This Was SportsCenter: Chris Berman - Season 1, Ep. 2

26:20Rich Eisen:God, we must be doing okay. Yeah. This was SportsCenter is presented by Gusto. Right now, everyone is trying to run leaner, tighter budgets, smaller teams, higher expectations. The last thing you have time to waste on is manual payroll or chasing down an HR form. Gusto is how small business owners get time back when every hour counts. Gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use. so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers' comp, 401k, you name it.

27:02Rich Eisen:Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget. And it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more. Plus, you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash TWSC and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash TWSC. One more time, gusto.com slash TWSC. Did you always do your nicknames from the beginning on WVIT? No, not VIT. So it started on SportsCenter. Yes, in the summer of 80.

27:47The pitching thin Bucs will be without Ross. Here we go. I never promised you a bomb garden. Terry Swimming Pool drove in all three runs for the Astros. He has won the vote of reliever Rick Sommerkamp. Jim, two silhouettes on Deshaies. Don, welcome Mattingly with a drive to the right field corner of Joe Actual Retail Price. The nicknames, Rich, were going back to Brown on the rare nights that we weren't in the library. Very rare nights, of course. Yes. And we would be sipping on, obviously, a Perrier, which is what we Ivy Leaguers do. And 18 was legal drinking then, so I don't want to hear anything, okay?

28:28So you'd look at box scores, not for three hours a night, but, huh, and I'd make a few nicknames and we'd just laugh. I was always kind of a nickname guy. Boom, with the bases loaded, Bill Doran Doran, hungry like a wolf with a grand slam home run. You know, I did not invent Babe Ruth. I've been asked that. That wasn't me. But a kid did ask me that once. Don't kid it. Did you come up with Babe Ruth? Not really, but I'll take credit for it. So now we're in like May of 1980, and you're out there at 2.30 in the morning, and that's my shift. But I don't care who you are. if you're talking at 2 30 in the morning you're not quite right you know what i mean so a couple of them came out true not a plan just came not a plan and they go back to brown it was either the first one was either frank tanata was a really good pitcher frank tanata daiquiri or John Mayberry was a nice first baseman.

29:37Right. And John Mayberry, RFD. One of those two came out and I got, we wear an earpiece called an IFB. And they said, I got my ear in the middle of the show, what was that? And it just came out and I thought I'd said like a four letter word. You know, like, oh my God, my career is over. Right. What are you doing? And we got to the commercial and the camera people were laughing. nobody got hurt. I said, you know what? Tomorrow night I'm going to try a couple more. And, I mean, it's quarter to three. The boss isn't awake. And they were organic. If you ever try to do something to be noted like that, it never works.

30:23It never works. You might think it does. Right. You're noted for 15 minutes of fame. Sure. So they started rich in the summer of 80. But a lot of, here's why. A lot of the games were not on, even though they were all being, so Seattle, Kansas City and Seattle on a Tuesday night, not on TV, 1980, 81. So we put up this thing on TV called a Chiron or a font. I mean, it's changed them at Giz or whatever, all these things. Kansas City 5, Seattle 2. Well, embellish it a little. Well, George Brett had three hits, and Jay Ferris Buhner had a home run. He wasn't having a day off for Seattle, you know? Right.

31:12You're just trying to, you're not making a joke of something. It just had a little flavor to it. It says 5 to 2 for 60 seconds, so throw a few of these out. And so through the 80s, I'd get lists from fans, and maybe some of you sent them in. If I laughed at any of them, they were used the next night. It was Mike Pepperoni Piazza. Luis Speedy Gonzalez scores one. Going, going, Gonzalez. Jeff Conine the Barbarian. Scott's supercalifragilisticexpial approaches. They had ghostwriters in 50 states and provinces in Canada. And it was great. And people of work would come up with them. I mean, the best one was the best one of all time.

