NFL announcer Al Michaels, 81, stuns fans with unexpected criticism of Trump during live broadcast

Legendary NFL announcer Al Michaels could not resist a dig at Donald Trump as he returned to the broadcast booth for the first time this season.

Michaels, 81, is now in his 41st year as a play-by-play announcer. He was back alongside his sidekick Kirk Herbstreit on Amazon Prime Video as the New England Patriots traveled to the Cleveland Browns in NFL preseason.

And after just three minutes, 21 seconds of the game, Michaels took the chance to weigh in on the latest political debated sparked by the President.

Escalating his trade war with Canada, Trump said Thursday he is renaming Lake Ontario to be known as 'Lake America' and signed an executive order. 

As an overhead camera panned over Huntington Bank Field, sat alongside Lake Erie, Michaels could not resist aiming a sly dig at the fate of another of America's Great Lakes.

'That is Lake Erie. We think it is still called Lake Erie... We're not quite sure at this point,' he said.

Michaels' first regular season game of the NFL season will come as Thursday Night Football begins on September 19 as the Detroit Lions travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills, near Lake Ontario. 

'But we'll be by Lake something like Ontario or whatever it's going to be called by the time we get to Buffalo,' Michaels continued.

'Anyway, you know what I'm talking about... Read the news.'

Trump, signed the order as he was sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with a large sign behind him propped on a stand with a map of the Great Lakes. Over Lake Ontario, in big red letters, the map read 'Lake America'.

On the other side of the president was another map with the words, 'MAKING THE GREAT LAKES EVEN GREATER.' 

Trump said as he was signing the order that he'd 'notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So, we've done everything that you have to do.'

'And this is official, effective immediately,' he added. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, invoking the lake's Indigenous roots and noting that the name predates both Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

'Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,' he wrote.

Michaels' comments on the issue during the live NFL broadcast came as the Browns were preparing to kick off after taking the lead in the first quarter via a six-yard Dillon Gabriel touchdown pass to Luke Floreia. 

At the top of the show, Michaels delivered a fist bump to his colleague Herbstreit, the former 

'Back for year five of Thursday Night Football,' Michaels said. 'Most of the preseason games, Week 3, starters will have the night off. They will here. We'll see a lot of the subs.

'But a lot of stories abound. Including the big one here in Cleveland: Deshaun Watson was named as the starter in the regular season against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

'The reaction in this town, slightly less than thrilling, you might say. And everybody, including your great grandmother, has weighed in. Your turn now.'

Herbstreit went on to express his surprise, but pointed to Watson's experience and the need to play 'smart football' under new head coach Todd Monken as the possible reason for the decision.

And while Watson and backup Shedeur Sanders did not see the field against the Patriots in the first half, the controversy took a new turn as third-string Dillon Gabriel threw three touchdown passes in an impressive first half.