EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Houston broadcast media legend reveals details of infamous Astros scoop
Apr 5, 2022, 11:21 am
Here's the scoop. Composite image by Brandon Strange.
Retiring Houston Chronicle legend John McClain got it right in his farewell to the troops last week.
“I’ll miss hanging out at the Texans with Mark Berman, sports director at KRIV, another close friend of more than 40 years and the best reporter I’ve ever seen.”
Several years ago, I was playing a neighborhood pickup basketball game with Steve Patterson, then the Houston Rockets general manager. I asked him, “How come you give all your scoops to Mark Berman at Channel 26? Don’t the other TV stations get mad at you?”
Patterson answered, “I don’t play favorites. I don’t call Berman and give him Rockets stories. He’s the only TV guy who stops by my office every day and asks what’s up? If someone in the media asks what’s going on, I’ll tell them. Berman just happens to be the only one who does that.”
To be fair, none of the current batch of local sports anchors was around when Patterson told me that. The others have upped their game, and by that I mean they actually show up for games and work the beat. What a concept!
Still there’s no harder worker than Berman in Houston broadcast media. He’s a bulldog, all right. He’s old school.
Two weeks ago, in the wee hours of a weekend, Berman landed one of his biggest scoops – Carlos Correa shocking the baseball world and breaking the hearts of Astros fans by signing a 3-year, $105 million contract with the Minnesota Twins. Around that time, rumors were flying that Correa appeared likely to stay with Houston. Even Astros players in Florida for spring training were stoked that their shortstop might soon be in camp. Minnesota came straight out of leftfield. Only Berman got the story.
Here’s the scoop on Berman’s scoop.
SportsMap: Given the way journalism operates today, and your reputation and drive to break stories, how did you get your Correa news to the public? It was late at night.
Berman: I immediately reported the information on my Twitter account.
SportsMap: Did you ask Channel 26 to break into programming with a “Bulletin” or “Breaking News?”
Berman: Not at 12:41 a.m. in Houston.
SportsMap: When you get hold of a scoop like this, do you fear that somebody else has the story, too?
Berman: While I was in the moment I didn’t have time to think about anything but get the information and get it on Twitter. Of course I was thrilled to be first. Who wouldn’t be with a story of that magnitude?
SportsMap: Have you ever had a scoop that turned out not true and you had to eat it?
Berman: Certainly I’ve had a couple of stories where I interviewed people on the record and their information was wrong or just didn’t pan out. I’m guessing there’s been a story or two based on sources where the information originally checked out and ended up not being right. I’m extremely cautious when dealing with off-the-record information and that’s cost me a number of stories, because if I can’t get comfortable I just don’t do anything.
SportsMap: Give me your Top 5 scoops from your career.
Berman: Considering I’ve been doing this for 44 years, 42 in Houston, 36 at FOX26, it’s hard to create a list like that. So I figured I’d go back five years and list five in no particular order, based on the significance and in a couple cases being surprises.
1. Tilman Fertitta buying the Rockets.
2. Rudy Tomjanovich getting elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
3. Michael Brantley re-signing with the Astros when it was being reported he was joining Toronto.
4. Most recently we had an exclusive interview with former Texans safety Justin Reid who signed with the Chiefs.
5. Carlos Correa reaching an agreement with the Twins.
SportsMap: You live for this, right?
Berman: 24/7, 365.
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C.J. Stroud couldn't believe it. Neither could his Houston Texans teammates.
They were frustrated after a 21-13 loss to the New York Jets on Thursday night when they couldn't get much going against a team that was seeing its season spiral after losing five straight games.
“It’s embarrassing to come out here in a prime-time game and get embarrassed like that is never fun,” Stroud said. “We have to be better in a lot of areas, and that starts with me. There are plays I've got to make, throws I've got to make.”
Stroud completed just 11 of 30 passes for 191 yards for the Texans (6-3), who played without injured receivers Stefon Diggs and Nico Collins. Stroud was also sacked eight times.
“If we want to win, this is not the recipe for it,” Stroud said. “We've got to learn how to dominate and stop learning to just go with the flow.”
It was the first of three consecutive prime-time games for Houston, with a Sunday night home matchup against the Lions on Nov. 10 next and a Monday night meeting at Dallas on Nov. 18.
“We just have to honestly just play football better, execute better, stop pointing the finger and realize at the end of the day this is not winning football,” Stroud said. "We can’t keep squeezing our way by. We are a really good football team. Once we buy into the systems and what is being coached, we have to have leadership to take over.
“This isn’t the end, but it’s definitely a great wake-up call for us to tighten up the ship.”
The Texans got on the scoreboard first on Joe Mixon's 3-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter. They also led 10-7 through three quarters, but couldn't close it out as Aaron Rodgers and an eye-popping catch by Garrett Wilson helped lead the Jets to a victory that stopped their skid.
“The most frustrating part is that we were the better team,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. "We let that game get away from us, especially in the second half. We didn’t come back out with the same intensity we had in the second quarter.
“We let a team steal a win from us.”
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans was particularly concerned with the offensive line after Stroud was hit 11 times. The second-year quarterback was on the turf for a few moments and was slow to come off the field after being sacked by Solomon Thomas shortly before halftime.
“Not sure what’s happening up front,” Ryans said. “We’ll watch the film. We gave up eight sacks and every drop back or pass situation looks like we’re in scramble mode. It’s just not good enough. We can’t operate on time. We've got to get that fixed.”
Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, a total that ranks second in the NFL to Cleveland's Deshaun Watson, who's out for the season.
“We don’t want our quarterback getting hit as many hits as he took," Ryans said. "It’s not good enough. We've got to adjust, change things moving forward.”
After a slow start on offense, the Jets found a rhythm in the second half. Wilson's acrobatic, one-handed grab put New York in front 14-10 early in the fourth quarter. Rodgers' 37-yard TD pass to Davante Adams made it 21-10 with 2:56 left.
“When the passes went up in the second half, we didn’t win those passes,” Ryans said. “It was the same matchup we had in the first half. They made plays in the second half and we didn’t.”
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