Chris Berman’s postgame NFL Primetime ramblings have been the soundtrack of my childhood, man. But in Sunday night time’s Super Bowl postgame, Berman stepped means exterior of his experience together with his ponderings concerning the first showdown in Super Bowl historical past between black quarterbacks– and positioned his foot squarely into his mouth. Before main right into a spotlight of Super Bowl LVII, Berman highlighted Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes’ historic conflict by becoming Abraham Lincoln’s birthday into the dialog. It didn’t come throughout in addition to he imagined it could although.
The solely constructive factor you may say is that we’re fortunate “once you go Black, you never go back” didn’t come to thoughts first. I’m going to imagine Berman was talking extemporaneously, earlier than he bit into these highlights, as a result of it’s worse if he was studying that off a teleprompter. I’d hope the operator noticed that line coming and had the sense to strive shortly scrolling previous it.
More acceptable references have been proper there
Berman didn’t have to achieve that far into his vacuous jar of historic references to seek out one thing profound to say. It’s already Black History Month. If he wished to speak about how far we’ve come, Abe Lincoln isn’t the historic reference to go together with there. Randall Cunningham, Donovan McNabb, and Michael Vick have been extra acceptable comparisons. How about peering again at Warren Moon’s Edmonton Eskimos vs. JC Watts’ Ottawa Rough Riders within the 1981 Grey Bowl? In 1982, Moon edged out Conredge Holloway, who was additionally the primary black SEC quarterback, within the 1982 Grey Cup. Each a type of figures’ influences did extra for black quarterbacks than Lincoln.
Secondly, it’s fairly presumptuous of him to imagine Hurts and Mahomes are even descendants of slaves. Unless there’s a family tree deep dive on them each that I missed, I’m unsure it’s clever to spout off about their household timber. This may shock folks to listen to, however there are thousands and thousands of black people on this nation who don’t even have roots within the Antebellum South. Berman’s mouth bought forward of his mind on that downhill slope.
A decade in the past, ESPN was already fielding complaints about Berman’s on-air efficiency.
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Tom Jackson’s insights used to balance out Berman’s off–the–cuff analysis. Without that equilibrium, Berman is the emperor with no clothes. Speaking without thought gets him going viral for all the wrong reasons.
Berman had his run, but it’s 2023 now. ESPN keeps digging him back up every time they cut costs, but every time they do, he’s a little more decayed. ESPN holding onto Berman’s fossils like a comfort blanket while letting all their young talent slip away is a testomony to how dynasties fall into break.