Mike Carlson

Mike Carlson is the regular pundit of National Football League (NFL) coverage for the United Kingdom's Channel 4 TV station, having formerly worked on Channel Five's coverage of the sport from 1998-2010. He is originally from Connecticut, USA.

Career

Carlson played tight end at Wesleyan University from 1968 to 1972.^[1] After moving to the UK in 1977,^[2] Carlson worked as a sports editor for the television news agency UPITN before joining ABC Sports as their director of programming in Europe. Later he became Vice-President of European operations for Major League Baseball before beginning his freelance career. In 1991 he teamed up with Nick Halling to cover Major League Baseball for defunct satellite station Screensport, a partnership which continued with the World League of American Football, and during the early years of the league's successor, NFL Europe, on Sky Sports.

In 1994, Carlson left Major League Baseball and became a freelance journalist. He reviews books and film, and wrote three books in the Pocket Essentials series, on the film directors Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, and Oliver Stone. He also writes obituaries for The Guardian and The Independent and on sport for a number of outlets, including NFLUK.com. On screen he has also appeared occasionally as a baseball pundit on MLB on Five hosted by Jonny Gould, a sport he previously presented on Sky Sports in the mid 1990s. He also wrote the Channel Five Guide To Baseball. He has covered a variety of other sports on television including Basketball, Poker, Soccer, and Lacrosse. He has worked behind the scenes on the television coverage of both Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup tournaments. In 2000, he and Mark Webster provided commentary for the Meridan TV and ITV2 series Trans-Atlantic Wrestling Challenge. On May 21, 2011, Carlson "will call all the action from the Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium in Arusha when Tanzania hosts the first game of college American Football to be played on the African continent."^[3] He has returned to Channel 4 to provide commentary for the 2011-12 NFL season and co-hosts the American sports podcast Americarnage with Nat Coombs and Dan Louw.

NFL

In 1998 the United Kingdom terrestrial TV station Channel 5 began covering Monday Night Football for which Mike has been the regular analyst since the start. Currently he presents coverage on Channel 4 alongside co-host Danny Kelly and also worked with former hosts Nat Coombs, Martin Bayfield, Josh Chetwynd , Mark Webster, Simon Golding, and Colin Murray during his time on Channel 5. He contributed to now-defunct weekly American football newspaper First Down and covered NFL Europe for NFL.com, Pro Football Weekly, the International Herald Tribune, and for a couple of seasons, The Guardian.

Carlson developed a few strange "catchphrases" during his commentary of NFL highlights broadcast during gaps in the live game, -including a list of alternative names for stadia and teams e.g. Arizona Crads (half-Card, half crap), Newark Airport Jets & New Jersey Giants, "he couldn't be more alone if he was..." for touchdowns scored by players with nobody around them, with the punchline usually involving a celebrity or famous figure that has been caught with their trousers down, to making special note of anyone involved named "Nate", the name of his son. He often refers to player Torry Holt as "The Torry You Can Support" - a jibe at the Conservative Party's recent misfortunes in UK politics (they are known as the Tories). He also refers to Reggie Bush as "The Bush you can support" - a jibe at George W. Bush. Another common catchphrase is "and that pass was high, but not in the Ricky Williams sense," referring to the player's use of marijuana. He developed a fictional award named "Trent of the Week" for the best player in the week's games named Trent. Some of Mike's more elaborate comedic moments involved complex re-wordings of The Raven during a rough patch for the Baltimore Ravens, and singing a re-lyricised version of John Brown's Body - entitled Jeff George Is Marching On.

Carlson was one of the analysts for the BBC's inaugural coverage of the Super Bowl in February 2008,^[4] hosted by Jake Humphrey, with Rod Woodson as his partner. He returned to analyse for the BBC during their first live regular season game at Wembley in October 2008, with Jerry Rice, again at Super Bowl XLIII, with Rod Woodson, and briefly during the recorded highlights of the 2009 Wembley match. He has also appeared on BBC Sport's "American Football" program showing highlights of the playoffs during the 2009/10 season.

On 6 September 2010 it was announced that Carlson would present Sunday Night Football for the 2010 season on the UK's Channel 4, alongside Gary Imlach.^[5]. His co-host is now Danny Kelly.

Personal

Carlson is married to the author Kirsten Ellis and they have a son, Nathaniel.^[2] In addition he is a published poet, and is known for his love for professional wrestling.

References

1. ^ The Thinking Voice of the NFL: A Conversation with Mike Carlson PopMatters, 14 December 2008
2. ^ ^{a b} User Profile: Michael Carlson Blogger
3. ^ http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=28388
4. ^ "How pro football hooked America". BBC News. 2 February 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7219545.stm. Retrieved 18 September 2008. 
5. ^ "Imlach and Carlson to host SNF". NFLUK.com. 6 September 2010. http://www.nfluk.com/news/imlach-and-carlson-to-host-snf-050910.html. Retrieved 10 September 2010. 

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