Big on Hawai'i
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
 |
| ESPN announcer Chris Berman has been covering the Pro Bowl in Hawai'i for 12 years, and he plans his off-field activities with as much flair as his commentaries. Berman says he's ready to play golf, hit the beach, feast and get a tan.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser Berman's can't-miss Hawai'i picks Here are some of Chris Berman's favorite island hangouts when he comes to vacation or to work the Pro Bowl. • Alan Wong's Restaurant |
"808 always makes me happy," he said last week from sub-zero Connecticut. "I can't wait to get there."
Well, hide the mac nuts, beer and Tommy Bahama shirts: Hurricane Boomer has indeed hit land.
Berman, ESPN's iconic, ironic, occasionally histrionic anchor, is back in town to work the AFC-NFC NFL Pro Bowl and to stoke his ongoing love affair with Hawai'i.
Both Berman and the bowl are celebrating significant silver anniversaries this year.
In October 1979, ESPN, just one shaky month old, hired the 24-year-old Berman, little suspecting that the freewheeling anchor with the booming voice and the funky sport coats would become one of the most influential broadcasters of his generation.
The Pro Bowl, meanwhile, marks its 25th consecutive staging in Hawai'i on Sunday at Aloha Stadium. (Berman has covered the event 12 times for ESPN.)
"For people who love the game of football, this is the last game you see until the next preseason," Berman says. "A few big names might bail, but not as many as you think. You still get to see the majority of the best of the best."
And if any of them needs a little extra convincing, Berman is a one-man Hawai'i Visitors Bureau. He had his off-day itinerary plotted weeks in advance.
"First, I'm going to an ABC store and get the biggest hat I can find for eight bucks, a six pack of something, and a large can of Mauna Loa macadamia nuts," he said. "Then I'm going to head to Sunset Beach or some other beach on the North Shore and watch the surf. Nobody will know who I am. I'll just be another white guy who needs a tan.
"After that, I'll head over to Jameson's for some fish chowder and maybe a Bloody Mary, and watch the sunset."
Berman also plans to play a round or two of golf at Waialae Country Club, grab a bite at Alan Wong's Restaurant, and maybe pick up an aloha shirt or 12.
"I'm bringing an extra bag," he said.
Looking back-back-back
Berman started his broadcast career as a student at Brown University, gaining experience as sports director for the college radio station and stringing for local news stations.
After graduating with a degree in history, Berman worked a series of radio jobs. His first TV job came in 1979 as a weekend sports anchor for the NBC affiliate in Hartford, Conn. By the end of that year, he would be working at ESPN, trying to convince a cynical country that an all-sports network could actually make a go of it.
Rumblin', stumblin', bumblin'
It didn't take long for Berman to make an impact.
In a business suffuse with colorful personalities, Berman's shrewd insights and earnest appreciation for athletes and the sports they play distinguished him almost as much as his quirky catch phrases and trademark "Bermanisms" (see box). His stature only increased as the network gradually acquired broadcast rights for major college and pro sports.
Berman's infectious calls reminded serious fans that sports were intended to be, above all, fun.
Can we watch an outfielder sprinting to the wall without Berman's voice — "back-back-back" — galloping through our brains?
Can we watch a wide receiver shed tacklers on the way to the end zone without mouthing, in perfect Berman cadence: "He ... could ... go ... all ... the ... way."
And when was the last time you heard any of the major network anchors punctuate their football analysis with two verses and a chorus from "Hotel California"?
In 1989, Berman became the first cable sportscaster to be selected National Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He won the award five more times from 1990 to 2001. Berman and his ESPN shows also have won eight Emmy Awards.
His star quickly rising, Berman was approached by NBC in 1989. He strongly considered the network's lucrative offer before deciding to stay put.
Former ESPN president "Steve Borstein and I were in Hawai'i for the Pro Bowl, and we celebrated (the decision to stay) at John Dominis," Berman said. "I remember that as a really momentous occasion."
