Who has ticked you off?
Michael: John Thompson Jr. when he coached Georgetown. John ran the Gestapo. Now, he and I liked each other a lot. John Thompson had me come speak at his first basketball banquet in 1981. He gets up and says, “You know, when I first came to town, I didn’t like this smartass Michael.” I’m going, “What did I do wrong?” Then he proceeds to say why I’m the emcee and why I’m so good and I’m wondering, “John Thompson’s admitting he likes me?”
We had a great relationship. It was not close, but I admired him beyond words.
Lackman: I don’t think there’s really a bad person we’ve covered. Some people are more difficult than others, but there’s no one where we said, “I never want to go there.”
But you quit going to see the Capitals. Why?
Michael: I had season tickets going back to 1980, but I gave them up in 2005. Ted Leonsis and I have different philosophies. He did it his way.
Lackman: Ted did what he had to do. Is it great for Caps fans? No.
Michael: He put a lot of money into Jaromir Jagr. Bad move. Then he went from one extreme to the other—he has the lowest payroll in the NHL.
Lackman: Compare that to Snyder.
Michael: Dan Snyder has made enough mistakes to last a lifetime, but he did it to win.
Lackman: So Snyder becomes everyone’s piñata.
Michael: I would rather have a George Steinbrenner or a Dan Snyder than a Bill Bidwell, the Arizona Cardinals owner.
Are you comparing Bidwell to Leonsis?
Michael: Ted does things his way, and that’s fine. I like him.
Whom do you not like?
Michael: Marty Schottenheimer. He’s the only person in 27 years who ever humiliated someone on the air.
Sonny Jurgensen asked Marty why he didn’t switch quarterbacks early in the season. Schottenheimer says: “Let me ask you why George Allen switched from you to Billy Kilmer.” Sonny was embarrassed and shot back: “Because he was an idiot.”
Do you think you were soft on the Redskins?
Michael: Not in Joe Gibbs’s eyes. He said to me, “My friends ask why I take your lousy questions.” I told him, “Because I look you in the eye when I ask them.”
Is money ruining pro sports?
Lackman: No one expects players to make $25,000 a year anymore, but years ago you had them playing sports because they loved it. Today you have people who still love the sport, but let’s face it, people like Michael Westbrook—money. Latrell Sprewell saying, “I can’t feed a family on $15 million a year.” How offensive was that? I think there are people in it for the money.
Michael: But Arenas would play for free.
Let’s talk about The Sports Machine. What changed to bring an end to a 23-year success story?
Michael: Here’s the truth without getting in trouble: We were a team that would do anything for each other. Today Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, and I will cover each other’s backs. Vance would do anything for me, and I would do anything for him. But beyond that—geez, it’s gone.
Vance can’t believe it’s happening, and Doreen said the other night, “I know what’s happening, but please don’t talk about it.”
But things go on, man. Everything’s going to go on. Channel 9 once had 83 percent of the audience; they don’t today. Vance and Doreen are the best. They’re my family.
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