Every aspiring broadcaster of a certain generation wanted to be Brent Musburger — including Chris Berman.
The longtime Sunday NFL Countdown host has joined Dan Patrick’s push for the 85-year-old Musburger to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The legendary radio host has previously stumped for Musburger, but he got Berman to join his crusade during a recent appearance on his The Dan Patrick Show.
The Pro Football HOF bestowed Berman with the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award earlier this century for “longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.”
But Berman feels like Musburger’s been left out in a way that makes no sense.
For everything Musburger’s accomplished in the industry, the 69-year-old Berman can’t understand why his role model hasn’t gotten the nod yet. It’s not just overdue respect — rather a genuine sense of injustice — that Musburger, who set the gold standard for football broadcasting, is still waiting for a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“He should’ve been in there long before me — I mean, that’s for sure,” said Berman. “I wanted to be him, to be honest with you. One of the goals I had, boy, if I could be be Brent, that’d be pretty cool — wherever it was that I could be Brent. I don’t think I ever became Brent. I had his ‘job.’
“That’s crazy. I don’t know why… We’re not on any committee, Dan, the former winners of the past ‘What do you think?’ We’re not asked; I’m not saying we should be. I’m not sure how that selection goes; they obviously let a lot of things slide when I got in…I know he’s not, but I always assume, of course, he is. He invented the job — the NFL Today — for us growing up.
“You know what’s amazing? That was a half an hour. When we went on gameday at the time, your guy’s going to do an hour and then an hour and a half. ‘Oh my god, the sky is falling!’ That’s a good comment. I mean, I’m sure you’ve debated on your show Pete Rose, baseball, let alone (Barry) Bonds and (Roger Clemens), but Brent — he is at the same level in our business, an all-time giant.”
Musburger’s absence from the Hall feels like a glaring omission in the story of sports broadcasting, even if Musburger himself has often downplayed the importance of his Hall of Fame candidacy. Still, for many like Berman, he didn’t just narrate the games — he became the voice that defined football Sundays. And for a generation of broadcasters like Berman, Musburger wasn’t just a role model — he was the model.
[The Dan Patrick Show]
