The threat is real and it’s verified. Copy that.
I haven’t figured out the angle yet — would Alabama beating the crap out of some relatively hapless number eight team really move the ratings needle? — but I have no doubt they’ll find one. ESPN cannot let this aggression stand, man.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, ESPN Is The Devil
He was so upset by that, he forgot to blame Mark Richt for losing control.
Filed under ESPN Is The Devil, Mike Leach. Yar!
Sorry, I had to do it.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit says he has tested positive for COVID-19 and will have to call the College Football Playoff semifinal between No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State from home.
Herbstreit posted Tuesday night on Twitter that he was feeling good and his family is OK.
He said he will still be part of College GameDay on the morning of Jan. 1 and on the call of the Sugar Bowl with play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler in New Orleans that night.
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UPDATE: Another one.
Filed under ESPN Is The Devil, The Body Is A Temple
Man, Rece Davis tipping his cap to the BCS? Gotta give him credit for saying something Mickey would frown upon.
Well, you can’t have a 30-minute weekly show interviewing a computer now, can you?
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, ESPN Is The Devil
It’s not useful advice. But it’s advice.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, ESPN Is The Devil
First of all, please tell me that none of y’all plan on spending your entire day watching this bullshit.
This is, of course, the real reason the effing thing exists in the first place.
The sad reality is that there isn’t a need for anything more to cap this season off than Alabama and Clemson playing for all the marbles. TAMU and Notre Dame have already gotten their asses whipped by those two and it’s unlikely the script is going to change in a rematch. Ohio State has played six games and only faced two teams with a pulse (both games not so coincidentally being struggles for the Buckeyes). Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina are both great stories, but does anyone really see them coming within 17 points of the top two teams? Not gonna happen.
Which means we’re going to get a day of coaches whining about why their teams deserve a bid, pundits pushing their own bullshit narratives, Gary Barta’s inarticulate nonsense justifying the fix that was already in, and, as always, the usual anger when the choices are revealed as justification for another round of expansion that will be dismissed in the short run and embraced in the longer terms when the money’s there.
Ain’t college football great?
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, ESPN Is The Devil
The same guy who just said, “… we have got to figure out a [postseason] system that opens up opportunities” also said this ($$), apparently with a straight face:
In an interview with 97.1 FM The Ticket in Detroit, Herbstreit — known perhaps as the face and voice of college football for this generation — brought up this year’s Iowa team as an example of what’s both great and wrong with the sport. The Hawkeyes (6-2) had a tumultuous offseason and dropped their first two games by a combined five points. They have since won six straight by an average of 21.8 points per game.
“To me, that’s one of the great stories of college football (this year) and we live in this era of, ‘Does it have anything to do with the playoff? Nope, OK, who cares?’ And if that’s the world we’re going to live in in college football, that’s like March Madness,” Herbstreit. “If you’re in March Madness, fill out the bracket and we’re gonna get excited. But do you care about the NIT? No, unless it’s maybe your school.
“That’s what college football’s turning into with this playoff. If you’re in the playoff, it’s March Madness. And if you’re not in the playoff — even if you’re 9-2 — good riddance. Kids are opting out of Rose Bowls; kids are opting out of Sugar Bowls. It’s like, what in the hell is happening to our sport?”
Maybe you should talk to your employer about that, Kirk. Assuming you really care, that is. Otherwise, this is jaw-dropping hypocrisy. Or in your case, business as usual.
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, ESPN Is The Devil
It’s just what college football needs, another opportunity for Kirk Herbstreit to lobby for the playoffs.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit believes the current playoff system needs a serious upgrade.
“Our postseason is as bad as there is,” Herbstreit said Wednesday on the Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin Show via College Football Live. “And we have got to figure out a system that opens up opportunities. The season ends Jan. 12, I can already tell you 2021 Ohio State’s coming out of the Big Ten, Clemson’s coming out of the ACC, Alabama’s coming out of the SEC. I can say in 2023, Ohio State is coming out of the Big Ten, Clemson’s coming out of the ACC and Alabama (in the SEC). … If that’s where we are is that right, is that healthy for the sport when 98 or 99 percent of the participants realize they don’t have a chance before the season starts? We’ve got to look at this 2020 year and realize that we have to tweak the system for the betterment of the sport. We’re at a fork in the road right now on a lot of levels and we’ve got to look at some potential changes.”
As long as those tweaks serve Mickey and Ohio State, I’m sure Herbie will be onboard. All for the greater good, you know…
Filed under BCS/Playoffs, ESPN Is The Devil
Of all the things I didn’t expect to hear in last night’s broadcast of the Florida-LSU game, this has to be the topper:
In case you need the refresher,
Todd Blackledge rules, baby.
Filed under ESPN Is The Devil
ESPN and the SEC announced Thursday that they have reached a 10-year deal beginning in 2024 that will make the network the exclusive rights holder of SEC football and men’s basketball.
The deal provides the network, including ABC, up to 15 premier football games, including the SEC championship game and rivalry games such as Alabama–Auburn and Florida–Georgia.
… Beginning in 2024, ABC will air an SEC game every week, including a regular late-afternoon kickoff, and will have the option to feature an SEC game on ABC’s Saturday Night Football for the first time.
“So Saturday night, prime time on ABC is the highest profile window, the biggest stage in terms of college football. And we love the fact that we can now bring the ABC platform into the mix, starting in 2024,” Pitaro told The Associated Press.
So, looks like we’ll be swapping Gary for Herbie. Be still, my heart.
Anyway, we know why this deal is going down.
The SEC’s 10-year contract with ESPN/ABC will allow member schools to make an even larger financial investment in athletics and trigger the next round of battles between the Big Ten and SEC for dominance of the college sports landscape, increasing the possibility the two leagues leave the rest of the Power Five in the dust.
ESPN/ABC will pay the SEC “in the low $300 million range” annually, according to Sports Business Journal, a significant increase on the $55 million the league makes per year from its contract with CBS.
“More money for buyouts,” thought Jimmy Sexton, as he headed off to bed last night.
Filed under ESPN Is The Devil, SEC Football
