Bonnie Bernstein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bonnie Bernstein | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Born | 16 August 1970 | |
| Birth place | Brooklyn, New York | |
| Education | University of Maryland, College Park | |
| Circumstances | ||
| Notable credit(s) | ||
| Official website | ||
Bonnie Bernstein (born August 16, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Jewish-American television sports reporter and anchor.
Contents |
[edit] Early life and career
Bernstein grew up in Howell Township, New Jersey. She attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in broadcast journalism, after being a four-time Academic All-American in Gymnastics. She received the Thomas M. Fields award for excellence in academics and sports. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Member of the Alpha Phi Sorority
Bernstein has worked for various radio and television channels: Before her first network job at ESPN, she was the weekday sports anchor at NBC affiliates KRNV-TV and KRNV in Reno, Nevada. Prior to working in Nevada she was the weekend news anchor in Salisbury, Maryland at ABC's WMDT-TV. She began her career in broadcasting as the news and sports director of WXJN-FM radio in Lewes, Delaware.
[edit] ESPN and CBS Sports
In 1995 she became a correspondent for ESPN's SportsCenter in Bristol, Connecticut; and in 1998 moved to CBS, where she has mostly covered NFL football games and interviewed players and coaches. She has covered five Super Bowls; during Super Bowl XXXVIII, she became the first sportscaster in history to cover the Super Bowl for both network television and radio syndication (for Westwood One) at the same time.
Bernstein has also covered the NBA Finals, Major League Baseball playoffs, the US Open, NCAA men's and women's basketball games and the NCAA Women's Gymnastics championships; she hosted several half time shows; and worked as a reporter at CBS' NFL Today show.
In January 2006, Bernstein left CBS to pursue other broadcasting opportunities and develop Velvet Hammer Media, a company that helps aspiring or working journalists move up to the next level in their careers. She continued to cover the NFL for Westwood One throughout the 2006 season with her final broadcast being Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007.
Bernstein told blogger dl004d that her decision to leave CBS was due in part to the network's "minimalist philosophy toward sideline reporting."
[edit] Roy Williams Interview
In 2003, Roy Williams (coach) was responding to questions from Bonnie Bernstein outside the Kansas locker room following the 81-78 loss to Syracuse in the national title game. Bernstein began pressing Williams on the opening at UNC, where Matt Doherty was forced out last week. Williams turned the job down three years ago and consistently refused to address the situation this past week. After first saying he didn't "give a flip" about people asking about the opening, he finally cracked in the face of Bernstein's questions.
"As a journalist I understand why you have to ask that question," said Williams, his eyes red with emotion. "But the guy in your ear that is telling you to ask that is not a very nice person.
"I could give a (expletive) about North Carolina right now." Moments later, CBS cut away.
A few minutes later in a news conference, Williams was asked about his future at Kansas. He maintained he has not "given one second of thought about it." Then he referred to the television interview by saying that his mentor, former UNC coach Dean Smith, "will be disappointed with my blankety-blank ... but he'll understand."
[edit] Return to ESPN
On July 2, 2006, Bernstein rejoined ESPN as a dugout level reporter for Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. However, Bernstein revealed in an interview with realhoboken.com, a New Jersey based online magazine, that she switched to ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball coverage on a limited basis for the 2007 season beginning with the April 11th game between the Seattle Mariners and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park due in part to her continuing recovery from a bout with deep vein thrombosis in October, 2006[1]. Bernstein also serves as a sideline reporter for college football on ABC and ESPN with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire, as well as feature reporter and substitute studio host for various ESPN/ABC programs, including NFL Live and Jim Rome Is Burning. Bernstein was the host for the college football pre-Heisman Trophy special Countdown to the Heisman in 2006 and served as a reporter for the live telecast of the Heisman Trophy presentation on ESPN. She was not involved in ESPN's 2007 Heisman coverage for undisclosed reasons. However, on November 18, 2006, Bernstein joined the ESPN on ABC play-by-play team of Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Bob Davie, and Lisa Salters for the telecast of the game between the Michigan and Ohio State, and on January 1, 2007 for the telecast of the Rose Bowl between Michigan and The University of Southern California after working with Nessler, Griese, and Maguire on the ESPN telecast of the Champs Sports Bowl between Maryland and Purdue University on December 29, 2006. She also provided reports on SportsCenter on November 17, 2006 concerning Ohio State's reaction to the sudden passing of former Michigan head football coach Bo Schembechler.
Bernstein also serves as the sideline reporter for the nightcap of the NFL Week One Monday Night Football doubleheader annually, the September 11, 2006 game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders with Nessler, Dick Vermeil and Ron Jaworski, and the September 10, 2007 game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers with Mike and Mike in the Morning co-hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic as well as Mike Ditka.
On October 4, 2006, Bernstein served as dugout level reporter for the eventually rained out game two of the Major League Baseball American League Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees on ESPN in which she provided numerous updates and interviews throughout the controversial rain delay at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up the next day with Bernstein serving as dugout level reporter with her then Sunday Night Baseball colleagues Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Bernstein was not involved in television coverage of the 2007 Major League Baseball Postseason due to ESPN losing broadcast rights of the annual event to TBS through 2013.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ [http://www.realhoboken.com/columns/2007_columns/celebrity1.htm Realhoboken Celebrity Series: An Interview With Bonnie Bernstein]
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Velvet Hammer Media website
- Article on SI.com by Michael Silver about Bernstein's reasons for leaving CBS and her plans for the future
- BONNIE BERNSTEIN JOINS ESPN AND ABC AS COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND MLB GAME REPORTER; BEGINS JULY 2