32:00The best one was, I think, Calvin Haywood, a great director that passed away a few years ago. At any rate, he said, how about for Burt Blylevin, which is my favorite one, Burt, be home, Blylevin, right? Why does that work? It works because you don't have to know he was a pitcher. Right. You don't have to know he had a great curveball. You don't have to know he played for the Minnesota Twins or the Pirates or whatever. All you have to know is, are you a kid? Yeah, you heard your parents say, be humble, I love them. And if you're a parent, you said, be humble, I love them. So they work when it's not an inside joke if it's for everybody.

32:42And it was organic, Rich, I swear. And, I mean, there are over 1 ,000 of them. I mean, most of them go back to the 80s, 90s when I was doing SportsCenter all the time. And then, of course, primetime happened, and now you have some football ones.

32:56Rich Eisen:So it's fun. And primetime, you know, got a nice round of applause here. When you mentioned it, the draft, the NFL draft, when did that first hit your desk? And did you think that that was televisable when you first heard about it? because it really is just a list of names being read off. That's it. And it could be done in... We both know. Okay, yeah. Right? How many have you done? I've done whatever, 35 or 40 of them, whatever. Right, well, you were the original OG creator of the role that I have been so fortunate to do for NFL Network now for 23 years. And, well, no, thank you. But I'll never forget, though, when I first did it for the first time in Radio City Music Hall, and we had our set over the right, and you were on the left side of the theater, and you just looked at me and you just gave me one of those, which meant the world to me.

34:06Rich Eisen:Honestly, you were a prince for that sort of thing, to just give me one of those before I started. because I was just trying to continue on the way that obviously you and ESPN had created it. But when you first heard it, did you think like there's no way this is going to be anything at all? Well, we did it the first, it would have been April, maybe it was late March, but first April of 80, the only one I wasn't involved in. I mean, it was rudimentary. Right. And the meeting apparently was Pete Rozelle, the commissioner, Chet Simmons went to, We'd like to televise the NFL draft. Hi, hello, and welcome to the New York Sheridan Hotel's grand ballroom.

34:49The site of the 1980 National Football League college player draft. I mean, obviously, I'm not in that meeting right now. 24-year-old guy doing the overnight show that, you know, I'm cleaning the floors later.

35:05So Pete Rozelle said exactly what you said, as Chet had told me. I mean, he's passed on, but he told me this. He goes, what's like reading the Manhattan phone book? You really want to put that on TV? Chet goes, it's our only chance to have one day of the NFL.

35:20Rich Eisen:A lot of excitement at the club office, 28 club offices all around the country, where you have your scouting people, your management people, and your coaches. And they'll relay the picks to the representatives here, and we'll announce them at the draft. It was on a Tuesday, by the way, at 8 a.m. And we had like, I mean, so you really had to be deep into it. Right. And so I started the second one, not the host. I mean, I had a variety of roles. One year I was in like a New York like lunch place. You can see the red and the white tablecloth may be a little early for some to start going. But we're at Mike Minucci's restaurant where a lot of sports folk and the Big Apple will be coming out to give their opinions on the draft.

36:04It's at Seventh Avenue and 52nd. and if you're the Big Apple, you want to give your opinion, by all means, stop by. My dad came, he was working in New York, watching me do, and we had Kyle Rote, and we had some old New York Giants plant that come in, and then one year I was out here at Redwood City and did the 49ers. By the way, it started at 5 a.m. These teams were drafting players at 5 a.m. I mean, and, you know, they traded for Russ Francis that day, But here's what I realized pretty quickly, even back then. For football, then, when the season ended and the Super Bowl ended, like January 22nd or whatever the day was, the draft was like an oasis in the middle of a desert, except because there was no free agency, there was no nothing, there was no schedule release.

37:00This was your team, except for a few people you were going to draft. and unless you live wherever you live and you're reading about your one team, this was a football gathering place on April 20th or whatever when they finally then moved it to a weekend for more people. Hi, everybody. I'm Chris Berman. And welcome to the 53rd National Football League. They'll call it the selection meeting. We call it the draft. The crowd is ready. We're ready here at ESPN. And then football went into hibernation again until the training camp opened. So it was like for six months, this was the one day that, you know, we didn't have mock drafts in November.

