It is the four-year ritual for Al Michaels. When the Winter Olympics rolls around, he repeatedly gets asked about his legendary “Do you believe in miracles?” call which punctuated the United States’ legendary victory over Russia.

Michaels is quick to point out that 34 years have passed since the 1980 Olympics.

“If you’re under 40, you don’t remember it,” Michaels said.

The call, though, remains vibrant to the next generation thanks to the movie, Miracle, starring Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks.

“I can’t tell you how many youth coaches tell me they show that movie at the beginning of the season,” Michaels said. “The movie has given it a different life.”

However, here’s the kicker: Michaels’ famous call almost didn’t make it into the movie. I’ll let Michaels take it from here:

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The director (Gavin O’Connor), a terrific guy, asked me to be part of the movie. I remember the executives at Disney wanted to make it into a love story. Thankfully, Gavin got them back on track.

I said, ‘Gavin, here’s the deal. Whatever I do, I’m going to do it as closely as I would have done (if he was calling it live). Nobody’s going to write this for me. I’ll be happy to connect the dots and put in the context.’

I said I wouldn’t re-do the last 30 seconds (of the U.S.-Russia game). That was a non-starter for me.

Well, there was this sound guy. He was over-the-top, really over-bearing. He was crazy that I wouldn’t do the last 30 seconds. The original audio sounded muddy. He wanted me to re-do what I actually said, but he’s got violins coming in. He’s doing it as the artist.

I said, no. I told Gavin, ‘You’re going to have to live with this.’

The sound guy was pissed off. During the last 30 seconds, he puts the music in so loud that he drowns me out.

Now this is before the movie comes out. My wife and I are at a private screening with (Disney heads) Michael Eisner and Bob Iger. They play the movie, and the lights come up. Eisner says to me, ‘Where’s the line?’ I explain to him what happened. He gets on the phone and says, ‘Tell Gavin I want to hear Al’s call.’

If not for Eisner, I would have been drowned out. The whole thing really was an instructive piece about the business and egos.