Things can get tricky for local news networks when trying to show highlights of the big game depending on what rights are available. With games running late into the evening and broadcasts still being aired, it puts most 11 PM ET newscasts in a tough spot when trying to recap games that may have just finished. Thankfully for Michigan Wolverines fans who flipped over to the local news north of Ann Arbor in Flint and the Saginaw Bay area, NBC 25 sportscaster Sam Ali did not disappoint.
Ali’s sports segment delivered highlights in the form of hilarious cartoon drawings depicting the biggest plays of the game including Donovan Edwards’ two touchdown runs in the first half and the big interception by Michael Penix that kicked off the third quarter. Bonus points for the addition of Jim Harbaugh standing on the sidelines.
Also, Harbaugh has never looked better than the drawing of him holding up the trophy at the end of the highlight package.
So the Michigan game just went final when we went on-air tonight and we're not allowed to show highlights until the broadcast is completely over. But I promised the viewers "highlights" and I tried to deliver the best I could: pic.twitter.com/us2e1Y6YeD
— Sam Ali (@SamAliSports) January 9, 2024
Just a phenomenal job and presentation by Ali. There are few things more entertaining than local sportscasters improvising to still deliver highlights for their viewers. Adam Lefkoe was put on the map by delivering creative wrestling themed sportscasts in Louisville and now he’s co-hosting a podcast with Shaq and hosting NBA coverage for TNT.
If anything, the quality of the drawings from Ali makes it even more endearing. Now if we can have a cartoon montage that finally and definitively answers where “Up North” in Michigan begins that would be even better.
[Sam Ali]
