A six-time honoree of the National Sports Media Association's National Sportscaster of the Year award, Berman was instrumental in establishing ESPN's lasting popularity during the network's formative years.[3] He is well known for his various catchphrases and quirky demeanor.
In January 2017, ESPN announced that Berman would be stepping down from several NFL-related roles at the network, but would remain at the company.[4] In May 2021, Berman signed a multiyear contract with ESPN to continue to host NFL Primetime.[5]
Early life
Berman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut,[6] and grew up in Irvington, New York, the son of Peggy Shevell (née Tenenbaum), who worked as a reporter-researcher for Time magazine, and James Keliner Berman, a corporate executive vice president.[1] He was raised Jewish.[7] During his childhood, he went to Camp Winnebago in Fayette, Maine. He enrolled at the Hackley School in 1970, and graduated Brown University in 1977 with a degree in history,[8] where he was the sports director of the school's radio station, WBRU.[9]
Berman's sportscasting career began at Hartford's WVIT-TV as a weekend sports anchor. He joined ESPN in 1979, a month after its founding, and has been with the network ever since. He is one of ESPN's longest-tenured employees, and the only remaining SportsCenter anchor from 1979. He spent 31 years as the host of both Sunday NFL Countdown, and ten years hosting Monday Night Countdown. In addition, during the NFL season, he hosts the evening SportsCenter (airing generally at either 7:30 PM Eastern Time or 11 PM Eastern Time) along with Herm Edwards, who replaced Tom Jackson for the 2016 season. Berman often appears on SportsCenter at night (midnight to 1 a.m.) hosting brief segments called "Chris Berman's two-minute drill". From 1988-1989, he hosted ESPN's first game show, Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia.[10]
By 1993, Berman was described as the leader of the ESPN team and one of the most recognizable sportscasters in the business. "The true test is when Chris is on, turn down your TV and open your window. You will hear him. The microphone is nothing but a prop," said fellow ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann.[3] In December 2008, the Associated Press ran a long retrospective on Berman's 30-year career with ESPN.[11] "He is our most important person," said Norby Williamson, ESPN's vice president of production. "He is the face of ESPN," he added. At the time, Berman noted that his contract with ESPN would expire on his 55th birthday, and that he did not see himself broadcasting into his 60s. In April 2010, however, ESPN extended Berman's contract for an undisclosed period of time, only noting that it was a multi-year deal.[12] The contract was eventually revealed to expire at the end of 2016.[13]
Between 1995-2006, Berman hosted Monday Night Football as well as live coverage of three Super Bowls for ABC Sports. He continued to host MNF when ESPN got the rights in 2006.
Berman was a season ticket holder for the Hartford Whalers and was a strong supporter of the team's staying in Connecticut. He occasionally makes reference to the team, sometimes even by humming the team's theme song, "Brass Bonanza". Berman has also become a strong backer of the Buffalo Bills in recent years. In an interview with Buffalo Bills reporter and play-by-play voice John Murphy on July 26, 2012, Berman acknowledged that you could call him a "Bills Booster".[14] This sentiment is also echoed in Berman's on-air phrase, "No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!"[14] In addition, he has been involved with several events relating to the Bills, such as team founder Ralph Wilson's induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Bruce Smith's Bills Hall of Fame induction in September 2016. Berman signed a new contract in January 2017 for a reduced schedule, but remains at ESPN.
On October 29, 2018, Berman served as the on-field emcee for Thurman Thomas's number retirement ceremony. In May 2019, Berman called a three-game series for the Boston Red Sox Radio Network alongside longtime Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione.[15]
In 2019, Berman and Tom Jackson re-united for a revival of NFL Primetime, streamed exclusively on ESPN+.[16] In addition, they have also hosted the "fastest three minutes" segments on the Monday Night Football halftime show.