While Dan Patrick, Stuart Scott, Linda Cohn and other ESPN anchors each have their own loyal followings, their own catalogs of original catch phrases, their own ways of relating to a sports-hungry nation, it is the disarmingly unpretentious Berman who remains the definitive face of the network.
So recognizable has Berman become that he's been called on to play himself in no less than 10 films, including "Big Daddy," "The Program" and "Kingpin."
A home on Maui?
Berman still carries a heavy load at ESPN, particularly during football season. In addition to hosting the Sunday "NFL Countdown" for the past 18 years, Berman serves as host of "NFL PrimeTime," narrator of "The Fastest Three Minutes in Television" during NFL halftimes, and play-by-play commentator for ESPN major league baseball games.
He also covers the U.S. Open, Stanley Cup Playoffs and other events.
No wonder, then, why Berman cherishes his trips to Hawai'i, working vacation or not.
"With apologies to Linda Lingle — or maybe not, since she's the governor now — I'm the mayor of Maui," Berman said. "I know a lot of people there, and that's what everybody calls me when I come."
But that's not the title to which Berman — who proudly wears his 25 Tommy Bahama shirts year-round at the network's less-than-tropical studios in Bristol, Conn. — ultimately aspires.
"One day soon, I'm going to be a real kama'aina," he said.
He's not kidding. Berman bought a plot of land in Olowalu, just south of Lahaina, last year.
"I'm not going to retire this year or next year," he said. "But when I do, that's where I'm going to be. I'll be a real 808-area-code guy."
Reach Michael Tsai at 535-2461 or mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
• • •
Berman's favorite Pro Bowl memories
In a dozen years of covering the Pro Bowl in Hawai'i, Chris Berman has collected his share of fond memories, on and off the field.
Warren Moon's game-winning touchdown rush, 1998: "What you want is for the score to be close in the fourth quarter, because then you have a real football game. I always tell people to watch the third (string) quarterback because they'll be the ones in there at the end. Warren was a late addition (to the team) that year but he led the AFC comeback and he rushed in for the score right at the end. (The AFC won, 29-24).
Belichick on the Mizzou, 1999: "(New England Patriots coach) Bill Belichick to the average person is not an easy guy to get to know. He's football all the time. But when he was with the Jets after (then-Jets head coach Bill) Parcells left, and he was the replacement to coach the AFC, we were at a function on the USS Missouri. Parcells never let his assistants talk to the media, but since Parcells was gone, we got to talk. I got to know him, and now he and I are really good friends."
Bills show up big, 1992: "The Bills had just lost the Super Bowl in a heartbreaker, but they didn't use that as an excuse to back out. They came here to play football despite the fact that they were really bummed out. That, to me, was impressive.
Hall of Fame introductions, every year: "The Pro Bowl is when the Hall of Fame class is introduced publicly for the first time, and I always get shivers watching the recognition and respect they get from their peers and the crowd and the current players. That's my highlight every year.
• • •
Our favorite Bermanisms
It's not quite a Hall of Fame induction, but getting your very own Bermanism — a Chris Berman nickname — is a pretty good sign that you've arrived as an athlete.
While some Bermanisms are good for a one-time chuckle (Greg "Life is a" Caderet), a few of them (Fred "the Crime Dog" McGriff) stick over the course of a career. And some really, really stick: Andre Rison had "Bad Moon" tattooed on his arm.
Here are just a few classic Bermanisms.
- Eric "Sleeping With" Bieniemy
- Bert "Be Home" Blyleven
- Tedy "Ice Cold" Bruschi
- Jake "Daylight Come and Me Want to" Delhomme
- Chris Fuamatu "Bad" Maafala
- Scott "Supercalifragilisticexpiala" Brosious
- Joey "Cask of" Amalfitano
- Andy "Merchant of" Benes
- Greg Gagne "With a Spoon"
- John "I Am Not A" Kruk
- Joaquin "The Dog" Andujar
- Lance "You Sank My" Blankenship
- Mark Carreon "My Wayward Son"
- Mike "Leggo" Gallego
