Picture 11This morning, while heading to Pike Place Market for breakfast and to pick up some items for Christmas dinner, I caught music & culture columnist / critic Touré mentioning the passing of sportscaster George Michael on Thursday morning. His comment really struck home for me, as while I hadn’t ever really thought about it that way, he was spot on about how “The George Michael Sports Machine” was really the precursor to the show that many millions of sports fans watch every day – ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

I remember countless late Sunday evenings where I watched “Sports Machine” in my bedroom as a teenager, getting an awesome wrap up of the week that was. One notable part of the show was the “button” that turned on the “sports machine,” on-set, as the highlights began to run. Simple props, really, but it really drove home the point for me as a television show.

It’s definitely a sad day for me as Michael was a part of my sports fan “growing up” time, and while the show wasn’t necessarily “appointment television” for me, I really enjoyed it. For those of us who didn’t grow up in today’s always-on sports highlights universe, it’s definitely interesting to look back on what came before where we’re at nowadays.

There are lots of articles and columns talking about Michael and his career today, but it seemed most appropriate to point to this piece from the Washington Post’s Adam Bernstein, written with some perspective of Michael’s “home” market of Washington, D.C. The WaPo has also opened up a spot for comments about George Michael on its Post Mortem blog.

[update 3:57pm]

Check out this promo, ca. 1985, for the “Sports Machine” — it’ll be interesting to those of you who never saw it, via ballhype.