Posts tagged Chris Berman at FanHouse

Chris Berman. Barack Obama. John McCain. Tony Kornheiser. All together on the Monday Night Football halftime show. I, for one, don't see how any of us can possibly lose.

Barack came out hot talking about humility and then was asked a "If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?" by Berman ... and he came with "KILL THE BCS!" Actually, he said we need a playoff, but he might have just pulled by swing vote with that statement right there.

Boomer naturally asked him about the Bears ... oh no. Wait. He only asked two questions. Then he said "Go Bears!". It was, however, a nice touch for Barack to tell everyone to vote regardless of who you vote for; I don't actually believe him, but whatever.

Unlike most weeks, there hasn't been much jibber-jabbering between the Steelers and Redskins in anticipation of Monday Night's get-together (complete with halftime horse-and-pony show featuring Chris Berman, with guest appearances by Barack Obama and John McCain).

In fact, Washington players have been downright complimentary, even when talking about the scourge of the NFL, that cheap-shot artist, Hines Ward.

You may have heard mention of Ward's latest victim, Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers, vowing revenge as soon as his broken jaw heals and it's no longer wired shut. His teammates voiced similar concerns, and Ravens Terrell Suggs and Bart Scott have some things in the works.

The 6-2 Redskins, on the other hand, have been nothing but laudatory. Even offering advice some Bengals' players might be wise to heed:

I'm sure everyone was happy about Barak Obama's infomercial prior to part two of Game 5 of the World Series. Now he, along with John McCain, will have their final words during halftime of the Steelers-Redskins game on Monday Night Football (via PFT).

ESPN has announced that both Obama and McCain will be interviewed during halftime of the Monday Night Football game between the Redskins and Steelers.

Chris Berman will interview both candidates separately. The interviews will be taped during the day on Monday and will air at halftime.

Who better than Chris Berman to do these interviews? What we need to hear from these candidates are their favorite 1970s rock songs and nicknames for their VP picks (Sarah "Lunch" Palin?). I don't need to hear Arizona senator John McCain chatting about the Arizona Cardinals.

I do need Berman talking to the candidates about the cost of "deux-deux-deuxs" in this country in relation to Canada.

I understand the significance of the Monday nighter in Washington. It is Election Day Eve and that city will be sitting on pins and needles as many of those people are gearing up for the biggest day of their professional lives.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Cleveland at Cincinnati: So here are a few fun facts heading into the showdown of Team Zeros. Carson Palmer has more fumbles in three games (2) than touchdown passes (1). If you added up both Derek Anderson and Palmer's quarterback ratings, the number would still fall behind Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner and Jay Cutler, and would be just three points ahead of J.T. O'Sullivan and Tony Romo. Anderson's five interceptions are tied for the most in the league. Needless to say, this might not be the game you DVR in hopes of showing your son the proper way to play quarterback.

Pick: Cincinnati

Houston at Jacksonville: Is it fair to say that Houston is slowly taking the place of Arizona as "the team everyone picks as their preseason sleeper to the point that they're over-hyped and fall flat on their face?" The Texans limp in with the third worst quarterback in the league statistically and the third worst defense, going up against a Jacksonville team that just claimed their first victory in one of those "win or send all the ticket holders a free iPhone" games against the Colts. If there was ever a time for Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Jones to make some magic happen, it is at home against Houston who is giving up 170.5 yards a game on the ground. You know what they call what I just did? Blogger research. It's tough to come by so enjoy the smell.

Pick: Jacksonville

Admit it, you think it's cool that the Home Run Derby's in Yankee Stadium tonight. The thought of Josh Hamilton launching a ball into Monument Park has you just a little more geeked than you want to admit. Truth be told, you like home runs and the Derby has a ton of them. Maybe you're an NL fan that wants to see Evan Longoria and Josh Hamilton in action, or an AL fan that's curious if Dan Uggla can really be that good. And making fun of Chris Berman and Joe Morgan, well, that's just plain fun.

Anyways, come along after the jump where I'll be joined by a number of FanHouse luminaries while we chat live during the Home Run Derby, giving you the hard hitting analysis you want for the most meaningless event this side of the Slam Dunk Contest. I'll be kicking the chat off around 7:30 while the Derby starts at 8.

