An open letter to Kirk Herbstreit

Dear Kirk,

(I hope you don’t mind if I call you Kirk. We’re about the same age, and I’ve never seen anyone call you anything else.)

We have held you in high regard in our household for decades. You are a talented sportscaster, and we enjoy your color commentary as insightful and fresh, yet consistently conversational. (Great job on TNF so far, by the way.)

We especially appreciate your work on College GameDay. The show is a longstanding tradition at our house, treated with as much reverence as a game when it comes to being in our comfortable clothes, having some good eats, and making sure we’ve gotten up extra early to address any urgent chores. We love that the show is professional, with in-depth live content and feature stories, but still keeps a sense of humor about itself. And we all believe you are the heart of the show. You keep things moving, you’re quick with a joke, and you always strike just the right note of respectful deference to Lee Corso.

Alas, with the addition of Pat McAfee to the desk, the dignity, culture, and very spirit of College GameDay is seriously threatened.

There are many varieties of sports journalism, and we understand that McAfee’s loud, brash, irreverent schtick is popular with some crowds. However, College GameDay has never featured this sort of content to this degree. We do remember McAfee doing dedicated segments from a different location one season, and we didn’t like those either, but at least they were predictable and encapsulated.

McAfee is not talented enough to sit at the College GameDay desk. His wardrobe is obnoxious. (Bear doesn’t wear a tie either. But Bear doesn’t sit at the desk, does he? And he brings volumes of knowledge to the show.) He is actively damaging the integrity of this valuable institution you have had a considerable hand in building. This saddens us all.

Pat McAfee is a bad fit. Frankly, we hope there are changes in store.

Thank you for reading, and we understand that you can’t respond directly to this letter. However, we hope it’s circulated widely enough that you see it, and that you would consider addressing its contents with decision-makers when you have the opportunity to do so as a capital component of what has made College GameDay so consistently excellent.

Sincerely yours,

Bo Williams

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2 thoughts on “An open letter to Kirk Herbstreit”

  1. I can put up with a lot of crass, but it’s not pleasing in the gameday venue. It’s incredibly annoying and detracts from the enjoyable banter of the show. My pro team’s city is known to enjoy pretty colorful language and opinion, but even they know when and when not to be offensive on the media. (With some exceptions – but they aren’t on national gameday on Saturday mornings, with good reason.)

    ( I will respectfully disagree with your assessment of KH on TNF. I think his pro knowledge base is very lacking and it shows in his commentary. He’s boring, not informative. But, I will watch him cover the college game all day long )

    I’ve found myself switching to SEC gameday, instead.

    Reply
    • Good call. The time of day is salient.

      The Fox Big Noon pregame show is pretty good too, though jury still a bit out on what my long-term Urban Meyer tolerance can be.

      Reply

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