on stage 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. He is one of ESPN's longest-tenured employees, and the only remaining
SportsCenter anchor from 1979. He spent 31 years as the host of both
Sunday NFL Countdown, and ten years hosting
Monday Night Countdown. In addition, during the NFL season, he hosts the evening
SportsCenter (airing generally at either 7:30 PM Eastern Time or 11 PM Eastern Time) along with
Herm Edwards, who replaced
Tom Jackson for the 2016 season. Berman often appears on
SportsCenter at night (midnight to 1 a.m.) hosting brief segments called "Chris Berman's two-minute drill". From 1988 to 1989, he hosted ESPN's first game show, ''Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia''. By 1993, Berman was described as the leader of the ESPN team and one of the most recognizable sportscasters in the business. "The true test is when Chris is on, turn down your TV and open your window. You will hear him. The microphone is nothing but a prop", said fellow ESPN anchor
Keith Olbermann. 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. At the time, Berman noted that his contract with ESPN would expire on his 55th birthday, and that he did 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. The contract was eventually revealed to expire at the end of 2016. Between 1995 and 2006, Berman hosted
Monday Night Football as well as live coverage of three Super Bowls for
ABC Sports. He continued to host
MNF when ESPN got the rights in 2006. Berman was a season ticket holder for the
Hartford Whalers and was a strong supporter of the team's staying in Connecticut. He occasionally makes reference to the team, sometimes even by humming the team's theme song, "
Brass Bonanza". Berman has also 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!" In 2019, Berman and Tom Jackson re-united for a revival of
NFL Primetime, streamed exclusively on ESPN+. In addition, they have also hosted the "fastest three minutes" segments on the Monday Night Football halftime show. Berman continues to present this segment solo as of the 2025 season. Berman signed a multiyear contract with ESPN in May 2021 to continue to host NFL PrimeTime.
Style Berman is well known for his various
catchphrases and player nicknames. • His mid-play prediction of a touchdown run as "He could...go...all...the...way!" is perhaps his most famous phrase, and one of the first he adopted. It was featured on the
Jock Rock, Volume 2 compilation album. • His home run calls of "Back, back, back, back...Gone!", which he implements most commonly during the MLB
Home Run Derby. • A "Whoop!" is uttered during highlights when a player makes a quick move or causes someone to miss or make a mistake. • When a large player such as a
lineman runs with the football, Berman describes him as "rumblin', bumblin', stumblin'". • Berman is known for integrating
puns into player nicknames. For example, he dubbed former Minnesota Twins pitcher
Bert Blyleven "Bert
Be Home Blyleven". and an imitation of a
sneeze for
Indianapolis Colts quarterback
Gardner Minshew, where Berman goes, "min-min-min, MIN-SHEW!" • When speaking about the
Las Vegas Raiders, he will often pronounce them as "the RRRAY-DAHS" in an homage to late owner Al Davis's accent. • When a ball carrier breaks a tackle, he will mimic a collision sound after every broken tackle. • The
Detroit Lions have never won an
NFC Championship Game and, as such, have never made it to the
Super Bowl, earning them a long history of denigration. Thus, when the Lions do something good, Berman will sometimes utter the word, "LIONS???" in a surprised tone. Berman adopts the persona of his
alter ego, "The
Swami", to make predictions on
Sunday NFL Countdown. For seven consecutive years "The Swami" predicted a Super Bowl between the
San Francisco 49ers and the
Buffalo Bills, one or the other – but never both – making it during that span.
Reception Many have enjoyed Berman's approach over the years, and he has won various awards. A 1990
Sports Illustrated feature article cited traits that struck a chord with his TV audience: playfulness, humor, and a
Fred Flintstone-like persona. The nicknames were called a key to his success. His genuine love of sports was also noted. However, he has also drawn a good deal of criticism. Over time, his style came to rub quite a few viewers the wrong way. His detractors find him overly bombasticand worse, unfunny. A "blowhard...tossing out corny clichés" was one description. Columnist
Phil Mushnick viewed his "clown act" as forced, self-serving, and stale. "Schtick" is another label that has been applied. A
Paste article from 2017 noted that the reasons for his appeal were also what made him eventually grow tiresome.
In other media Berman appeared in
Adam Sandler's 1998 comedy
The Waterboy as well as Sandler's
The Longest Yard in 2005, playing himself as the play-by-play announcer of the prison football game. Berman also appeared as himself in
Necessary Roughness in 1991,
The Program in 1993 (though was a little out of place doing
college football),
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 made a cameo in the 2013 comedy
Grown Ups 2. 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. He also appears in commercials for repair insurer Carshield. He appears as the host of
SportsCenter in
ESPN NFL 2K5; he is also an unlockable free agent. ==Personal life==