The Covid-19 Pandemic has changed so much about the way sports are broadcast this year. MLB play-by-play crews are staying home when their team is on the road and calling games off a monitor. Broadcasters are separated by plexiglass inside the NBA Bubble. It appears NFL fans will have to get used to some change too.
On a conference call earlier this week, Al Michaels noted that he and Cris Collinsworth will also be separated by plexiglass. That means one of the Internet’s favorite football memes, the Collinsworth Slide will not happen in 2020.
“I was watching a baseball game the other night and the guy was trying to steal second and he goes to the ground and comes up six feet short,” Michaels said on the call. “So maybe that will be our slide this year.”
The Collinsworth Slide is the nickname given to the moment Cris Collinsworth slides into frame to join Al Michaels before kickoff to preview each Sunday night’s game. Jay Rigdon of Awful Announcing jokes that NBC messed up by eliminating it completely.
“They did miss a real opportunity to have Cris try to slide in only to slam into a Plexiglas barrier.”