37:42Okay. Like, by the way, it's a little much. Okay. We didn't have drafts in front of 300 ,000 people. By the way, it's a little much. Okay. But, I mean, it's unbelievable.

37:56Rich Eisen:But... Well, the guy who does all the mock drafts now is Mel Kuyper. No, I'm not knocking Mel. I will never... Love Mel. I will never forget, Chris, I will never forget being in college and watching him basically say the Jets have no idea what the draft is all about. Or that was the Colts have no idea what the draft is all about. You got a problem with this move? I think it's a typical Colt move. I mean, here's a team that needed a franchise quarterback. He would just go lay into it. I'm sitting in college and I'm like, wow, this guy sitting next to Berman is losing his mind. mind. To pass up a Trent Dilfer when all you have is Jim Harbaugh, give me a break.

38:36That's why the Colts are picking second every year in the draft, not battling for the Super Bowl like other clubs in the national football league.

38:42Rich Eisen:And it was wild. It was wild. Just to see moments like that and then have the general managers come on and then the coaches react. Who in the hell is Mel Kuyper in a way? I mean, here's a guy that criticizes everybody, whoever they take. He's got the answers who you should take and who you shouldn't take. In my knowledge of him, he's never ever put on a jockstrap. He's never been a player. And all of a sudden, he's an expert. He's in our papers two days ago telling us who we have to take. We don't have to take anybody that Mel Kuyper says we have to take. It was obvious that this was becoming not just something for the fans, but it was an industry must-see also, which is what SportsCenter became with you doing it, where players wanted to come on and coaches wanted to come on, and they were watching, and they were watching you, and they were watching Bob and Tom Meese and the rest of the OGs that were starting, John Saunders and whatever, and the draft was 100 % on top of what SportsCenter was doing, connecting it together with the NFL coming to ESPN, and off it went.

39:48Rich Eisen:There's no question about it. I mean, the draft, another thing, we put it on, or they thought of it, because this was one day big time for us. No way they could have thought it's become the extravaganza. I know it's been 40-plus years. Again, it was an oasis for football fans in the middle of the six-month dark period. And SportsCenter, and then we had college basketball on. The early days, like, oh, there's a college basketball game on Tuesday night? Who's playing? Well, Louisville's playing. you know, it was Denny Crum and playing whoever they were playing. Like, there was no college basketball on Tuesday night.

40:33Right. So we were the first to televised the tournament. I know, you know, CBS is off and running with it and they have for a long time. They've done great, but we invented it.

40:44Rich Eisen:And you also would go to the games when it was coming to an end, too. I remember that. Like, hey, let's go to this game. Yep. There's 90 seconds left. We could do it. And it was one after another. I remember that, too. This is, again, me growing up watching you and watching SportsCenter and then for me to suddenly be part of it. Where I was in Redding, California, I got a call at work from an agent I'd never heard of before. I'd send a tape to a headhunter, and they say to me, I hear you're one of the most hot, up-and-coming sportscasters in America. And yeah, that was my reaction. I scared the newsroom.

41:29Rich Eisen:And I said if you... Are the Beatles here? I know that, right. I'm like, if you say so, because I've got to take my three-quarter-inch camera equipment connected by coaxial cable, connected to this deck that's on my other shoulder. I get it. I've got to go drive to Yuba City. I didn't feel anything but, you know, in the middle of starting my career, $6.75 an hour is what I was making. as well. And so I see your$23 a show and raise you that hourly rate. But the reason why I'm telling you this is it wound up five minutes before Al Jaffe called me at the same number at work to say I was on their radar screen and I wound up auditioning and I wound up getting the job.

42:17Rich Eisen:The last two years, the New York Knicks made much ado about having four separate first round draft picks. Perhaps the scouting report has changed because in the last two weeks, They've traded them all away. When you first started on SportsCenter back in 1996, which is now close to 20 years into the existence of the company, and they would have you observe. They would have you sit in on meetings, and you'd have to sit around and watch the SportsCenter anchors and the production staff go do their thing. and one of the first days I was there as a SportsCenter trainee in 1996, there was one anchor who was already leaving to do other things for the company from the SportsCenter chair that he helped create.

