stafford once recalled while cheering what she thought was her son’s goal, “That’s nice… She’s really happy for Matthew.” Plot twist: it was Kershaw who had scored.

The gaffe follows a pattern of recent mishaps. Just last week, during the Broncos-Saints matchup, Michaels declared Bo Nix as “the 6th overall pick” in the 2024 draft. One small problem: Nix went 12th overall. Later that same broadcast, he crowned Cesar Ruiz as the Saints’ “best lineman,” leaving NFL diehards baffled.

On October 3, 2024, Michaels defended his commentary style on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, stating, “I don’t scream the game at you. I don’t holler the game at you.” Fair enough – but fans might prefer accurate names over volume control.

The price of time in the broadcast booth

Social media erupted faster than a Stafford spiral. “Al Michaels needs to hang it up,” wrote one viewer. Another pleaded, “Al Michaels just said ‘Curtain Klayshaw’ plz hang it up bro.” The sentiment echoed across platforms as viewers sent increasingly desperate messages: “Al Michaels just said Kerton Clayshaw please send this man home.”

Meanwhile, back in their high school days, Stafford and Kershaw’s connection ran deeper than most realize. Their Highland Park graduation in 2006 capped off an era where Stafford threw for 4,013 yards and 38 touchdowns while Kershaw pitched a perfect 13-0 season with a microscopic 0.77 ERA. In one five-inning mercy-rule game, Kershaw struck out all 15 batters – the kind of statistics that deserve precise storytelling, not tongue-tied commentary.

Michaels, with his five Sports Emmy Awards and Hollywood Walk of Fame star, built his legacy on moments like the 1980 Olympics “Miracle” call. Now, his $40 million pre-Amazon net worth seems to mirror his broadcasting trajectory – impressive numbers from the past, but perhaps it’s time to call it a career.

As John Stafford, Matthew’s father, once said about supporting his son’s dreams: “If Matthew had come to me in his junior year of high school and said, ‘Dad, the violin is the thing for me,’ we would have had a conversation about why, and are you sure?” Perhaps it’s time for Amazon to have a similar conversation with their prime-time voice about the future of Thursday Night Football.