Some of the choicest gigs in TV sports are up for grabs now that Chris Berman announced Thursday he's stepping down from his lead anchor roles on ESPN's NFL studio programming, the NFL Draft and MLB Home Run Derby after Super Bowl 51.
After signing a multiyear contract extension, Berman will stay with ESPN — but in a reduced "emeritus"-type role. Berman plans to spend more time at his vacation home in Maui.
Berman had a 31-year run on "Sunday NFL Countdown." That's an eternity in TV land. Yet while it feels like he's been on our TV screens forever, the 61-year old Berman is actually three years younger than NBC's Bob Costas (64) and four years younger than Fox's Skip Bayless (65).
Still, think about it: When he launched the show, Ronald Reagan was just sworn in for his second term as U.S. president, the Bears were dominating pro football and Pete Rose and Tom Seaver were still playing major league baseball.
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Going back to Brent Musburger on CBS's "The NFL Today," Berman was the last of the star anchors who were bigger and more famous than the analysts surrounding them.
ESPN sources tell Sporting News that Trey Wingo and Suzy Kolber are the favorites to succeed "Boomer" in his NFL studio roles next September. That makes sense. Both are excellent. Both have worked hard, respectively, on "NFL Live" and "Monday Night Countdown" for years.
Meanwhile, Berman is still working it, conducting a half-hour interview with inscrutable Patriots coach Bill Belichick and gearing up for the start of the NFL postseason Saturday. While Berman has covered everything from MLB to the NHL during his 38 years at ESPN, he'll be forever linked to the NFL.
Before the internet, before NFL Network, before NFL Red Zone, Berman's "NFL Primetime" with Tom Jackson was the show where fans — and fantasy football players — went to get their scores, player highlights and NFL drama. It was Must-See TV. It made Berman synonomous with ESPN and vice versa.
Reaction by fans to the broadcast legend stepping down was mixed Thursday and Friday. Some thought it was long overdue, and that his Swami shtick had worn tired and old. Others thanked Berman for injecting some needed humor into sports. Or for making them sports fans.
On Tuesday "Mike and Mike in the Morning," anchors Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic said every sportscaster of the last 20 years who uses jokes, catchprases and humor is basically doing some form of Berman.
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During a one-on-one interview with Sporting News on Thursday, Berman dished on his frustration about ESPN losing "Primetime" in 2006, who he wants to replace him at ESPN and succeeding the late Howard Cosell of ABC Sports.
Having known Berman for years, I can say this: He never took himself as seriously as some other network anchors. He has a longstanding reputation for helping talent on their way up in Bristol. What follows is Sporting News' interview with Berman about his new role, his career and more.
Sporting News: You signed a new multiyear contract extension with ESPN, but you're stepping down from shows like "Sunday NFL Countdown" you built over the decades. Is today bittersweet?
CB: Yes. But this day’s been coming. I’ve known about it. So at the moment I’m enjoying reminiscing and seeing people. I’m not going anywhere really. It's Yogi Berra. I’m leaving — but I’m staying. I’m thrilled that I’m not saying goodbye. That’s what I’m getting out of today. I’m thrilled that I’m still going to be a big part of this. Although a different big part of this. I’m not trying to dodge the emotions. I’ve had every emotion the last few weeks. New Year’s Eve, Saturday night, was the night before my last regular season "(Sunday NFL) Countdown." … I was melancholy. I wasn't sad. But I was thinking. I was melancholy. But then I went and I did the show. I did 16 hours. I was busy doing what I was doing and enjoyed it. The emotions will probably (hit) me after the Super Bowl. But then I was always going to be off the year until the spring anyway. So the emotions all hit in different times and different manners. September will be the eye-opener. But that’s a long way off.
SN: I noticed many TV viewers saying the same thing on social media Thursday: They grew up watching you and Tom on "NFL Primetime." How important was that show to you personally?
CB: "NFL Primetime?" It's the first sentence of my professional tombstone. ‘He hosted NFL Primetime.’ Parentheses. ‘It was must-watch TV because we only got three games on a Sunday afternoon.’ Me and Tom Jackson and other through the years. Robin (Roberts), the late Stuart Scott, the late John Saunders, Bill Pidto — if you were a football fan, you had to see it.
