I chose not to pay much attention to the Holiday Bowl matchup of Texas and Arizona State.
After the season Texas had, I wasn't expecting any fireworks.
But after a couple of episodes off The Office DVD, I flipped back to see the Longhorns comfortably ahead with four minutes remaining.
That should have been a pleasant surprise for me—especially since I was expecting the Sun Devils to win it easily.
But, as usual, the four-lettered animal that has become the bane of my sporting experience ruined what should have been a three-minute celebration.
With less than four minutes left in the game, the ESPN duo of Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musberger decided to spend what seemed like an eternity on the upcoming game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. Musberger hailed how great of a coach Tom Coughlin is, even though he's been on the hot seat in many fans' minds for years now.
Then there was the moment where Herbstreit literally said, “What else can we talk about? Mark Prior signed today.”
At first I just rolled my eyes at all this; just another flash-over-substance broadcast by ESPN. But then I realized there was an onside kick by Arizona State that was nearly successful.
The Sun Devil player was running around with the ball in his hand. If he had indeed recovered, it would have given Arizona State the ball in good field position, down by 11 with less than four minutes to play.
Herbstreit’s response?
“Did he get the ball?”
Replay later reveled he indeed did not recover it—Brandon Foster was down before he stripped the ball—but that's your response? Herbstreit was too concerned with Coughlin and Prior to pay attention to the game right in front of him.
The final minutes of the broadcast would include more frustrating blunders. I ended up watching the rest just to see how bad it would get.
In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Herbstreit has been making a fool out of himself as far as I can remember.
It was only less than a month ago when he stated after Oklahoma ran through top-ranked Missouri, "We got to fix this thing," referring to the annual fiasco that is the BCS.
Less than 24 hours later, when it was announced that LSU and Ohio State would play for the national title, he was on SportsCenter with Lee Corso, saying the BCS "got it right."
Just another day in Bristol.
4 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
R. Michael Smith about 1 year ago
I really like this particular duo, especially kirk. When he's on track, he's really good. However, he drove me nuts during this game by stating over and over that the young assistant who reached onto the field while the play was still live had actually touched the football. We all saw the replay over & over & it was conclusive that he had not. The replay official totally blew it, and herstreit was really agravating by his unsupported comments. this has been a bad year for his mouth.
Edit Comment Cancel
Donkay Kong about 1 year ago
Sometimes I think Kirk should just shut his mouth, I recall their college gameday pre season edition where he commented on how people don't want to see Michigan play Appalachian State, woahh wait a minute Kirk I believe App state won that game. Kirk should just stick his foot in his mouth and gag himself. I've also heard a lot of games where he just gets off task and rambles on while you're trying to watch the game
Edit Comment Cancel
Smith J. Howard about 1 year ago
I like both of their voices and their insight, but I agree—sometimes they can really say some out of line things.
Remember when Les Miles "called out" USC? Well, during the ABC broadcast of the Tennessee-Cal game, Musberger couldn't shut up about Miles playing against the Pac 10. If I recall correctly, after the amazing DeSean Jackson punt return, Musberger was taunting Miles saying something like, "Would Coach Miles like to play against this speed they have here in the Pac 10?" C'mon Brent, can't you comment on what's going on in front of you rather stir up more nonsense?
I just thought it was ridiculous to be sitting up there in the booth of a great football game only to be taunting a coach that wasnt involved. Oh, and his broadcast team was headed to Baton Rouge the next weekend. Thought that was funny.
-R.H.
Edit Comment Cancel
Brian Behrend about 1 year ago
Did you watch the game Ron? This is exactly my thoughts as I was watching the game. I was going nuts as a Texas fan during the onside kick but the announcers barely noticed. It was awful.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.