Berman signed a multiyear contract with ESPN in May 2021 to continue to host NFL PrimeTime.[5] In the ESPN contract announcement, Berman said "ESPN has been almost two-thirds of my life. I'm honored that what I do still works."[5]
Style
Berman is well known for his various catchphrases and player nicknames.[17]
His mid-play prediction of a touchdown run as "He could...go...all...the...way!" is perhaps his most famous phrase, and one of the first he adopted.[18] It was featured on the Jock Rock, Volume 2 compilation album.[19]
His home run calls of "Back, back, back, back...Gone!", which he implements most commonly during the MLB Home Run Derby.[20]
A "Whoop!" is uttered during highlights when a player makes a quick move or causes someone to miss or make a mistake.[18]
"Tick, tick, tick, tick tick tick tick..." during a post-game recap, for a play or moment in which the clock is a factor.[21]
When a large player such as a lineman runs with the football, Berman describes him as "rumblin', bumblin', stumblin'".[22]
Berman is known for integrating puns into player nicknames. For example, he dubbed former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven "Bert Be Home Blyleven".[18] He referred to San Diego Chargers running back Eric Bieniemy as "Eric Sleeping With Bieniemy". On occasion, the puns were clever, such as "Young Again" for Oddibe McDowell. Other examples include “ABCDEFG” for Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb[23] and an imitation of a sneeze for Indianapolis Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew, where Berman goes, “min-min-min, MIN-SHEW!”[24][25]
When speaking about the Las Vegas Raiders, he will often pronounce them as "the RRRAY-DAHS" in an homage to late owner Al Davis' accent.
When a ball carrier breaks a tackle, he will mimic a collision sound after every broken tackle.
The Detroit Lions have never won an NFC Championship Game and, as such, have never made it to the Super Bowl, earning them a long history of denigration. Thus, when the Lions do something good, Berman will sometimes utter the word, "LIONS???" in a surprised tone.[26][27]
Berman adopts the persona of his alter ego, "The Swami," to make predictions on Sunday NFL Countdown. For seven consecutive years "The Swami" predicted a Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Buffalo Bills, one or the other – but never both – making it during that span.[28]
Reception
Many have enjoyed Berman's approach over the years, and he has won various awards. A 1990 Sports Illustrated feature article cited traits that struck a chord with his TV audience: playfulness, humor, and a Fred Flintstone-like persona. The nicknames were called a key to his success. His genuine love of sports was also noted.[29]
However, he has also drawn a good deal of criticism. Over time, his style came to rub quite a few viewers the wrong way.[30] His detractors find him overly bombastic - and worse, unfunny. A "blowhard...tossing out corny clichés" was one description.[31] Columnist Phil Mushnick viewed his "clown act" as forced, self-serving, and stale.[32][33][34] "Schtick" is another label that has been applied.[35] A Paste article from 2017 noted that the reasons for his appeal were also what made him eventually grow tiresome.[36]
Berman married Katherine "Kathy" Alexinski in 1983. She died in a traffic collision in Woodbury, Connecticut on May 10, 2017.[37][38] Katherine Berman was driving drunk when she crashed into the back of another vehicle, killing herself and the other driver.[37] The couple had two children.[1][39]
Honors
Berman speaks at Brown University before receiving his honorary degree in 2007
NFL Primetime is a sports television program that has aired on ESPN since 1987. The show is presented similarly to ESPN's own SportsCenter, featuring scores, highlights, and analysis of every game of the week in the NFL.
Stuart Orlando Scott was an American sportscaster and anchor on ESPN, including on SportsCenter. Known for his hip-hop style and use of catchphrases, Scott was also a regular for the network in its National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) coverage.
Joseph Keyshawn Johnson is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons.
Kirk Edward Herbstreit is an American sportscaster and former college football player. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay, a television program covering college football, and provides color commentary on college football games on ESPN and ABC and Thursday night NFL games on Prime Video. For his TV work, Herbstreit has won five Sports Emmy Awards in various categories. He appeared annually as a commentator in EA Sports' NCAA Football video game until the series was put on hiatus following NCAA Football 14.
Suzy Kolber (; born 1963 or 1964 is an American football sideline reporter, co-producer, and a former ESPN sports anchor and reporter. She was one of the original anchors of ESPN2 when it launched in 1993. Three years later, she left ESPN2 to join Fox Sports, but returned to ESPN in late 1999. In 2023, she and several other ESPN employees were terminated by the network in what was described as a cost-cutting measure.