The top thing for me would be, ‘He was just as enthusiastic and genuine at 61 as he was in his 20s.’ I hope that’s the first sentence. The second would be "NFL Primetime." It was a connection to every football fan. You had to watch it. Not because I was doing it with Tom but because it was it. History will show it is the highest-rated studio show in the history of cable TV. It will never be broken. You know the business. You don’t get 5 and 4s on studio shows. You won’t ever get it again, I don’t care what you’re showing, not on cable...Out of the letters I’ve received, in 38 years, the best ones are from the (military) veterans. I give a speech, which I do every year, about Pearl Harbor and that generation. Or a baseball game on Memorial Day, of which I did many. Other than those, the best letters I’ve ever received were those like, ‘Hey, I dont have a great relationship with my father. But one hour a week, I’d sit with him and watch "NFL Primetime." Your show helped me get back together — and dialog with him.’ Or, ‘My boyfriend made me watch — and I became a football fan' — or, ‘We don’t have time to watch Sundays for six hours, but that hour brought me tomorrow’s paper — and thank you for the show.’
It wasn’t, ‘Oh, you’re funny.’ No. It wasn’t the Steve ‘I got you babe’ Bono. No. It was, ‘We enjoyed that hour ever week. It was appointment TV.' Like "I Love Lucy" or "All in the Family." I’m dating myself. But that hit me a lot over the last few weeks — especially when Tom came back to do one of the "Monday Night Football Legends" shows.
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SN: You had a great quote in Jim Miller's ESPN book about NBC grabbing "Sunday Night Football" (as well as rights to Sunday night NFL highlights) in 2006. You said ESPN losing "NFL Primetime" was a 'F— up of the 10th magnitude.' Explain:
CB: Do I miss doing it since 2006? Absolutely. It was the most fun, not the only fun, but the most fun we had. Look, when NBC got "Sunday Night Football," Dick Ebersol, who was a big fan of the show, said we have the right to do that. That was agreed on. I can’t say that we were outbid at it. That was NBC’s ask at the time, of which I certainly wasn't privy. They have the right to actually do it, do you know that? The fact that they don’t I’m not saying is good, bad or not. They actually can do it. I guess the NFL Network can at that time. And no one else can. We can only do six minutes on our little Sunday night show that we do with Herm (Edwards) and Ryan Clark, which I like, from 7:30 to 8:30. But we can only show six minutes of highlights. Not unlimited. So it’s a whole different show. ...
I don’t know if it was written in the book there. I don’t even think we gave it up. I think that was just part of NBC saying, "If we’re going to do this, you’re going to give us A, B and C." And that was C. I can’t say that we were outmaneuvered. I just think (NBC) made it, "No, No. We have to have it." They did watch that show every week. So, yes, I miss doing it. There’s an art form. As a football-gathering place, it was awesome. I mean, it was one of the highlights of my career. Obviously.
SN: So where do the player nicknames like Eric "Sleeping with" Bieniemy and the "Whoops" sound effects come from? Was that an attempt to distinguish you — and a startup cable network like ESPN — from broadcast TV?
CB: No. This was how I would be sitting at home watching Barry Sanders make one of his moves . The "Whoop" was just the Three Stooges. “He could go all the way” and that kind of stuff, and the nicknames, just came out. I did nicknames in college. Nicknames are a part of life, part of baseball. Babe Ruth, "Splendid Splinter," "Say Hey Kid," blah, blah, blah. The nicknames came out because I’m on ("SportsCenter") at 3 in the morning. They came out by accident. That’s a fact. The other stuff would be descriptive. You’re doing highlights. You’re presenting it in a way that you’re engaging the audience. It was never done to distinguish Chris Berman from anyone else doing it. It was done because that was me.
That’s the best way that I deemed to bring you an 80-yard run. “He could go all the way,” is partly an ode to Howard Cosell and the halftime highlights on "Monday Night Football." In some way, I viewed "Primetime" and my halftime highlights on Sunday nights and Monday Night Football as a non-intentional pass (of) the torch from one of the greats. "Primetime" was a one-hour version of his three-minute highlights. I viewed that as an ode to who preceded me — and a tip of the cap. People seemed to love it. It wasn’t to make me so famous. Anyone that tries to do that stuff, Mike, it doesn’t work...Anyone who think that’s the case, or writes that, is factually wrong. I can only tell you I kept hearing, "People love that, keep doing that." OK. Well, if it didn’t work, I wouldn’t have done it any more. That's really the way it is.