43:10Rich Eisen:SportsCenter Chris Berman, I am merely Dan Patrick. Oh, stop. This is your house. I'm just passing through. How are you? Seeing each other about as much as during the Super Bowl. to come back every now and then and just do a few shows a week. And that guy was Chris Berman. I tell you what, it's your show. I'm just visiting here. Have a good time. And I remember you walked in the room, Chris, and it was the same guy. You were the same guy I watched on television. It seemed to be just a short while ago that the Houston Astros were stumbling, rumbling, bumbling. You were the same guy to everybody.

43:45Rich Eisen:You were the same, same person, same personality. A reminder today that no one circles the wagons. Look at that. Like the Buffalo Bills. And I thought to myself, that's why you're so successful. Because you, like, I'm like, I know that guy. I felt I know that guy, and I knew that guy. And I just wanted to share that story in front of all these people. It's the truth. It really is the truth. You know, and so just watching you do your thing, you know, it helped kind of calm my nerves a little bit about how to get ready to do this thing at age 26 and start my SportsCenter career. And I've told you this other story as well.

44:33Rich Eisen:I'll tell it here as well. The guys in the front row from my show know this story is coming. I think I told this to you as well. So you remember those banners that? Oh, yeah. OK, I think you've told me that. I told you I had. I'll tell the story. Okay, so the story is this. There's ESPN banners that they put on the side of stadiums to let everybody know who's broadcasting the game, ESPN. And they would always take these banners, fellow coworkers, and hang them over the sides of the prefabricated cubicles that would form the hallways of ESPN. And it would say, please sign this for charity. and I was so nervous about signing these banners because I was new and I was afraid that somebody like you or Dan Patrick or Keith Olbermann or Robin Roberts or just name it Charlie Steiner these were all the people who were doing SportsCenter when I was there, Linda Cohn, Craig Kilbourne and I was afraid to sign them that you'd come out of your office and say who does this new dipshit think he is signing these banners.

45:38Rich Eisen:And one night, I'm doing a 7 p.m. sports center, and you were doing the 7.30 baseball tonight, or was it the other way around? You were in the makeup chair, and I'd never met you yet. And this is the first time I ever met Chris Berman. And I said, screw it, I'm going to ask. And I asked you, since you've been there since 1979, how many sports centers do I have to do? Now, you don't remember this story, right? No, but you told me. No, but you don't remember this happening, obviously. No. All right, so I say, how many? And you say to me, how many have you done? At least one? And I'm like, yeah. And you said, fuck it, sign them all.

46:24Rich Eisen:And I grabbed a Sharpie, and I went down the line. I signed them all, and I never thought for a split second again. And you made me welcome there, man. And you had to have known you were an ambassador for this sort of thing for people like me, I'd imagine, back in the day. Yeah, but those days, not that it's different. It's different not only because we're so much bigger, but even the 90s when you started and even the 2000s, you knew a bulk of people. They didn't all have to be on air. or they could be in our studio, or they could be doing any type of job. But we looked out for each other, and so I was you once.

47:08You know, I mean, not that there was anybody for me to ask in 1970. We didn't have banners. I don't think we could afford them. So, yeah. But again, as far as being the same person, I will say this in our business and in most any business, if you certainly on TV, if you try to be someone who you're not like the old radio voice is that how you wake up? I hope not. If you try to be somebody else who you're not and you're on every night the difference of ESPN the network still we're on every day And if we're not ourself when something doesn't, a tape doesn't go right, or something breaking news happens.

48:02Rich Eisen:Yeah. And then you're an actor or an actress. Okay? That's my opinion. Certainly there would be no way that the Colts would have a chance at the defending Super Bowl champs who seem to be back on their game. That's why they play the game. They can see through if you're on every night. but last night he seemed like he was trying to be somebody else. Tonight he's this and that. It doesn't work. People are smart. People want to be, okay, who are you comfortable with? Look, not everybody likes chocolate ice cream, right? I mean, plenty don't. But if you're chocolate ice cream, just be it. And if there's some people that don't want to order you, they'll watch the test pattern that was on opposite of me at 2.30 in the morning.

