As legend has it, sports broadcaster extraordinaire Al Michaels once proclaimed as to the prospects of working at ESPN that he won’t be working for a four-letter network.  Apparently, that vow still applies.

Per a media source, Michaels has turned down an opportunity to serve as the play-by-play man for NFLN’s regular-season slate of pro football games.

Michaels was pursued by the league-owned network to replace Bryant Gumbel, the big name with small talent who handled the duties for the first two years of the NFLN effort.  Michaels currently provides the play-by-play call for NBC’s weekly Sunday night coverage. 

It’s unclear where the NFL will go from here.  Others who have been linked to the job include Tom Hammond, Brad Nessler, Marv Albert, and Pat Summerall.  Other possibilities, in our view, would be Mike Patrick and Brent Musberger.

We also are intrigued by one or more outside-the-box possibilities, such as our pal Dan Patrick, whose weekday radio show streams live on SI.com — and who from time to time allows us to pollute his air waves. 

Another possibility would be to hire both Albert and our other pal Boomer Esiason (who currently team up for a national radio broadcast of the Monday night games), and make it a three-man crew, with the incumbent Cris Collinsworth, a former teammate of Esiason’s.