SN: Last time we talked, you said Bert “Be Home” Blyleven was your favorite player nickname. Is that still No. 1?
CB: The reason it’s the best one is you don’t have to be a baseball fan, you don’t know have to know that Bert Blyleven threw a curveball and was Hall of Fame (pitcher) for the Twins, Pirates, et cetera. You just have to know that as a parent, you said it to your kids. And as a kid, you heard "Be home by 11" from your parents. Everyone understands what that means. Everybody. So it’s a nickname that cuts through. What is that, an inside joke? No, we’ve all heard it or said it. I have a picture of me and him somewhere at home, looking at our watches, and looking at the camera, and laughing. So it's a pretty good one.
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SN: Who do you want to succeed you on "Sunday NFL Countdown," NFL Draft and MLB Home Run Derby coverage? You built those shows. So you must be invested in those decisions?
CB: I’m invested in them in that they're our babies that I was a big part of. First of all, the body’s warm so it would be inappropriate for me to think about it. Second of all, whatever the company (decides). Look, they chose me once upon a time for that. So I hope their batting average is real good on who does all of them after. I do hope it’s people who are in the building right now. Not that they’ve waited in line to do those specific events. But they have shown that they are worth a showcase event or two or three. He or she. And they can handle it great. That nobody has any qualms about them doing it. That they get what ESPN is trying to deliver. And they do it. I would be actually disappointed if any (of his roles went to) someone from outside of here. Anybody from inside the building would make me very happy if they do it.
SN: There’s been a lot of debate recently about whether highlight shows are going the way of the dinosaur. As an old-time "SportsCenter" anchor, what do you think?
CB: I think that’s a mistake. Look, it's a fact, Mike, that people get their highlights on their phones. Why do I want to see it again? . . . Less people are seeing it for the first time. No one can argue that. However, a well-delivered highlight of a game you might have seen, of something you might have seen when you were with some people, if you’re a sports fan, you might want to see it again. You might be sitting down to watch a "SportsCenter" or something. Give me a half-hour of all the baseball together. "I saw that catch against the wall at 3 in the afternoon. But I didn’t see how the Royals beat the Mariners. Actually, I’m interested in that double with everybody moving on the 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the ninth."
So well-done highlights are still a great form of entertainment, A, a great form of information, B; even if it's not, C, the first time you’re getting them. A highlight-driven show is a good watch to me. Appointment highlights-driven shows are necessary in this business. I think those who say they've gone the way of the dinosaur are overthinking and underestimating the sports fan who can’t get enough, even if he or she has seen it once or twice already. I really believe that.
SN: Many of the talent you came up with such as Tom Jackson, Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann are gone. ESPN lost the late, great John Saunders and Stuart Scott. Does it fell like the end of an era at the Worldwide Leader?
CB: I'm not there yet to size it up. I mean the Super Bowl is a month away. I'll think about it a little more in March. I'm not evading the question. I'm still in the moment of finish the playoffs. I interviewed Bill Belichick yesterday for a half-hour. Nobody gets to do that. Or very few. So I'm still doing it. I haven't even analyzed this week's game. And I am the Swami...Bob Ley is still here. We're different people. He represents where we've been. If you're looking for just timeline, I guess after me, of the announcers, maybe we go to Steve Levy or Linda Cohn. ...
We lost John Saunders tragically this year. That's a loss I'm having trouble getting over. He was one of my best friends. Tommy left last year. It's going to be me at least off the regular football. I don't know if it's the end of an era. ESPN means a lot of things to different people. A lot of people look at us in the 80's and 90's as their childhood. Therefore not seeing me they might go, 'Boy, that was my childhood.' But it's not about me. The place is still here doing sports the best way we know how to do it. Would I wiggle and waggle and do things a little differently here and there? Sure. But so would you if you were running it. We're still the best there is. Scott Van Pelt is carrying the torch very nicely to mention one name. So it's for you to say if it's the end of an era.