48:55Right, exactly.

48:56Rich Eisen:But, you know... But, no, I totally understand what you're saying. I mean, Stuart was exactly himself. Dan Patrick, Keith, like, Linda Cohn, everybody who's been doing it for... Scott Van Pelt in the current day. He's who he is. Like, these are, honestly, when you meet them, they're the same people that you see on the air. And it hit me like, well, Kilbourne was fake, but I told him that's that fake. I'm just kidding. I told him that's fake. But no, but he was, that's who he is off the air, too, whenever you meet Craig, you know. Literally, I'll never forget, after doing one of my first sports centers, I ran into him in a hallway.

49:39Rich Eisen:He's coming up the stairwell. I'm going back up. He's going down the stairwell to do a show. I'm going up. after having done one. He goes, oh, you're the new guy, huh? And I'm like, yeah, I am. And he goes, I've been seeing what you're doing. You're doing a lot of what I do. That's good. And I'm like, that's the guy I've seen on television, you know? Here's the thing, Rich. Let's break it down to be real here. We're not smart enough to be anybody else. So why wouldn't we be ourselves, right? Well done. I mean, that's, let's break it down. I appreciate you saying that. In the few minutes we have left here, you said to me downstairs, you said to me, we've done a SportsCenter before, right?

50:21Rich Eisen:This was SportsCenter is presented by Gusto. Look, the economy is a lot right now. And if you're a small business owner, you probably feel it. You can't control interest rates or tariffs, but you can control how efficiently your business operates. Automating payroll and HR with Gusto is one of the fastest ways to cut friction and focus on what actually moves the needle. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use. So you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. It's quick and simple to switch to Gusto.

50:59Rich Eisen:Just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast. Plus, don't pay a cent until you run your first payroll and get direct access to certified HR experts to help support you through any tough HR situation. There's a reason Gusto is ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026 and trusted by over 400 ,000 small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash TWSC and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash TWSC. One more time, gusto.com slash TWSC. And I'm like, yes, we have. And as a matter of fact, we looked it up.

51:44Rich Eisen:We found one. We found it. October 11th, 2001. The Space Odyssey. We did that. That's what it was. And roll it. Here's the... Oh, God.

52:01How about overtime finishing in college football? Ralph Regan, Lefty Drizzel. Ralph Regan, Lefty Drizzel. Maryland excited. They play righty-lefty. Yes, they do. Chris Berman, Rich Eisen. We're excited. Glad you could be with us.

52:13Rich Eisen:Coming up on the show, Michael Jordan. He's coming back. He is? Yes, he is. I don't know if you knew that. I didn't know that. We'll let you know what happened with the Michael Jordan comeback and if the Jets can conjure up more magic for the Dolphins in the Meadowlands this year. But we have baseball to talk about. Afternoon baseball. Lefty, righty. That comes into play there, too, Rich. There it is. Wow. The hi-hello. I mean, these shows, it's just television and sports. It's not brain surgery. Just do it, right? Like, you were young.

52:49I still have ties. I did have ties. Listen, I got 300 ties, okay? I mean, some of them I haven't worn since probably that show. That's right. For good reason, but so what? You know, I worked with Greg Gumbel, who we lost this past year, And I'm glad you mentioned John Saunders. I mean, I could go on and on and on. But no, no, we had pairings and people like pairings. And you and Stuart were very special. And I did a lot with those people I mentioned, mostly with Tommy Meeze and Dan and Keith. And it was a different, that was kind of the way it was presented, right? Like even if you watch your local news, it was a few people.

