Actually it's rare that the mikes are hot during commercial breaks. As AKGolf said, in the good old C band days, the camera guys used to entertain the guys back in NY by going to the "hottest" girls in the stands and the mikes were never muted on the announcers. You found out what they really thought of the just blown call in non broadcast regulated language. Some Aholes called in and complained which is when they went to the muted mikes and wide stadium shots. Not sure why they'd listen to people that were illegally watching priority non public feeds . . . There was one famous basketball announcer (can't remember his name) that used to have contests for the C-Band watchers during commercial breaks. Those were the good old days, Carson live to New York, then HBO threw the switch %#)(*^&