Boy was I wrong.
Last February I wrote an article here that suggested it was time for ESPN to part ways with Chris Berman. I argued that his brand of shenanigans had lost their meaning and effect in the maturing ESPN brand. More regrettably, Berman had just become annoying and painful to watch.
One year later, Berman couldn’t be more entertaining television. No, his “Greatest Highlight” series isn’t what has my attention. In fact, nothing he’s done on air has had my attention for years. Instead, it’s the recently released video of the Swami’s antics off the air that are his greatest work.
Now in all fairness to the man, there is no doubt that we would all have embarrassing moments caught on tape if a camera was in front of our face for 20+ years. We all have our moments of disdain for our coworkers and we even mock our friends from time to time. Not everything we say or do is meant for all to hear and see. I don’t take offense to the recently released videos of Berman talking about smuggling drugs across the border from Canada or ripping into his video crew, I actually find them among his best work ever.
Imagine if the “Greatest Highlight” was replaced nightly by the “Greatest Berman Rant.” Now they are both equally irrelevant sports journalism pieces, but the rants are 100x more entertaining. Viewers would hush the room to see what Berman was up to when the cameras kept rolling, not hit the mute button and wait for his segment to end. If ESPN really insisted on a poll-based bracket, they could even let the viewers decide which moment was the greatest ever. One might even consider an “On-air or Off-air” challenge where you must determine if the video clip was televised or not. ESPN could fill a vault with embarrassing Berman tape that has aired; imagine what they have on him that occurred off-air.
Some internet sites have proposed that the release of these videos is an inside job by someone at ESPN in an effort to push Berman out the door. Whether the conspiracy theory is true or not, these videos will do anything but hasten Berman’s departure. For one, ESPN’s execs will certainly not allow their anchor icon to be so rudely dismissed for some dirty laundry. More importantly, Chris Berman is actually interesting again. This man isn’t a clown anymore, but instead, he’s an edgy anchor who could snap at any minute and have a meltdown for the ages.
Please ESPN, do not end your association with a founding father. Embrace this opportunity. Encourage all your producers to post their own videos of Chris Berman. Start a new “Swami’s Final Thought” segment at the end of every SportsCenter. Take Berman off his leash and let him run wild. Who knows, he might even bite somebody.
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7 months ago
Berman has been exposed for who and what he is from all of this---a fraud, pig, tyrant, and drug abuser. This man must be in some kind of ongoing physical pain to resort to the scam he pulls with the codeine laced Canadian aspirin. I have a brother in law who works with ESPN on remotes and he told me Berman uses a Cane for walking so I suspect he might be pulling a Rush Limbaugh on us all with pain relief. So be it, but it also might explain these years old rantings on others---you know kind of like a Roid Rage that he and his fellow broadcasters report on about others all the time.
If anything I'm glad to see Berman and ESPN get their lunch handed to them---anyone who demands You Tube remove something means that something really hit home with its intended message. Last count I saw, the original Berman tape had in excess of 2 million views before it was pulled. And that doesnt include the Al Michaels rant nor the Drug Abuse and smuggling confession.
ESPN and Dana Jacobson and Chris Berman have all been exposed...a bunch of good ole boys and girls talking foul mouthed to others and playing us all as freaking fools. Well they have found out Fans are not fools and their ongoing refusal to pay attention to what is said by Fans, particularly on the Net, is doing them all in quite nicely.
Jacobson and Berman----foul mouthed, drunk, drug addicted, piss on the little guy types. So glad they have been exposed---nice hiring practices they have over there at ESPN.
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