Chris Berman...does anyone like him?

[moofnelson]

I have never been able to figure out ESPN's love of this guy. Personally, I know of no one that likes his work. He must have come across some incriminating pictures of someone high up in the ESPN chain. If you've ever seen the Seinfeld episode where Kramer would go into a seizure whenever he heard Mary Hart's voice, that is what Berman does to me.

 

This topic may have been covered before, but I don't recall.

[Brian the Automator]

My old college roommate liked him. Other than that, no clue.

[razzzorsharp]

Men aged 40 and up seem to like him from my history.

[kiwi brewer]

was just about to start a thread on this!

 

live in chicago so we had the wgn telecast but i saw in the in game thread that berman was rooting for the cubs without shame...

 

what was he saying? completely biased?

 

i used to like him 15 years ago only because i am a fellow alum of his and he was adding "personality" to sports on television. now he has become a caricature of himself and it's pretty disgusting. a product of disney, though, so i am not surprised.

 

so what was spewing out of his mouth tonight?

[jazzytrav]

There was definitely a time in sports history when Berman represented new, exciting, and refreshing. I think that time has passed and he's living on his name now. I don't really mind him, but I won't go out of my way to listen to him.

[splitterpfj]

Berman was once awesome, and fun to listen to, but that era was the 80s and early 90s. He had been unique and clever, but he became the cliche, much like John Madden, in my opinion.

[orca1963]

Men aged 40 and up seem to like him from my history.

 

I like him...44...damn I am getting predictable.

[TheCrew07]

When I was in middle school I really like all of his nicknames for the baseball players and many of his other bits. By the time I was graduating high school I was indifferent to him, by the time I was done with college I loathed him, and still do to this day. He helped get ESPN off the ground, but like everything ESPN has become, he's overdone and I find him mostly intolerable these days. My ESPN viewing has steadily declined the last 6-7 years. Maybe I'm just getting old and bitter in my early 30s, they ruined MTV, they ruined VH1, they ruined ESPN... I feel like my grandparents... "Rock and Roll is going to ruin the country!"

[Weirdos19]

If I remember correctly, Berman signed a mammoth contract with ESPN about 10 years ago, when he was semi-tolerable.

 

The guy is absolutely overbearing. How bout a new catchphrase, Chris?

 

The other guy that annoys me is Stuart Scott. Stump the Schwab would be 100x better without him on it. I'm pretty sure he got some sort of big deal from ESPN, because he was doing a remote from a NFL training camp and took a 80mph football (out of one of those throwing machines) in that eye. Pretty sure it's degenertive.

[jazzytrav]

Bert "Be Home" Blyleven.

 

Because of that, Berman can never be any worse than neutral in my heart.

[razzzorsharp]

If we start a Stuart Scott or Steven A Smith thread I may get banned.

[kiwi brewer]

If we start a Stuart Scott or Steven A Smith thread I may get banned.

i may be right behind you. the funny thing is i USED to like hip hop when it first came out! now i can't stand Scott or Smith. not for a second.

 

[Blindcheck]

Bert "Be Home" Blyleven.

 

Because of that, Berman can never be any worse than neutral in my heart.

 

I liked John "Tonight let it be" Lowenstein.

[owbc]

I agree that Smith, Berman, and Scott are the 3 most annoying ESPN anchors.

 

Let me just add that Barry Melrose is excellent, even though he isn't an anchor.

[Blindcheck]

I had a friend that would make names up while using obscure players on Sony Playstation or Sega or Nintendo, what ever it was we used to play...

 

Two that I liked that would be Bermanesque Tom "Meet me in my" Chambers

 

Brad "not the Ketchup, but the" Muster

[temke]

he is just played out to me. though the off-camera videos of him in the studio made famous by deadspin are great.

 

the video is a little NSFW so i wont post a link...but goggle can save you on this one.

[dadofandrew]

He's the epitome of ESPN...he doesn't show the game, he thinks he's bigger than the game.

 

Thank goodness for FSN Final Score.

[DougJones43]

Women in leather jackets? *rimshot*

 

I've always liked him for "NFL Primetime", and pretty much can't stand him for anything else. I detest him covering baseball.

[Glennron]

I refuse to watch anything he is doing. If the CBS and Fox NFL pre-game shows are at commercial, I won't turn on ESPN. I watched the WGN feed of the Cubs game tonight, which should really speak volumes that I'd rather listen to Len Kasper.

 

Men aged 40 and up seem to like him from my history.

 

A guy I went to high school with and his older brother, both in their early 20s, love him (or at least did a couple years ago). When we did fantasy football drafts they'd use his terrible nicknames.

[pitchleague]

somewhere at school, I have this old page-a-day calender that is all Bermanisms. 365 player nicknames. That was a great calender that was very hard not to peek ahead. Of course, this is from at least 10 years ago.

 

Today, yeah, he is pretty intolerable. Give me Gary Thorne anyday. (if it has to be ESPN, that is.)

[Gopher74]

I like him. I mean, not as much as Dan Patrick, or a couple others, but I certainly don't hate him. In fact, I'd venture to guess that many more people like him than dislike him.

[hauser42]

Berman is an icon at ESPN, he was there when it was just getting off the ground and helped bring it to its huge status it now has. Berman and Bob Ley are the only two old school ESPN guys around. Tom Mees is in a better place than all of us or he would also still be there.

Berman did sign a huge contract a ways back but he has also been less in front of the camera and doing more behind the scenes in recent years. ESPN as a whole has seem to lost touch with the core fanbase that got them to a high level. They have more feature and fluff pieces in a sportcenter than highlights or inside information. Not sure what lead to the change but they have steered a lot of core fans away from sportcenter, ESPN News is place to get highlights and insight now.

Personally a little Berman I can deal with but he is not a guy that can be taken night after night right now.

Julio "wont you take me on a sea" Cruz

[InsomniacInkRoss]

I don't mind Berman that much, I hate Stu-ya Boo-ya

 

I have fond memories of watching him on NFL Primetime when I was 12-15

 

Fav Berman, for Tampa Bay "The Pirates of Pewter Pants" very clever

[Gopher74]

I don't mind Berman that much, I hate Stu-ya Boo-ya

 

Fav Berman, for Tampa Bay "The Pirates of Pewter Pants" very clever

Yea, I forgot to add that I can't even possibly articulate just how much disdain I have for Stu and Steven A. I can't understand why the powers that be think that's the type of over the top fake hip hop type of crap we desire, but it's most certainly not.

 

[Mr QL]

Eh, I don't mind Berman that much with NFL stuff.

 

Stuart Scott pretty much offends me. I won't go any more into that though.