Veteran sports announcer Al Michaels—best known for his “Do you believe in miracles?” call when the USA ice hockey team beat the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics—has been “traded” to NBC/Universal for basically four rounds of golf, highlights of the Olympics, Notre Dame football, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness…and 1927 cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Why? Well, Walt Disney himself created Oswald and produced 26 cartoon shorts featuring the “lucky rabbit.” However, Universal Studios distributed the films and has owned the rights to Oswald ever since. Because he did not have any rights to Oswald, Disney created a similar character in the form of a mouse…and an empire was born.
But now Oswald is a Disney property…79 years later.
Some interesting quotes:
“When Bob (Iger) was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word,” Walt Disney’s daughter Diane Disney Miller said in a statement. “Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun.”
“Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice,” Michaels said, referring to what the Kansas City Chiefs gave the New York Jets as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract. “I’m going to be a trivia answer someday.”
Brian Kelley 