53:26Right. And hopefully we were comfortable in your homes. Glad you could join us in your chaise lounges. Hi, everybody. I'm Chris Berman along with John Saunders. on this hour-long edition of the SportsCenter. I mean, you... You... Because I think, and I speak for Rich, and I speak for all of us at ESPN, that we don't ever take for granted that, you know, you can invite a lot of people into your homes via the... We used to call it the boob tube, but by, you know, the thing in the middle of your living room or your family room, which is now, like, 90-inch TV, which, you know, heaven forbid, we might have a zit.

54:01But, um... I mean, that would be pretty... Back then, 13-inch TV, okay, we look fine. But you allowed us into your homes, and we can't take that for granted. And we hope we included you, that's what SportsCenter was about, in our conversation. It's the first time the Steelers would be 4-0 since 1979. Oh, by the way, that was their last Super Bowl year. So we shall see if the echoes are woken up by the Steelers and the Packers at a tundra, which is not yet frozen, but yet it still is at Lambeau Field. Like, you're not speaking back to us. You might yell at us like, whoa, you know, but we say that.

54:43It's not pap. It's really the way we've always felt about it. I know that.

54:47Rich Eisen:No doubt. No doubt. It's about a connection. It's about making sure. I mean, in the same way that you said somebody said they're changing diapers to you, right? I've met some people tonight and it's quite frequent Stuart Scott and I either put somebody on a school bus or I Stuart Scott and I would help them procrastinate in college, you know, and and we would get I still get that today. and it means a lot to me to hear that. That SportsCenter has been there and it's about the marking of time in their lives. And seeing, as you said, wow, you looked young and had hair. Yeah, it's a marking of time for me too.

55:39Rich Eisen:And I look at that and Susie introduced us tonight and I met Susie in the newsroom and our children are ESPN children by proxy. I look at that and I think that's a different human being. You know, like it's so long ago, it's a different part of a career. But the fact that I get to meet folks like tonight who are like, you know what? I was, you know, you helped raise me. It blows my mind, man. It does. But that's what SportsCenter means to a lot of people. And, you know, obviously you might not have been thinking that in the middle of the night in 1979 or 1980. Probably not. Probably not, but that's what it has become.

56:20It does. No, very well put. Listen, we, in this time, and I have felt this for a long time, and if I speak somewhere and I've said this and it hasn't changed, you know, we're even in a rougher time society-wise than we'd like to be for many reasons, okay? But that's not a political statement. That's unfortunately reality. but sports is one of the few things still to this day like music that fits all shapes and sizes you can be white or black or pick another color you can be rich or poor or in the middle you can be old or young you can be male or female we all could have the same conversation about hey, did you see the game last night with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

57:20Like, how could they have punted when they had to go for it on fourth down? And we have a conversation. Us may be leading it on the air, but sports kind of, yeah, you're a stranger, you're a stranger, but we can talk about it. and it's been the most heartwarming revelation to me way early in the sports center years, and if I had not done sports, I wouldn't have known this, from the letters and the things and the people that you meet on the street and whatever, and I used to do baseball games every week in the 90s primarily. I would get in a cab and land in Cleveland, and I had the Indians maybe four times a year.

58:05They were good. then they were good. Albert Bell, Alomar, Sandy, we could go on and on. Was it Albert who Bell? That wasn't a great... Sandy, well, Roberto was, remember, the Alomar. Sandy was... Sandy had another one. Albert was not Ding Dong Bell. That wasn't a good one. At any rate, a cab driver would pick you up, and you'd have the Indians game on the radio the night before you're doing the game.

58:32Rich Eisen:Right. He's listening to it every night, right? I learned more in a 30-minute cab ride from a guy in a cab that maybe went to a game once a year. So tell me about the Indians. And I didn't have to do any studying when I got there. My point is we all can talk. And if that's what sports does above everything else, I hate this team. That's a bad word to use in sports. I really root against this team different. You know, I if SportsCenter helps put that people that we never see, but we're you're out there. Then we've done our job. I don't mean to get heavy, but I really feel that.

