Bonding with Boomer: 48 hours with Chris Berman

Darren and "Boomer" at the Chargers game

Professional athletes, entertainers and T.V. personalities are the types of dynamic personalities that make most of us wonder what those stars are like in real life. We often hope they are as they appear, or sometimes we pray that they can’t be like that off-air.

Very rarely do we get answers to those questions.

Unless your Darren Feeney of Cohort 12 in Southern California.

Darren with NFL Network's
 Michael Irvin

While working with the San Diego Chargers, Feeney networked his way into a unique opportunity this past November. With his boss at the Chargers also serving on the Board of Directors for the Huntington’s Disease Society, Feeney had hoped to find a position as a volunteer for the annual HD Celebration of Hope Gala in downtown San Diego.

Along with helping out a great cause, there was also the intrigue of being involved with an event that featured NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, ESPN’s Chris “Boomer” Berman, NFL Network’s Rich Eisen and Steve Mariucci and Hall of Fame players Marshall Faulk, Deion Sanders and Michael Irvin.

After asking his boss to find a role for him at the event, Fenney heard two words that would shape a memorable experience.

“Boomer’s Guy.”

For Feeney, the role of “Boomer’s Guy” proved to be a 48-hour commitment filled with car rides to and from hotels, unforgettable conversations and lasting pieces of advice. All of this done so while in the company of one of ESPN's most charismatic anchors, Chris Berman. 

Feeney’s first meeting with Berman came at the Torrey Pines Hotel. While picking up Berman from his hotel on a Wednesday afternoon, Feeney was also able to meet Berman’s longtime producer Jay Kutlow.

As for one of Feeney’s better decisions over the two days?

“Having oldies music on in the car, thanks to some great research of Boomer’s interests by my father,” explains Feeney. “In fact, my father, who is a Superior Court Judge, offered to even switch jobs with me for a couple days. But I respectfully declined.”

The opening car ride exposed Berman's off-air personality. 

“In our first car ride it didn’t take long for me to realize that Boomer was the exact same person on television as he was in person,” recalls Feeney. “ From the beginning he wanted to get to know me as much as I wanted to hear about him and his stories.”

Following an outing that included watching the Chargers practice, Feeney took the afternoon off before taking Berman over to the night’s main event.

After fighting through traffic and making a quick change into a suit for the evening, Feeney was set for a night of interaction with some of the industry’s most notable icons.

“We arrived at the event and I tossed the keys to the valet,” explains Feeney. “Did you think I would succumb to general parking with Chris Berman on board? Not a chance. I had three main tasks for the evening: escort Boomer over to the KFMB Channel 8 cameras for a live shot, make sure Boomer was on stage on time to open the ceremony, and lastly, get Boomer home safely.”

The night continued in dramatic fashion, with Feeney meeting the entire NFL Network crew before they took the stage.

In typical Chris Berman fashion he couldn’t leave his creative exclusively to the set. Feeney joined elite company when Berman presented a signature nickname for the USF Sport Management student.

“He coined a nickname for me earlier that day: Sprolesy,” notes Feeney. “I have a few inches in height on the 5-foot-6 former Charger, Darren Sproles, but with my first name also being Darren, the nickname stuck. We pulled up at the Hilton and in typical Boomer style he said, 'Sprolesy, you’ve been great today. See you tomorrow—same bat time, same bat channel.”’

Thursday proved to be just as eventful for Feeney. On this gameday his sole responsibility was making sure Chris Berman was taken care of. This included driving him to the game and then going down on the field prior to the game.  In the closing minutes of a Chargers home loss, Feeney made his way to the owner’s box.

Sitting with Berman was team president Dean Spanos and general manager A.J. Smith.

“Even though the Chargers were losing, it was another one of those moments when I realized, ‘I’m sitting here watching football with Boomer, the Chargers owner and general manager,” explained Feeney.

From there Feeney and Berman hit the road and out of Qualcomm.

“The Chargers lost the game 24-17 and it took a while for Boomer and I to emerge from the cluttered Qualcomm parking lot. But once we did we were smooth sailing on Interstate 15 when Boomer said, ‘Sprolesy, you’ve been great. Don’t feel like you have to, but I’d love to take you out for a drink.’”

After another talk and a post-game meal, the two parted ways, but not before Berman left with a joke and a meaningful piece of advice.

"Boomer stood up, gave me a big bear hug and said: ‘Sprolesy, don’t you forget, if it wasn’t for me, you’d still be by the Xerox machine right now.'"

“On the way to the game, I asked Boomer what his best piece of advice would be for me from a career standpoint. His response: ‘You already have the networking thing down; I can tell that by what you’ve told me. But there is a fine line that only you can draw when it comes to the workplace. No matter what line of work you’re doing, when you’re trying to move up the ladder, you don’t necessarily want to be the first one on someone’s mind who’s making the decisions. Because that could show that you’ve over-pursued and they’ll likely go another direction. But you definitely don’t want to be the last one on their mind, because that means you didn’t do what you needed to do. It’s a fine line that only you can draw.’”

Not a bad 48 hours huh?