Q 6

PLAYBOY: All inductees in the Baseball Hall of Fame from broadcasting started on radio. Do you play down television's visuals and strive to improve your verbal skills?

Chris Berman: I've actually thought about this. My generation may be the last brought up to read the papers and listen to the radio for sports information. That's gone, but it was a big benefit for me. It has made be better than someone a little younger who grew up a total video slave. We enjoyed listening to the night games on the radio. We put the radio under the pillow so Mom and Dad would think we were sleeping when we were listening to the Giants on the West Coast or a Chicago hockey game running long. We all used to bring our transistor radios with earphones to school for the World Series. Mel Allen, Red Barber, Ernie Harwell--who did the Tigers for years--and Jack Brickhouse are legends. The first real crossover was Vin Scully. He's been with the Dodgers forever. TV was a factor there, but I associate Vin Scully with radio. When I'm in Los Angeles to broadcast a Dodgers game, I visit the manager and players and watch about one inning, then go back to my hotel and listen to Scully on the radio for six or seven innings. I get much more out of listening to him than I would from making my own observations.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: The rest of us can tune out when the on-field action winds down. What is Chris Berman's technique for getting through those slow innings and quarters?

Chris Berman: I have my nicknames and rock-and-roll references. Or I just quote songs. One game in 1990 turned out to be about the most memorable I've ever done, though at the time it looked like the worst. It was 11-1 after five innings. Dodgers over the Phillies. The Phillies got two in the eighth and nine in the ninth to win. But we thought the game was a throwaway, and I figured when it was 11-1, I could empty whatever the hell I had in the closet. I quoted every line of Hotel California by the Eagles at some point in that game. "The pink champagne's on ice." "Prisoners of our device." It was out of hand. What's great about this job is I get to combine rock and roll with it.

Q 8

PLAYBOY: You encounter fans of all descriptions. Don't you ever want to tell some of them to get a life?

Chris Berman: I encounter them all. I can't go through an airport anymore without hearing "Back! Back! Back! Back!" or "He could go all the way!" You encounter fans who would sit on top of telephone poles until the Denver Broncos win a Super Bowl. I don't know that I would have ever done that, but I know where they're coming from. I got caught up with the San Francisco Giants and the New York Jets when I was young, and I still think they're great. I was never a ridiculous fan. Although, when you're 14 it's the most important thing. Every day I wore white shoes--like Joe Namath. I got a standing ovation in homeroom the morning after the Jets won the Super Bowl, because I was called "the Jets." Here I was in eighth grade and...well, if I'm Joe Namath, I should be going out with three women at one time. And I was at an all-boys' school.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: You've developed a reputation for adding drama to action that has already happened. Does your ability to call a highlight come from your different take on the passage of time?

Chris Berman: I enjoy nailing a highlight. I've become decent at it. For four years I practiced on the air an hour every night on the overnight show. And we cut long highlight packages. The worst thing a sportscaster can do is to voiceover a play while the quarterback's going back to pass: "Watch this, it's going to be a 60-yard touchdown!" Maybe it's a beautiful pass, but the defender comes over and knocks it down. That's a great play. Why should I spoil it for you? We all enjoy watching games. Howard Cosell was the first to grasp the concept of highlights. Back when there wasn't any NFL Primetime he did highlights during halftime on Monday Night Football--best thing he ever did. Warner Wolf was the first master of the highlight in New York: "Let's go to the videotape!" Warner is a boomer. There's a part of him in me when I do highlights.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: OK, go ahead, replay a career highlight.

Chris Berman: 1981. The NFC championship game. 49ers versus Cowboys. The background: I picked the 49ers early in the year and they kept winning. No one would believe they were good. Who was this Joe Montana guy? I went out to the Bay Area to report on the game. I met all the guys. "You're the swami," they said. "You've been picking us every week." This was a revelation. This was a love affair with them. I'm 26. I'm their age. I'm a big guy. It looks like I might have played football once. I was so into this. I was on the field in the second half with a producer and a cameraman. Cowboys 27, 49ers 21. Four minutes to go. 49ers' ball on their own 11. I tell my cameraman to shoot the clock, pan down to the huddle. I have a feeling. the 49ers get down to the 25. First down. A minute and 30 to go in the game. Montana back to pass at the 25. There's a pass. Down in the dirt at about the 13-yard line, I see Cowboys piling on. I figure it has to be an interception. Then I see one Cowboy get off the pile, then another, then a third, and at the bottom, clutching the ball, is Freddie Solomon of the 49ers. I grabbed my producer and shook him--he said I had Charlie Manson eyes, he said I was in a trance. "My God, they're going in! They're going in!" I said. They did go in. Joe Montana to Dwight Clark. The catch. What a great moment. I'm on the field. I'm feeling this. San Francisco 28, Dallas 27. The 49ers went on to win the Super Bowl two weeks later. And thus began the legend of Joe Montana and the 49ers.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: You may be a big guy, but aren't pro footballers a race apart?

Chris Berman: They're behemoths. It's scary. They keep getting bigger. But I admire those who play because it's the ultimate team sport. It's so regimented. They watch the game films and then have lunch and then have practice and then have meetings. Every play you have to line up over here. And if we all run over there to help this guy--oops, there's a hole and the opposition can get to it in two seconds. If you're the best quarterback but your line doesn't block, or if you're the best line but you don't have a guy who can run the ball...it's such a bunker mentality. But that's a hell of a dedication they have. Players know that longevity is four years.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: Who does a better end-zone victory dance--running backs or wide receivers?

Chris Berman: Wide receivers. Or kick returners. Or defensive backs. Running backs get in there more. Wide receivers are sometimes the snippets of guys with regular builds--5'10", 180 pounds. They weave their way through all of these 300-pound guys, and maybe it's just such a sense of relief for them to get into the end zone. The dancing is fun. There aren't that many chances to be individual in football.