IBC

I feel like we are coming up on a generation of athletes without Berman nicknames like Bert "Be Home" Blyleven, Jim "Two Silhouettes On" Deshaies, Jose "I Want To Take You On A Sea" Cruz, and Bernard "Innocent Until Proven" Gilkey.

I'd like to start this forum to give this upcoming generation there do...and my first inclusion will be one that Aaron Dorman can appreciate:

Colin "How 'Bout Them" Cowgill

Scott Supercalifragilisticexpiala Brosius

My favorite baseball one was always Todd "Good Housekeeping" Zeile. I'm sure this convention existed before him, but A-Rod's biggest under the radar sin is ruining nicknames. Initials are bad enough, but the first initial first syllable thing is ridiculous.

Agreed on the A-rod thing. if there weren't so many other things to hate him for, it would probably be more prevalent. There is a lot of comic potential though if it's used appropriately. What about B-Bo? J-Bag?

Two things I will always like about Berman...

1) April 13, 1997, a day that will live in infamy - Didn't have it in me to be one of the sorrowful bunch at the Civic Center Mall watching my beloved Whale die forever. When I finally forced myself to watch the tape, I'm almost positive I saw Berman shedding a tear as the team saluted the fans after the final horn. VHS is kinda blurry so it could have been Charlie Steiner or Mayor Mike (RIP) for all I know, but I'm pretty sure it was him, and that makes him ok in my book.

2) Eric "Sleeping With" Bieniemy - that one never ceases to amuse me.


In the past I've found him a pretty solid studio football show host, but otherwise excruciatingly annoying when he does any other sports or events or is on camera for more than 30 seconds at a time (making the "fastest 2-minutes" not nearly fast enough).

I used to tune in for the fastest two minutes...

The worst thing about Berman is that he was clever, and now anyone who is on Sportscenter thinks they need to be that clever and they aren't. ESPN is largely unwatchable to me. The sad thing is that while I liked MLB Network when it launched...it seems more often then not it reverts to being as irrelevant as Baseball Tonight. The other night I turned it on and someone was using some stupid ESPN like term over and over in the highlights package, while everyone on the set cackled and I thought only mentally challenged apes could be enjoying this. PLEASE JUST GIVE ME BASEBALL!

The problem with MLB Network and Baseball Tonight is that they have the flawed assumption that just because someone played in the majors means they have something interesting to say about it (this also seems to be how NBA coaches are hired. Really, what business does Vinny Del Negro have being an NBA coach?). Name recognition trumps ability.

Or if you're entertaining and don't fit well into being a corporate robot, you're gone. I used to watch Kruk on FSN, he was great. He got to ESPN and they cut his balls off. The exact opposite with Jeff Brantley, when he was on ESPN I could've cared less about him, now he does some Reds TV broadcasts and he's very entertaining, I'll watch a game I could care less about just to listen to him

well Kruk is a one ball wonder

Pirates wrote:well Kruk is a one ball wonder

Did anyone ever see him on Letterman when he was a player still? Rolled in with his mullet wearing a t-shirt that read "Let's play. I'll bring my ball" and spent a good portion of the interview talking about when he would hit up the 30-pack in the trunk of his car. Great stuff.

Jerry 'Needs An Instruction' Manuel