Chris Berman

Christopher James "Chris" Berman (born May 10, 1955), also known by the nickname Boomer, is an American sportscaster. He anchors SportsCenter, Monday Night Countdown, Sunday NFL Countdown, U.S. Open golf, the Stanley Cup Finals, and other programming on ESPN and ABC Sports. Berman calls select MLB games for ESPN. In 2012, he called play-by-play for the Monday Night Football game between the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders with color commentator Trent Dilfer and sideline reporter Rachel Nichols. This was his first time calling an NFL game.

Early life and education
Berman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut and raised in Irvington, New York. He is Jewish on his father's side. During his childhood he went to Camp Winnebago in Fayette, Maine. In 1970, he attended the Hackley School and Brown University from which he graduated in 1977 with a degree in history.

Career
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. Along with Bob Ley, he is one of ESPN's longest-tenured employees. He is currently the host of Monday Night Countdown. In 1988 and 1989, he hosted ESPN's first game show, Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia.

In December 2008, the Associated Press ran a long retrospective on Berman's 30 year career with ESPN. "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 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.

Berman was a season ticket holder for the Hartford Whalers and was a strong supporter of the team staying in Connecticut. He occasionally makes reference to the team, sometimes even by humming the team's theme song, Brass Bonanza.

Berman has 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". This sentiment is also echoed in Berman's on-air phrase, "No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills."

Berman also has a series of candid moments caught on-air while on the set of "Monday Night Football" that were filmed either before production or on commercial breaks that feature the host swearing multiple times, hitting on a co-worker, and perhaps the most famous clip; a 1:30 rant on the unprofessional-ism of the studio crew.

Style
He is well known for his various catch-phrases and player nicknames. His rendition of "He could...go...all...the...way!" is adopted 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 of his catchphrases "Whoop!" is uttered 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 (e.g. calling former Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bert Blyleven Bert "Be Home" Blyleven, a pun on the phrase "be home by eleven").

Berman also goes by his alter ego, "The Swami," when making predictions on Sunday NFL Countdown.

In other media
Berman appeared in Adam Sandler's 1998 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, as well as Eddie and Kingpin in 1996. He made a cameo appearance in the 1995 Hootie and the Blowfish video for the single, "Only Wanna Be With You." Berman appears in Nutrisystem commercials with Don Shula, Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, and Mike Golic, using some of his trademark phrases and nicknames to show how much weight they lost. Berman has also recently starred in Applebee's commercials as an annoying announcer whom the chefs question as to how he got in the kitchen in the first place.

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)
 * 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: ESPN 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
 * 2012–present: ESPN Monday Night Football #2 play-by-play