The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association’s Hall of Fame has announced four new inductees this year, and they’re rather different. On the sportswriter side, they’re inducting two of the most respected sports journalists ever, legendary Sports Illustrated writer Gary Smith and famed author David Halberstam. On the sportscaster side, they’re adding long-time CBS and NBC college basketball analyst Billy Packer. And then, there’s the fourth choice…ESPN’s Chris Berman.
There’s no question that Berman is a prominent presence in the industry, and that he’s one of ESPN’s most well-known voices, plus one of the very few who’s been at the Worldwide Leader since its beginnings. However, he has many more critics than the other three on this list, and for good reason, especially considering the way ESPN has used him in recent years. Most egregious is how they keep putting him and Trent Dilfer on a Monday Night Football game; this year’s edition was described as “one of the most excruciating broadcasts seen on national television in quite some time” by AA’s Matt Yoder, and he’s far from the only one to take exception to Berman’s shtick.
Beyond that, though, Berman has received plenty of justified criticism. Some of it’s come for how he’s handled the Home Run Derby, and he’s also been blasted for his general work as a Monday Night Countdown host. The biggest problem with him may be how he’s supported the NFL in a very nonjournalistic way, though; consider his Those Guys Have All The Fun quote on Playmakers, “I never watched Playmakers, but I knew if the league was pissed, I probably should be pissed.” He was a deserving nominee for AA’s Mount Rushmore in 2012, and he’s done very little in the past decade-plus to endear himself to anyone. That’s before you get to the various harassment allegations against him, too. He’s been often cited as one of ESPN’s biggest personalities, but even that isn’t all good; in fact, ESPN has fought hard to keep anyone else from gaining Berman status. Of course, there must be some good things about him, and we’ll get right to listing those AND THE PUNT IS BLOCKED!
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The rest of this Hall of Fame class deserves a lot of praise. Smith, who worked for SI for 32 years and won four National Magazine Awards, stands as one of the greatest sports magazine writers ever, with an incredible catalogue of stories. Personal favourites include “Remember His Name,” “The Ripples From Little Lake Nellie,” and “Crime And Punishment,” but Smith wrote countless other stories that stand up with the very best. So did Halberstam, who many know for his reporting on the Vietnam War (including a Pulitzer Prize in 1964), politics, and history, but who also shone in the sports arena with books such as “The Breaks of the Game” and “Playing For Keeps.” Packer called an incredible 34 straight Final Fours, and while he drew some criticism, especially in his later years, he’s still respected by many as a top basketball analyst. The Hall’s choices of NBC’s Mike “Doc” Emrick as Sportscaster of the Year (for the third-straight time) and SI’s Tom Verducci as Sportswriter of the Year (for the second-straight time) also seem solid. The induction of Berman is a controversial one, though, and sadly, it somewhat overshadows how good the other selections here are.
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