The End of An Era

By Billy Fellin

As the last Monday Night Football game ended an “era” of football, another show ended a 19-year run that went relatively unnoticed. NFL Primetime, the famous pre-Sunday Night Football show, showed for the final time this past SundayIt was a novel idea. Get Chris Berman and Tom Jackson together from Sunday NFL Countdown to do the wrap up of the Sunday’s games and lead into the big, or bust, Sunday night game. Berman’s color commentary gave us great phrases as “He could go all the way” and his great “WHOOP” whenever the defense stripped the ball or the offense errantly fumbled it. His antics on the show were classic, though he does know his football. I always liked him better on ESPN or ABC’s football shows rather than baseball. I love baseball, but Berman and baseball just didn’t gel for me. However, I digress. Another part of Chris Berman’s legacy is his nicknames that he would give players, the way that he would introduce them during the highlights. For example “HERE’S CARSON!” for Bengals QB Carson Palmer, and Curtis “My Favorite” Martin.

    At the other side of the highlight reel was Tom Jackson, always ready to give his “expert” opinion on the actions or key plays of any given game. He is one of the better player-turned-analyst there are, it’s like playing the game itself, some can’t and some can. Honestly, no one is an “expert” on football, or any other sport for that matter, but Tom Jackson knows the game and is a true student and lover of the game, he can analyze from multiple angles and usually had a sense of humor about whatever witty comment Berman came up with.

    While Monday Night Football certainly got the most attention for their signing off from ABC, with the likes of Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Al Michaels and John Madden to their resume’, Primetime was always just Chris Berman and Tom Jackson. It was a show that ran down the highlights of the entire day of football, a welcome notion to football lovers that only had local games to watch. They could see how their favorite team did beyond just the score of the game. This was long before the idea of DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket, back when a satellite dish was a thing still in the production phase. Primetime was a classic show that was watched by millions every Sunday night, making it one of the most watched shows on cable on Sunday nights.

    So why was Primetime left out of the media “goodbye” spotlight, unlike Dick Vermeil and Monday Night Football? Maybe that’s what Berman and Jackson wanted, to go out with a fond goodbye and a few choice words that would solidify their place in sports broadcasting history. They defined an era of Sunday nights for 19 years, allows hundreds of millions of football fans to see the actions of the football day by two talented sportscasters, not some crappy local newscast that only covers the local team. So goodbye NFL Primetime, you went out with class. And you didn’t need a fireworks show or an actress dropping her towel to do it.