Profile of Chris Berman on Famous Like Me

Chris "Boomer" Berman (born May 10, 1955, in Greenwich, Connecticut) is a noted host and anchor of SportsCenter, NFL Primetime, NFL Countdown, Baseball Tonight, and other programming on ESPN.

Berman joined ESPN in October, 1979, a month after the cable channel debuted. Since 1980, Berman has hosted the NFL Draft. Beginning in 1987, Berman hosted pregame and postgame highlight shows during the NFL season. He joined ABC Sports as a halftime host on Monday Night Football in 1996. Berman is also the chief play-by-play announcer for ESPN's Wednesday baseball telecasts. Chris Berman's most noteworthy baseball broadcast arguably occured on September 6, 1995, when he was on hand for Cal Ripken, Jr.'s record breaking 2131st consecutive game. In recent years he has ventured into hockey and golf.

Berman is most known for nicknaming players who show up on the highlights. He uses them for various athletes, but mostly for baseball players, with puns on their names and/or pop-culture references, such as Bert "Be Home" Blyleven and Barry "U.S." Bonds (based on blues musician Gary "U.S." Bonds). Perhaps the most outlandish was Jose "Won't You Let Me Take You on a Sea" Cruz. Most of his nicknames or "Bermanisms" are used exclusively by him, although a fellow ESPN sportscaster, the late Tom Mees, used to cite them from time to time. One creation, "Crime Dog" for Fred McGriff (a play on McGruff), entered mainstream usage, especially after McGriff allowed as how he rather liked it. When the show changed executive producers in 1985, Berman found out he was no longer allowed to use his now famous nicknames. After receiving many letters protesting the decision – which included support from baseball player George Brett – the brass at ESPN relented, and Berman was soon back to using the nicknames. Recently though, some have argued that this routine has outlived its novelty.

He began his broadcasting career as a student at Brown University in the mid-1970s. In the early years of ESPN, he anchored SportsCenter, which he still does occasionally (such as the program's 20,000th and 25,000th shows and two "old school" editions on August 11 and 12, 2004 with Greg Gumbel and George Grande respectively.)

Berman is generally known to be a nice and fun-loving person. His obvious enthusiasm, for whatever sporting event he is covering at a given moment, have always set the tone for the now well-established ESPN style, and if anything, Berman continues to keep that bar raised a notch.

Catch phrases

• "That's why they play the game."
• "Back back back back back back ... GONE!" (tribute to old-time announcers such as Red Barber and Jack Brickhouse)
• "He could ... go ... all ... the ... way!" (originally a Howard Cosell phrase)
• "Nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!"
• "The New York Football Giants"
• "Da Raid-ahs!"
• "Rumblin', Bumblin', Stumblin'"
• "The frozen tundra of Lambeau Field" - mimicking the voice of NFL Films announcer John Facenda
• "It's a fumble!"
• "The NFC Norris Division." - The NFC Central/NFC North division, after the NHL's old Norris Division
• "Look at that little Meggett run!" (used in highlights when former player Dave Meggett had the ball - and was used again in the 2005 movie The Longest Yard)

A sampling of ballplayer niacknames and explanations where necessary

• David "Green" Akers - a reference to Green Acres a 1960's comedy
• Jeff "Brown Paper" Bagwell
• Bert "Be Home" Blyleven - a favorite of many Major League Baseball players
• Wade "Cranberry" Boggs
• Tedy "Ice Cold" Bruschi - a reference to cold beer
• Marc "Ray" Bulger - a reference to actor Ray Bolger who played the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, usually accompanied with a few lines of the scarecrow song
• Ron "Born in the U.S." Cey - Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."
• Ben "Winter" Coates
• Alge "Cinnamon" Crumpler
• Jake "Daylight Come and You Gotta" Delhomme - Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song"
• "Nomar Mr. Nice Guy" Garciaparra
• Dwight "Johnny B." Gooden - Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode"
• LaMarr "Where Does It" Hoyt
• John Kasey "at the foot" - parody of "Casey at the Bat"
• John "I am not a" Kruk - President Richard Nixon
• "Marshall Marshall Marshall" Faulk - Marcia of The Brady Bunch
• Curtis "My Favorite" Martin - TV sitcom My Favorite Martian
• Josh "Tears of" McCown - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' song "The Tears of a Clown"
• Oddibe "Young Again" McDowell
• "Me And Willie McGee" - Janis Joplin song "Me and Bobby McGee" (words and music by Kris Kristofferson)
• Mark "Eve of Destruction" McGwire - Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction"
• Eddie "Eat, Drink, and Be" Murray
• Ken "Good Evening Mister" Phelps - catchphrase from Mission: Impossible
• Mike "Pepperoni" Piazza
• Kirby "Union Gap" Puckett - Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
• Tim "Purple" Raines - Prince's Purple Rain
• Dave "Prince" Righetti - brand of spaghetti
• Jose "Blame it on" Rijo - movie Blame It On Rio
• Tom "Leave it to" Seaver - TV sitcom Leave it to Beaver
• Doug "Bats in the" Pelfrey - bats in the belfry
• Gary Sheffield "of Dreams" - baseball movie, Field of Dreams
• Sammy "Say It Ain't" Sosa - Shoeless Joe Jackson
• Frank Tanana "Daiquiri" - mixed drink, Banana Daiquiri
• George "Iced" Teague
• "Well-dressed Amani" Toomer
• Manny "Kingston" Trillo - The Kingston Trio
• Robin Ventura "Highway" - America's "Ventura Highway"
• Gary "Hospital" Ward
• Geoff "Wrath of" Zahn - movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Honors

• 12 CableACE Awards
• 7 Emmy Awards
• National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association National Sportscaster of the Year (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001)
• American Sportscasters Association Sportscaster of the Year (1995 through 1997)
• The Cable Guide Best Cable Sportscaster 1987, 1988, 1990
• 1997 "TV's Most Fascinating Stars" from People
• 2001 Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia Reds Bagnell Award

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