Early life and education
Berman is Jewish. He was raised in Irvington, New York. During his childhood he went to Camp Winnebago in Fayette, Maine. In 1970, he attended the Hackley School and Brown University where he majored in History, graduating in 1977.
Career
Berman then moved to WNVR in Waterbury, Connecticut. Berman was eventually hired at Hartford's WVIT-TV to do weekend sports at $23 per shift. He joined ESPN in 1979 a month after its founding and has been with the network since. Along with Bob Ley, he is one of ESPN's longest-tenured employees. Berman, who is generally known to be heavy-set, often jokes that he now uses his original ESPN jacket from 1979 when he was much skinnier. He is the host of
Monday Night Countdown, replacing previous host Stuart Scott. In 1988 and 1989, he hosted ESPN's first game show,
Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia which was taped at the now-defunct Boardwalk and Baseball amusement park in Orlando, Florida.
He is well known for his various catch-phrases and player nicknames. His rendition of, "He could...go...all...the...way!" is borrowed from Howard Cosell, while another of his famous calls, "Back-back-back-back" comes from Red Barber. This strategic and often complicated call is usually screamed by Berman when a baseball is hit a very long way, and is followed by "Gone!" when the ball leaves the field of play. Another catch-phrase: "Whoop!" during highlights when a player makes a quick move or causes someone to miss or make a mistake. He is most known for the use of puns to make nicknames for certain players, i.e. one of his more famous involves former Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bert Blyleven calling him Bert "
Be Home" Blyleven (a pun on the phrase "
be home by eleven"). A big fan of the Canadian Football League (CFL), Berman watched their games growing up inConnecticut. He has talked to many people such as former Coach Marv Levy, Joe Theismann, Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Joe Horn, and Trent Green about their participation in that 'other'Pro Football league and often shows CFL highlights and does Grey Cup picks every year as well.
Berman also goes by his alter ego, "The Swami," when making prognostications on
Sunday NFL Countdown.
In December 2008 the Associated Press ran a long retrospective on Berman's 30 year career with ESPN. [1] “He is our most important person,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN’s vice president of production. “He is the face of ESPN,” he added. Berman noted that his contract with ESPN expires on his 55th birthday, and that he does not see himself broadcasting into his 60's.
Despite being born in Connecticut, Berman has become a strong backer of the Buffalo Bills in recent years.[2] This sentiment is echoed in Berman's on-air phrase, "No One Circles the Wagons Like the Buffalo Bills."
In other media
- Berman lent his voice to the videogame ESPN NFL 2K5 and hosts the pregame show. As a hidden feature, Berman appears as a free agent quarterback in season mode, and also has his own team in the game, the Bristol Swamis, named after Bristol, Connecticut, where ESPN headquarters are located and his nickname, "the Swami."
- Berman appeared in Adam Sandler's 1998 goofball comedy The Waterboy as well as Sandler's The Longest Yard in 2005 where he played himself as the play-by-play announcer of the prison football game. Berman also appeared as himself in Necessary Roughness in 1991, Little Big League in 1994, and Eddie and Kingpin in 1996, as well as the 1995 Hootie and the Blowfish video for the single, "Only Wanna Be With You."
- Berman has cameoed on various episodes of Even Stevens as a SportsCenter anchor.
- Berman appeared in the ESPN Baseball Tonight computer game and videogame.
- During a segment of the "Chase the Cheese" event on an episode of Sesame Street, Berman voiced the sports announcer.
- Berman had a cameo appearance in the MTV animated series Clone High. He, along with Dan Patrick provided commentary for the school's basketball game until he was eaten at the end of the episode by the rival school's mascot.
- Berman appears in Nutrisystem commercials with Don Shula, Dan Marino, and Mike Golic using some of his trademark phrases and nicknames who show how much weight they lost.
Honors
- National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association National Sportscaster of the Year (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001)
- American Sportscasters Association Sportscaster of the Year - Studio Host (1995, 1997, 1998)
- CableACE Award Best Cable Sportscaster 1987, 1988, 1990
- 1997 "TV's Most Fascinating Stars" from People
- 2001 Maxwell Football Club's Reds Bagnell Award
- 2007 honorary degree from Brown University.
- 2009 Presented Ralph C. Wilson Jr. into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Received star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 24, 2010
- Received the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award on July 12, 2010
Career timeline
- 1979–present: SportsCenter anchor (occasionally since 1990) ESPNtv.com - The People
- 1985–present: Sunday NFL Countdown host
- 1985–present: NFL Draft host
- 1986–present: U.S. Open Nightly Show host
- 1987–2005: NFL Primetime host
- 1987–2005: Sunday Night Football halftime host
- 1990–present: MLB on ESPN Play-by-Play (selected games)
- 1986–present: Home Run Derby Play-by-Play
- 1996–1999, 2006–present, and during NFL playoff between 1998 to 2005: Monday Night Football halftime host
- 2003–present: U.S. Open host
- 2003–2004: NHL on ESPN and NHL on ABC studio co-host (Stanley Cup Finals)
- 2006–present: Monday Night Countdown host
Personal
Berman with his wife Kathy and their family live in Cheshire, Connecticut. In 2007, Berman built a house in Olowalu, Hawaii on the island of Maui. He has vacationed on the island for the past 30 years and is reportedly very fond of the locale and its residents. Some reports also have him moving there permanently after his retirement from ESPN.[3].
Controversy
In February 2008, videos of Berman on the ABC
Monday Night Football set appeared on the video sharing site YouTube. The videos, filmed in 2000, when Berman anchored the
MNF halftime show, depicted Berman using off-color language and flirting with a female member of the broadcast crew during commercial breaks. Two bad - Sports, Nevada, National Football League - baltimoresun.com Lines of his included insults on random subjects (including Rudolph and Mark Brunell) and insults on the games, including, "Well, it's the same (bleep)in thing every week. Good Rams, good Colts!" Berman acknowledged the authenticity of the videos, but commented, "Do I wish I didn't say a few things nine years ago? Yes. But if that's the worst thing I ever did, I can live with it."
