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Another ESPN Book Story: Chris Berman Blamed Tony Kornheiser For “You’re With Me, Leather” Meme

Five years ago, Deadspin posted a tip about how Chris Berman supposedly picked up a woman (wearing a leather jacket) at a bar simply by uttering the words, “You’re with me, leather.” The story became something of a legend, and even spawned a popular site. Not quite so amused was Berman, who responded to a fan asking him if he’d ever read Deadspin by inquiring as to whether said fan was stupid, and wondering why he, Berman, would go and do such a thing.

And, thanks to the new ESPN book Those Guys Have All the Fun, we now know where Berman laid the blame for the “You’re with me, leather” story leaking in the first place: fellow ESPN personality Tony Kornheiser. Kornheiser and Berman apparently have a long-standing mutual dislike, and according to this brief excerpt tweeted by SI’s Richard Deitsch, Kornheiser wasn’t shy about sharing the details:

“The whole time I was on Monday night, Berman never mentioned my name. He loathes me, in part because of stuff I used to write about him. Berman and I have an antagonism that goes back many, many years, long before I ever got to ESPN.

Once in Minnesota, the big grand poo-bah stood there and lectured me, screaming at me about how great he was, how significant he was, how he built the network, and how I ought to be more grateful. That’s when he accused me of writing the blog about him and that leather thing. He said, “I know how it got on the Internet.” I asked him, “What the hell are you talking about?”

The fact that Kornheiser and Berman aren’t best buds isn’t a new revelation. The fact that the animosity runs so deep that Berman could accuse Kornheiser of spreading hilarious stories about his pickup lines (which he denies happened in the first place) – all while Kornheiser claimed he didn’t have the first clue what Berman was even talking about? We enjoy that. We enjoy that very much.