The Home Run Derby has, in recent years, become a massive parody of itself. What used to be a short, fun diversion the night before the All-Star Game has devolved into a three-hour orgy of excess. There's three rounds now, which ensures that by the end of the night the finalists will be too tired to lift their arms over their heads, let alone hit home runs. There's a million commercial breaks and the thing never seems to end at a reasonable hour.

Still, the Derby is the only baseball on tomorrow night. The only Derby I haven't watched all of in recent memory was the one in Pittsburgh, during which I attempted to sneak a giant banner with an internet-based phrase poking fun at a certain overblown ESPN personality that loves the Derby onto the cameras. My friends and I failed, went to the bar, and yep, watched the Derby. So instead of saying that the Derby is played out and boring, let's embrace the fact that we're going to watch it anyways. A full preview of what I'm expecting from each participant and what you might see during the broadcast is after the jump.

Six months ago, Terry Bradshaw was set to retire from Fox "NFL Sunday" once his contract expired, because, as he explained to the New York Daily News' Bob Raissman, "I see the energy and the enthusiasm these young guys (who get into broadcasting) have and I think it's time to hang it up..."

Now, after some time off, the addition of Michael Strahan, and enough steroids to kill an elephant*, Bradshaw has reconsidered.

"I'm going to do it (the Fox pregame) as long as I can. I don't want to retire," Bradshaw told me. "I just see too many people retire and say, 'I'm going to take off, travel, spend time with my family' and they are just miserable. They end up dying. People who work and stay active, and like what they are doing, live longer. I look forward to doing the show."

Bradshaw thinks Strahan will liven things up on the set, which should offset any fears he has of viewers getting tired of the on-air talent. (Something the USGA has yet to embrace when talking about Chris Berman. Moving on...)

Just when you thought cuddly U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate couldn't get any more lovable. One of the happiest guys on the planet told WJAR-TV that he's not upset by Johnny Miller's "[Rocco] looks like the guy who cleans Tiger's swimming pool" comments.

Mediate told WJAR-TV that Miller's comments had been blown out of proportion. "It doesn't bother me at all," he said. "He definitely didn't do it on purpose."

He called Miller "quite a good announcer" because he says what's on his mind. He said the analyst had left him a voicemail and he planned to call him back.

I have no idea if he made the comments on purpose, and although, based on FanHouse reader feedback (which is certainly representative of the country's feelings on the issue), a lot of people don't consider Miller "quite a good announcer," I tend to agree with Mediate. That said, this isn't the first time Miller's been called out for speaking his mind.

From a 2000 interview with Golf Digest's Tom Callahan:

**warning: an F-bomb is dropped in the above video**

Big Daddy Drew, a man full of gratuitous pot shots and mean-spirited abuse, recently lost his cool on a taping of Comcast's Blog Show. This incident is simply more fodder for real journalists to use to prove their case against the evils of blogs and the despicable people who write them. No member of the main stream media would ever act in such a crass manner.

For those that live in a cave, that is Drew of Kissing Suzy Kolber fame who reached mass stardom when called out by Buzz Bissinger on HBO's Costas Now. Drew, who recently outted himself as Drew Magary, has a new book coming out titled Men with Balls: the Professional Athletes Handbook.

Who needs a book tour when you have YouTube?

The current odds on the man you just watched above becoming the next editor of Deadspin.com stand at 15-1.

This is great news for, well, Chris Berman: the ESPN "personality"/gasbag will be at Torrey Pines next week doing the play-by-play for the first two rounds of the U.S. Open. He's been a fixture at the event since 1986, so it's hardly surprising, but much like a scheduled colonoscopy, just because you know it's coming doesn't make it any more enjoyable.

Earlier this year, there were concerns that Berman could be part of ESPN's Masters coverage; fortunately, the Green Jacket Mafia* had no interest in being associated with the traveling one-clown circus.

Interestingly, the consensus seems to be that Berman, golf announcer, is a bigger train wreck, than Berman, angry guy with combover. Quite a feat, for sure, yet, ESPN keeps trotting him out for the Open.

Yesterday, the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jay Posner spoke with Berman about the perception that he's a buffoon, and, predictably, he defended his shtick:

"First of all," he said, "it's unfair because if you're on the air for six hours and heaven forbid I say, 'Ground control to David Toms,' you're writing it like I said it 500 times. Not the case."

Yes, because nothing makes a golf telecast more enjoyable for the viewer than to be distracted by the banal ramblings of a guy in love his own voice. But it gets better. In response to the charge that he puts himself above the event he's broadcasting, Berman offered this: