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- "Welcome to the sport of the future - BattleBots!"
- — Larry Michael introducing the Las Vegas pay-per-view
Larry Michael is an American broadcaster who served as a commentator for the BattleBots pay-per-view Las Vegas 1999 event.
He worked alongside Robot Wars and BattleBots competitor Dan Danknick during the event, introduced on-camera by the event's animatronic presenter, Y2K2.
Larry Michael (right) and Dan Danknick during the event.
Unlike his co-commentator, who had previously built combat robots and would continue to compete with Team Delta, Larry Michael did not return to BattleBots after this event.
Outside BattleBots[]
Larry Michael (left) and Sonny Jurgensen broadcasting from FedEx Field in 2004.
Larry Michael was born in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from Northwood High in 1974. He would then attend the University of Maryland, where he would call basketball games for the campus radio station, WMUC. From there, he covered a variety of sports, including golf tournaments for Mutual Radio, college football, boxing and The Olympics.
In 1995, Michael began working for WJFK-FM as they gained the rights to Washington football broadcasts, where he would remain for some years. Michael worked as play-by-play sports announcer for the Washington Redskins NFL team from 2005 until 2020, covering sixteen seasons in total. In that time, he hosted the Redskins Nation daily program and became the Washington region's Pro Football Hall of Fame voter in 2017. He also served as the Washington Redskins' senior vice president of content.
His work for the club earned him the title 'The Voice of the Redskins'.
Controversy[]
In July 2020, Larry Michael announced his sudden retirement and stepped down from duties relating to the NFL team. A Washington Post investigation later revealed allegations of verbal abuse and sexual harassment spanning the years between 2006 and 2019, ranging from off-color comments to physical contact. He was also recorded discussing a female intern in a derogatory way in 2018. Two other employees of the team promptly departed, with director of pro personnel Alex Santos also accused of improper behaviour and similar harassment.[1]