Leave it to Chris Berman to bring a fun evening to a close in the most awkward way possible. After Giancarlo Stanton’s record-setting performance in Monday night’s Home Run Derby at Petco Park turned aside defending champion Todd Frazier, Berman felt the need to make a reference to Muhammad Ali’s passing to wrap things up as only Berman could.
“In the year we lost Muhammad Ali, down goes Frazier,” Berman said. And the baseball and sports world paused and cringed. Hat tip to The Cauldron for capturing it on video, which can be seen below. Pay special attention to the range of emotions too, as Berman goes from an excited voice, to a somber voice, right back into an excited exclamation.
Berman has a long-standing history of referencing names of athletes and pop culture stars sharing the same last name when providing his commentary. It has been his schtick for decades, and he has never turned away from it. Stick with the horse that got you here, right? Berman’s horse has seen better days, unfortunately, and this is just another reminder of that.
In fairness to Berman, he was trying to do an honorable thing by recognizing a man who transcended the sports world, and that’s not really a bad thing. The timing and delivery, however, just felt off to those watching at home. What’s even worse is the “down goes Frazier” line did not even originate from a fight involving Ali. It was what Howard Cosell said as George Foreman knocked down Joe Frazier.
Of course, the line was recited by Cosell, who had a famous history with Ali, and Frazier was one of Ali’s biggest rivals, so perhaps there is a defense for tying this all together. Still, this was one swing and a miss from Berman as he comes down the line to his retirement.
Comments are closed.