I usually root for whoever is playing Ohio State. The problem is, I also normally root for whoever is playing Notre Dame. So, for this year’s CFP Championship, I was rooting for some sort of electrical failure or an earthquake that would have prevented the game from ever being played.
However, that didn’t happen, and the game was in fact played and Ohio State came out on top in a game that looked like it was going to be a blowout before Notre Dame made a game of it, and it turned out to be a fun watch.
At the end of the game and following the broadcast, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit was visibly emotional. Herbstreit played at Ohio State, his son is on the team, clearly the game meant a lot to him. And I am here to tell you that it is ok that he did that, and we will all go on with our lives. As a dear friend of mine once said, “It’s not going to change my weight one way or the other.”
With that said, I kind of understand the negative reaction and I seriously think a lot of it stems from College GameDay and the picks segment at the end of the show. We’ve all seen it, one of the big games of the week is up that ESPN or ABC is carrying, and Rece Davis has to say something like, “Kirk’s on the call for this one, so he can’t make a pick…”
So, let me get this straight. A guy who is a college football expert, who studies the game, watches the film, knows the two teams in whatever game it is about as well as anyone, can’t tell us who he thinks will win based on all of the information he has? Why not? Whose weight is that going to change?
It feels like this is one of those things that was a rule set back in the 80’s and nobody has changed it since. In the end, I don’t really care if Herbstreit makes a pick or not, but it seems like mixed signals here. He can’t pick a team he thinks will win hours before the game because then people will think perhaps, he is ‘rooting’ for that team to win?
If that’s the case, shouldn’t he never have been allowed to call Ohio State games in the first place? Do we think when he does a game that Ohio State is playing in that he not only thinks they are going to win, but he is rooting hard for them to win? Just like you or I would when our team plays.
I used to laugh at the people who would give Joe Buck trouble all the time for rooting for this team or that team. I’ve heard Joe say numerous times it doesn’t matter because both sides are always going to rip him for favoring the other team. However, Joe grew up in St. Louis and like all St. Louisans, the Cardinals are in his blood. He practically grew up at Busch Stadium.
Guess what? One can probably safely assume Joe is a Cardinals fan and doesn’t like teams like the Chicago Cubs as much because every person born in St. Louis is taught to love the Cardinals and hate the Cubs. Now, personally I don’t think you could ever tell when you heard Joe call a Cardinals-Cubs game for FOX which way his fandom went, but even if you could, so what? He’s a professional with a job to do, he can call a baseball game on television without his rooting interests getting in the way.
These guys are human beings, too. I know that is hard for many of us to keep in mind. Kirk Herbstreit didn’t wake up and tell himself he was going to get emotional over a game on live television, it just happened. It was real. And that’s what made it great content. Reminded me again why we love sports so much.
But if the WWE can finally recognize kayfabe publicly, then I think it’s time to just let Kirk make the damn pick.
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The Best/Worst Thing I’ve Heard/Watched/Read Recently
The best thing I read recently was a LinkedIn post from Tim Montemayor, aka ‘Monty’, who I wrote about on the site yesterday. Around the time of the last iHeart round of layoffs (or was it the time before that, who can keep track these days).
Montemayor posted at the time, “A lot of good people in radio lost their jobs today. If I can be of service, in any way, please reach out. I offer coaching on creating your own platform on YouTube as well as other digital platforms! If you were impacted by these moves today, my services are free of charge.”
Tim will tell you himself he has some regrets from the way he treated people in the business in the past, but that is just where all of that lies, in the past. Montemayor is doing big things on YouTube and overall in digital and people would be wise to reach out to him and learn more.
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In Case You Missed It
Demetri Ravanos wrote a column earlier this week you should read if you did not already. The column was about stations hiring people from their own market versus going out and finding the best talent. The points are well made. Most of the time there is no ‘national search’, there is a look down the part-time roster to see who companies can pay the least that won’t be awful. That’s pretty much the standard these days in a lot of markets.
I liked this that Demetri wrote, “A local identity is what makes sports talk work. That’s true for all audio, so I get why a station wants its talent to feel connected to the market. Audiences prioritize themselves though. They just want to be entertained. And I think they would be forgiving of someone not sounding like them if the content is reliably strong.”
To read the full column, click here.
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
