Yankees' enemy Houston Astros catch stray troll from Al Michaels during Jets-Browns

After a drudgery-filled season of Thursday Night Football, Al Michaels may have gotten his fastball back in the nick of time. Unfortunately, the Astros saw his fastball coming and drilled it into the Crawford Boxes for a three-run roof shaker.

With Joe Flacco laying waste to an unprepared Jets club, it's no wonder this might've felt like 2017 to Michaels, but it was actually the Year of Our Lord 2023. In the middle of a full season of mid-week NFL stinkers, the Browns battling the Jets with a chance to clinch an improbable playoff berth actually felt electric. All eyes were on the matchup. Cleveland was buzzing -- and not in a "Jose Altuve's neck before the biggest home run of his career" way.

And, as Trevor Siemian awaited the snap on a 3rd & 17 (down 20), one fan in the stands could be heard paying tribute to legendary Cleveland drummer John Adams, who passed away after years of baseball disruption from the bleachers earlier in 2023.

But what Michaels heard ... was something a little different. Even six years after the fact (and nearly four years after we all learned about it), a trash can bang still sounds decidedly like a prolonged Evan Gattis plate appearance.

Yankees fans rejoice after Al Michaels calls out Astros for cheating on Thursday Night Football

"Ugh. Come ON. It's been FOREVER. Do we REALLY still have to make Astros trash can jokes every time we hear metallic banging at an athletic competition?"

Yes. Yes, we do. Sorry. You folks didn't pay a real price, so now you have to be subjected to this slight inconvenience. Infinite apologies.

Unfortunately for the Jets, this game got out of hand fast, as Cleveland got to gloat on 'em with New York's former backup QB leading the way towards an unexpectedly dominant victory. Considering the margin of victory, a few stolen signs wouldn't have made much difference in this contest. It's not like it was, say, a razor-thin, seven-game series during which the winning team took care of business all four times at home and never on the road.