Thomas Louie Jackson, also referred to as "TJ" or "Tommy", is an American sports commentator and former professional football player. He played as a linebacker for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 to 1986. He was a member of Denver's "Orange Crush Defense" and helped lead the Broncos to the AFC Championship in 1977 and 1986. After his playing career ended, he enjoyed a successful 29-year run as an NFL analyst for ESPN. He was given the Pete Rozelle Award for excellence in broadcasting by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
John Peterson Saunders was a Canadian-American sports journalist. He worked for ESPN and ABC from 1986 until his death in 2016.
Mike Tirico is an American sportscaster. He is currently the NFL play-by-play announcer on NBC's Sunday Night Football, having replaced Al Michaels in 2022. From 2006 to 2015, Tirico served as a play-by-play announcer on ESPN's Monday Night Football. Tirico has called a multitude of sports in his career, including the NBA, NHL, college football and basketball, golf, tennis, and World Cup soccer.
Anthony Darelle "Booger" McFarland is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisiana State University and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 1999 NFL draft. McFarland also played for the Indianapolis Colts, and won two Super Bowl rings in his career: one with the Buccaneers and another with the Colts. He was an analyst for Monday Night Football in 2018 and 2019, before joining as a pregame analyst on Monday Night Countdown in 2020.
Monday Night Countdown is an American pregame television program that is broadcast on ESPN, preceding its coverage of Monday Night Football. For the network's non-Monday broadcasts, the pregame show is simply titled NFL Countdown. When it debuted in 1993 as NFL Prime Monday, and Monday Night Football was airing on ABC, the pregame show was one of the first cross-pollinations between ESPN and ABC Sports, each of which operated largely under separate management at the time. The show was renamed Monday Night Countdown in 1998 to match its sister show Sunday NFL Countdown, and Monday Night Football moved from ABC to ESPN in 2006. When ABC began airing selected Monday Night Football games in 2016, the network's broadcasts were preceded by simulcasts of Monday Night Countdown. The current sponsor is Panera, starting with the 2023 season. Previous sponsors of the show include UPS, Applebee's, Call of Duty, Courtyard by Marriott and Subway.
Sunday NFL Countdown is an American pre-game show broadcast by ESPN as part of the network's coverage of the National Football League. The program is broadcast on Sunday mornings throughout the regular season, featuring segments highlighting news from around the league, as well as previews and analysis of the day's games. The program debuted as NFL GameDay in 1985, then was renamed as NFL Countdown in 1996, and Sunday NFL Countdown in 1998 to disambiguate it from its Monday night counterpart Monday Night Countdown. During the NFL playoffs, editions of the show are titled as Postseason NFL Countdown.
NFL Matchup is a National Football League (NFL) preview show that airs every week during the regular season and playoffs. At various times, the official name was based on the current sponsor in the format [Sponsor Name] NFL Matchup. Since 2017 it is known simply as the ESPN NFL Matchup, and it is produced utilizing commentary and footage from NFL Films.
Joseph William Tessitore is an American sportscaster for ABC and ESPN. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the blow-by-blow broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer for Holey Moley on ABC alongside comedian Rob Riggle and NBA star Stephen Curry and announces college football on ESPN and ABC. In 2018 and 2019, Tessitore was also the play-by-play broadcaster of Monday Night Football, alongside former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten in 2018 and analyst Booger McFarland in 2018 and 2019.
Phil Mushnick is a sports columnist for the New York Post. Over his career he has served as a beat reporter for the New York Cosmos, the New Jersey Nets, and the New York Rangers. Since 1982, he has been the Post’s sports television and radio columnist. Mushnick is known for his scathing commentary and columns, many of which are critical of a particular person.
Suzette Maria Taylor is an American sportscaster for NBC Sports. She has worked for ESPN and the SEC Network. She has covered college football, college volleyball, National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and men's and women's college basketball.
Leonard Berman is an American television sportscaster and journalist who is based in New York City. He is currently hosting the morning show on WOR-AM along with Michael Riedel.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
