If Chris Berman is “back, back, back, back” in a bigger role at ESPN, it would start at the top.
“I like Chris and we are talking,” ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro told The Post. “We are going to see what we can do.”
Pitaro confirmed The Post’s report last week that ESPN is looking to take Berman out of semi-retirement. It would not be a full-time position, but Berman, an ESPN original and the longtime frontman for the network, could soon have a larger presence during football season.
While executive vice president Norby Williamson, who runs much of ESPN’s studio programming, has known Berman for decades and is believed to be a driving force behind Berman’s potential return, it is Pitaro, who has run Bristol for just six months, who is adding momentum to Berman returning in a bigger role. Berman and executives are expected to speak again shortly about the next step.
After the 2016-17 NFL season, Berman was semi-retired by then-ESPN president John Skipper. Berman was pushed to the side to make room for Sam Ponder on “Sunday NFL Countdown.” The ratings fell 12 percent in 2017-18.
Berman’s current role is limited to a handful of appearances during the year, including hosting “NFL Primetime” after the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, as well as a weekly feature on “Monday Night Countdown.”
ESPN would like Berman, 63, to return, possibly doing highlights on the Sunday night “SportsCenter” for 25 percent of the season. ESPN would want Berman back for even more shows, but he has already set weekend plans for part of the fall, so it may only be possible to nail him down for a limited amount of Sundays. That said, Berman has indicated he is interested in the concepts that also could include some interviews and features.
ESPN’s lead “Monday Night Football” producer, Jay Rothman, did not hold back in hyping up his new trio during a media seminar in Bristol on Friday. Rothman called play-by-player Joe Tessitore a “cross between Frank Sinatra and a young Brent Musburger,” described Jason Witten as “Captain America” and Booger McFarland as “football’s Charles Barkley.” If Rothman is even half right in his assessment, then he and his fellow ESPN producers should have no problem making it work.
Witten is the biggest name and the riskiest of the three new voices. Fresh off his Cowboys career, he has been anointed into the MNF booth despite no TV-analyst experience. It worked for CBS with Witten’s buddy, Tony Romo, but even Romo — who deserved praise for his enthusiasm and first guessing — showed signs by the end of the year that he needed to grow even more in his analysis.
On-the-job training on national TV is not an easy thing, though at a salary at reportedly $4.5 million or higher, no one should feel too bad for the 36-year-old Witten. He was surprisingly nervous in his first game when he called the Jets and Redskins.
“I was like, ‘Don’t try to set the world on fire in minute one,’” Witten said.
A preseason game is not one to fully judge, but Witten did not stand out on opening night. He has a game plan to improve.
“A good listen is very easy to digest,” Witten said. “I think it is good energy, not silly energy. It can’t be over the top. It is knowledgeable, drawing you in, but it is not overbearing or talking down.”
There is an earnestness about how the whole ESPN MNF team wants its broadcast to be a big deal. But one takeaway from the seminar is they might want to chill a little, if having the best chemistry — a keyword for sure from them — is the goal.
ESPN is sold on the Booger Mobile, which will have McFarland gliding at 30 mph on the sideline in a cart instead of the booth, even though he and Witten are supposed to be co-analysts.
We will give the Booger Mobile a chance, of course, but it feels like a lot of fuss without really a discernible explanation as to why it will produce a better broadcast. We would just put McFarland in the booth, especially if he is going to be the Barkley of football.
Jets coach Todd Bowles showed some personality on WFAN’s “Boomer & Gio” on Monday morning. Bowles did impersonations of Herman Edwards, Jim Mora and Dennis Green. While he is not going to replace Gregg Giannotti, Bowles gave fans a little bit of charisma that he seldom shows at the podium during press conferences.
Having heard Pitaro’s comments firsthand on ESPN and politics, it feels as if they have been misunderstood by some.
“If you ask me is there a false narrative out there, I will tell you ESPN being a political organization is false,” Pitaro, 48, said. “I will tell you I have been very, very clear with employees here that it is not our jobs to cover politics, purely.”
While saying ESPN is not about politics, Pitaro mentioned that the network still will cover the intersection of politics and sports.
In not showing the national anthem, ESPN is just continuing what it already had been doing, unless there are events that warrant showing it. One could argue the players kneeling could be such an event, but there is no proof yet that ESPN will not mention anthem protests during the MNF broadcasts.
Now, if they ignore the kneeling entirely, that would be a story. Until then, are there people who think ESPN should be a political organization?
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