59:17Rich Eisen:When was the last SportsCenter you did? I used to come back to keep DiMaggio's hitting streak alive. Yeah, that's you know, again, that's one with me. You know, like, I think I might have done one or two with you that week. But when was the last time you've done one? It's been a while now. Do you want to do any more? When you want to go back in the gym? Listen, I mean, I'm there for a few more years. It's too late for them to get rid of me now. So they had their shot, and they missed. Come on. You know, they underpaid me for 20 years. They overpaid me for 20, and now it's kind of a wash. So I'm semi-retired.

59:57I just do my football. I do my prime time and I maybe in this year of us having the Super Bowl not that that has to do with SportsCenter but maybe there'll be a time to go do one although it's a different show I'm not

1:00:12Rich Eisen:saying it's not good but it's different and well it's different because everybody sees things in the palm of their hands you know as soon as somebody comes up with a play that you would want to say, I can't wait to see it on SportsCenter tonight, it's different now because you've seen it five times. And alerts on social media, on Instagram, whatever, I know that you're not on Instagram. God, no. I know. I'm a child of the 20th century. But I think, though, that there is, again, tonight, you see this awesome Strand Theater in San Francisco filled with people that remember these times. and it's a powerful, powerful emotion, nostalgia, and I'm leaning into it.

1:00:59So what do you say?

1:01:01Rich Eisen:Do you want to do another sports center, Chris? Are you going to do it with me? Well, who knows what this means, right? Yes, I will bring back 2001. I might have the same suit. It might not fit. I won't wear the hair. I won't have it. Wow. There are beetle wigs out there. I would love to do that, as a matter of fact. Well, I mean, listen, having this show, we almost have to go back, back, back in time. And we almost have to do it. I mean, not that I'm looking to fill my days with more work. That's right. Although SportsCenter's not work. Okay, we're not in a coal mine. Let's understand. One night only.

1:01:46Rich Eisen:One night only. Plus, I need to rack up this moment. It's not my finest moment. I need to rectify my attempt at a Chris Berman nickname from the 2001 SportsCenter show that's rolled out. Flames in Nashville. The Flames go down in Nashville. 1-0. The lone goal scored by Vladimir. This is Orsag. This is your search. I don't know. John, Vladimir is a big fan of him. I'm trying to do something here. I'm trying to make a play. 1-0 is the final score. Flames 0 for 4 on the power play. Nothing wrong quoting Elton John. Hey, listen, imitation is the highest form of flattery. You know that. But it's a game everybody can play.

1:02:32Rich Eisen:I think Gus Ramsey gave me that one. You might have the famed SportsCenter producer who came up with so many catchphrases for so many people. But you might have given me that. You might have. Listen. I try to lay into it, certainly since I received two Berman nicknames from you, which meant I had made it as well. Well, didn't I call you? There's two different versions. Well, the one is Rich Bette Davis Isaac. That's correct. And, well, Isaac, because what else? That was kind of the one I was... The other one was Rich Kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscope Isaac. You went Beatles. Rock and roll, man. You went Kim Carnes and Beatles.

1:03:16Well, listen, listen. Rock and roll music. That was our internet, okay? That was people in Seattle and people in Mississippi and people in Buffalo and people in... I knew they were here. And people in St. Louis and people in Pensacola, Florida. We didn't know it. We were listening to music similarly on our radio station. When you meet somebody later, you bring up, oh, remember, I'm dating myself there. Remember, we can go a little later than that. But yeah, I listened to that when I was in high school and while I was in college. And sports and music are kind of like that. But music was our internet.

1:04:00That's just a little social statement by me. It was, I liked it better than the internet, frankly. It's a whole other story.

1:04:08Rich Eisen:Well, Boom, I can't thank you enough for sitting down here tonight. I wouldn't have wanted to do This Was Sports Center without having you part of it, certainly in the first season, certainly here at a Super Bowl in San Francisco, which I know is a special place for you. And so thank you very much for taking part in This Was Sports Center, Chris Berman. Well, listen, you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Round of applause for Chris Berman, please.

1:04:43Rich Eisen:Thanks for being here for the live version of This Was SportsCenter.

1:05:01ESPN News, I love all this. I enjoyed it. Me too. Chris Berman, Rich Eisen. Ciao.