Mike Tirico was heaped with praise for his heartfelt monologue to wrap up Sunday’s broadcast of the USA-Canada men’s hockey gold medal game on NBC, after the Americans came away with the gold for the first time since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980.
On Sunday evening, ESPN announcers even lauded Tirico’s work during an NBA broadcast.
Dave Pasch and Doris Burke spoke glowingly about Tirico and the NBC coverage while calling an NBA game between the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors for ESPN on ABC.
The ESPN on ABC broadcast showed a graphic with the upcoming national broadcast schedule, including the NBC Sunday Night Basketball game between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. Tirico is the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC, so Burke jokingly asked if he would be in Los Angeles to call that game to continue his unbelievable recent work and travel schedule.
“Is Mike Tirico calling that Laker game?” Burke asked. “Because he might want to fly in from Milan Cortina and call that. Probably a little bit superhuman, but he’s been ridiculously good.”
“He did the Super Bowl, and then went right to do the Olympics,” Pasch said. “And what a fabulous closing statement today from the great Mike Tirico, our longtime friend and colleague. Terrific work by the folks at NBC.”
Dave Pasch and Doris Burke join in on the Mike Tirico praise while calling the Nuggets-Warriors game for ESPN on ABC. https://t.co/eVjR1HSvxh pic.twitter.com/zrfjlgF2uK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 22, 2026
As Pasch noted, Tirico was a longtime colleague. Tirico was with ESPN from 1991 to 2016 before joining NBC.
Even still, you don’t hear announcers offering that level of praise for announcers on rival networks much, especially during game broadcasts. That’s the ultimate sign of respect.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.