There was a time when Chris Berman owned the airwaves.
A sports-starved nation couldn’t get enough of his humor, nicknames and catch-phrases.
An ESPN original, Berman rarely appears on “SportsCenter” now.
The NFL and big events are his stage.
Monday, ESPN has a big event, a doubleheader to help kickoff the opening week of the NFL season.
The regular “Monday Night Football” crew of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Lisa Salters will call the early game – Eagles-Redskins.
Berman, Trent Dilfer and Sal Paolantonio will work the second game – Texans-Chargers.
Berman and Dilfer called the Chargers-Raiders late Monday night game last season.
It was Berman’s first NFL play-by-play gig – and he drew less than rave reviews.
In fact, he was torched by several media critics.
“Loud, grating, obnoxious, factually dubious, smothering, suffocating, painful” were just a few of the things said about Berman’s performance.
“It was excruciatingly difficult to follow the action,” said one critic.
ESPN has a huge stable of talent.
Any one the network’s top-flight college football broadcasters – Brad Nessler, Joe Tessitore, Mark Jones, Sean McDonough and Mike Patrick – could work Monday’s second game and do an excellent job.
Notice I didn’t say Brent Musburger, who I consider the worst announcer in all sports.
So why do ESPN officials choose to go with Berman?
Part of it is loyalty.
Berman has been with ESPN since the network launched in 1979. In fact, he carried it on his back in the early days.
The other reason is curiosity.
Remember, the Texans-Chargers game kicks off at 10:20 p.m. in the East. Honestly, if you lived on the East of the Mississippi would you stay up past midnight to watch this game?
Probably not. But ESPN is gambling again that might with Berman as a draw.
Last year’s Chargers-Raiders late game was seen by 10.45-million viewers. The regular Monday night audience peaks somewhere in the 12-million range.
Like him or not, Berman is popular. And this late Monday gig appears to be his as long as he wants it.
Football radio
XTRA Sports 1360 wrestled the Dial Global Sports contract away from The Mighty 1090.
What does that mean for you?
It means Thursday, Sunday and Monday night games are now on 1360, not 1090. It means 1360 has the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl. It means that if you live north of the 56, good luck listening to NFL games at night.
Both stations – 1360 and 1090 – will carry college football on Saturdays and NFL game Sunday mornings and afternoons.
Chargers and Aztecs
- In addition to ESPN, KUSI Channel 9/51 will carry Monday’s Chargers game.
- ABC – Channel 10 in San Diego – will have Saturday’s San Diego State-Ohio State game. Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman call the game. Shannon Spake works the sidelines. Kickoff is 12:30 p.m.
Prep football
U-T TV Channel 114 on Cox Cable will carry Time Warner Cable’s telecast of Friday night’s Honor Bowl between Gardena Serra and Oceanside. There is a special pregame show at 7:30 p.m. with kickoff from Oceanside High at 8 p.m. U-T TV is also available to AT&T U-verse costumers on Channel 17. Time Warner subscribers can see the game on Channel 411. Jack Cronin and former USD star JT Rogin will call the game.
- Saturday, Time Warner will carry two more games from the Honor Bowl – Upland vs. Oaks Christian at 4 p.m. and Corona Centennial vs. St. Bonaventure at 8 p.m. Steve Quis and John Kentera will call those games. They can be seen on Channel 411 and 825.
College football
- Fox Sports 1’s first foray into college football didn’t go well. Saturday’s late game – bolstered by an 11.0 rating in Seattle – did a national 0.5 rating with just 389,000 households. By comparison, Saturday’s late game on NBC – Georgia-Clemson – did a 4.9 rating with 3.8-million households and Monday’s Florida State-Pittsburgh game on ESPN did a 3.0 with 2.33-millioin households.
- There are 35 college football games on TV Saturday with 15 of those involving top-25 teams. There are only two games matching two nationally ranked teams – No. 6 South Carolina-No. 11 Georgia (1:30 p.m., ESPN) and No. 14 Notre Dame-Michigan (5 p.m., ESPN).
Maybe it’ll work
The early reviews from the new “Hacksaw and Company” on The Mighty 1090 are good. After dumping politician J. D. Hayworth from “Hacksaw and Hayworth”, the rebranded show, which features daily guest hosts, had ex-Chargers Vencie Glenn work with Lee Hamilton on Tuesday, former U-T columnist Jay Paris on Wednesday and John Howard of Channel 8 on Thursday.
Ex-Charger Dennis McKnight works with Hamilton on Friday.
Hamilton promised writers, TV personalities and athletes in the weeks, to come.
Whoever it is has to be better that what preceded it.
Around the dial
- ESPN will carry the USA-Mexico FIFA World Cup qualifying match live at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
- NBC has the first four races of the America’s Cup yacht races at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. America’s Cup coverage continues Monday through Sept. 21 on the NBC Sports Network. Coverage starts each day at noon.
john.maffei@utsandiego.com
