Al Michaels Chirped the Astros and Revived an Old Nickelodeon Memory on TNF

When the 2023 NFL season began, a Week 17 Thursday Night Football game between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns seemed like an intriguing prospect. Both teams had big-name quarterbacks on the roster and, by the time December rolled around, could be fighting for AFC playoff position.

Things, however, didn't play out as planned. Both clubs lost their signal-callers to injury, and the Jets slipped down the standings. The Browns, however, hung tough and even clinched a playoff berth on Thursday night.

And while the game wasn't the highest quality you'll ever see, Al Michaels did manage to uncork another zinger. And this time, he killed two birds with one stone. Not only did the broadcast legend tweak the Houston Astros but he also sent a generation of football fans down memory lane.

Let's roll the tape.

Michaels Referenced the Astros' Sign Stealing

If you've ever been to a sporting event, you're familiar with home fans getting loud in an attempt to throw the other team off its collective game. And with a playoff spot on the line, Cleveland's "Dawg Pound" wasn't going to take any chances.

At one point in the contest, the Amazon cameras picked up what sounded like fans banging on metal in an effort to pump up the volume. When the play ended, Michaels noted the noise.

"Somebody's pounding on that trash can," he quipped before the next snap. "I think the Astros must be in town."

That, of course, is a reference to the baseball club's 2017 sign-stealing scandal. After video was used to identify what pitch was coming, someone would bang on a trash can to send an audible signal to the batter.

Some Fans Also Recalled an Old Nick Song

But that wasn't the only reference Michaels made. Whether he intended it or not, he also sent fans of a certain generation back to the days of Nickelodeon.

On a Reddit post highlighting the one-liner, a comment from user OK_Fee1043 simply read, "Bangin on a trash can / Drummin on a street light." That reference, as of Friday morning, had received more than 600 upvotes and prompted a string of double-digit replies.

"ONE LITTLE VOICE," user quadstriker followed up, for example.

"THINK BIG," user Sirtopofhat added.

That may sound like just a bunch of random words, but it harks back to a 1993 episode of Nickelodeon's Doug. Without rehashing the entire plot, we can say that Doug and his friend Skeeter attempt to form a garage band, with their first song being "Banging on a Trash Can." They ask another friend, Bebe, to share the recording with her cousin who works in the music business, but she then inserts herself into the band, insisting they have to "think big."

That conflict was represented, as things often were, through Doug's vivid imagination. In his mind, there was a music video for "Banging on a Trash Can," which featured constant interruptions from Bebe with lyrics about thinking big.

And while the show has faded away and been replaced by others, that earworm is still lodged in the minds of at least some of the people who once heard it.

All it took was Al Michaels to bring it back to life.