By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Courtesy: ESPN Images
Sportscaster Chris Berman has been one of the founding fathers of ESPN. Berman has been part of the company since 1979.
Throughout his career, Berman reached the pinnacle. His work at ESPN made him a recognizable and popular figure because of his catchphrases. Berman has won the Sports Emmy 10 times and is a 6-time National Sports Broadcaster of the Year.
Berman joined “The Pat McAfee Show” to talk about his career at ESPN and the evolution of sports.
“If someone does something, you get it on your phone,” Berman said. “Everybody has an opinion. Everyone’s an expert instantly, rather than dating myself, a San Francisco Giants fan growing up in the Northeast in Connecticut. Willie Mays was my guy. They play the Dodgers Tuesday night m. I got the score on Thursday morning. There was no other way to get it. There was no news at all on the radio, let alone in the morning paper. When Sportscenter began, what we did was we were tomorrow’s paper today.”
During this interview, Berman was giving the viewers and everyone else sitting around him some American history on cable and television. So much has changed compared to the late 70s and early 80s.
“Cable really began in the late 70s,” Berman said. “It’s not over, and it won’t be for a while.”
ESPN, CNN, and MTV came around almost at the same time. HBO didn’t come around until the late 80s. Berman also shares his thoughts about the difference between athletes now and in the past.
“The difference is there is less as we move forward,” Berman said. “It’s not about what money is made; it has nothing to do with it; it’s all irrelevant. You have less hard scrapple less none comment this that wasn’t a college recruit. So there’s more expected. If you make the pros in most sports and you’re going to sign a second deal, it’s almost expected that it will be. So what separates the great still this is what hasn’t changed- the great still from the I’m having a nice career, and I can play to 30-31. There’s that will of I want to be even better even though I’m 34 years old.”
Berman is the longest-tenured on-air voice at ESPN. He’s also a recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Berman calling the home run derby for so many years is something fans will never forget.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
X: @mmm_sportnfilms, Instagram: @miguel_passionforsports and @themmmjournal, LinkedIn: The MMM Journal, TikTok: @miguelmikemedina
