https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/ohio-state/2024/12/28/briggs-kirk-her...Briggs: Kirk Herbstreit misses the mark in his condescending war with Ohio State fans
DAVID BRIGGS
The Blade
dbriggs@theblade.com
Dec 28, 2024
7:23 PM
LOS ANGELES — The first time I heard ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit brand the Ohio State fans who wanted to run coach Ryan Day out of town as the lunatic fringe, it was at a charity dinner last spring in Maumee.
“The 15 percenters, they get mad at anything,” Herbstreit said in an interview at The Pinnacle. “That percent is going to be mad at something always. [Day] could win the Michigan game, go to the playoff, and lose, and they’ll be mad about that.
“That group is just a bunch of jackasses who kind of embarrass all of us as Ohio State fans. So I don’t really care, honestly, what that group thinks.”
It was a good point … the first thousand times.I think we get it.
A gentle suggestion: Let it go.
It is condescending and misguided.
The former Ohio State quarterback has taken now to conflating any supporter who believes Day belongs on the hot seat with being a bad fan, as if it defies belief the subjects could question their liege lord over something as small as being 0-for-the-Biden-Administration in wins against Michigan and Big Ten championships.
You may have heard his latest round of jabs during the ABC broadcast of the Buckeyes’ playoff-opening beatdown of Tennessee. On whether the performance would soften the blow of the loss to Michigan, he said: “I can’t speak on behalf of the lunatic fringe, I’m not sure how they operate. The lunatic fringe at Ohio State is as powerful as anywhere in the country. … I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll be happy — be fired up about what this Ohio State team did. But God forbid they lose to Oregon. They may want to fire [Day] again.”
And so it went … and went.
Now, a couple questions here:
Who’s going to break it to Herbie that Ohio State’s reputed fringe of crazies — as in those who put the burden of proof on Day this postseason — is now very much the lunatic mainstream? (The 25,000-plus Tennessee fans at the Horseshoe placed Day’s approval rating somewhere between parking cop and John Cooper circa 1997.)
Also, has he considered why he makes a reported $18 million per year to talk about … football?
Hint: It’s because of many of the same fans suddenly catching his strays. It’s their passion that fuels this entire fantasyland.
Of course, Ohio State has a lunatic fringe, not to be confused with its joyless or garden-variety whackos (that’s another topic). The sliver of looneys who harass or threaten players or coaches in any way belong in the bin or prison.
I should also say: This is not to pile on Herbstreit. I’ve always liked him. He’s a good analyst, and, from my experience, a good guy. (By the way, when Herbstreit joined Jim Tressel for the dinner here last year to benefit the Historic South Initiative, both men declined a speaking fee.)
Clearly, this is personal. Herbstreit is close to Day — his son is a walk-on tight end for the Buckeyes — and has a well-documented history with Ohio State fans. He moved his family from Columbus to Nashville in 2011 in part to escape the loudest of them.
Still, his continued sarcastic and patronizing digs at anyone who holds a different opinion is bizarre.
It’s OK for reasonable people to disagree.
It’s perfectly valid to begin and end the case for Day with his 67-10 record, and conclude his job security should not be a conversation.
It’s also perfectly fair to think it is.
My suspicion: Ohio State beats Oregon. But let’s suppose it doesn’t.
The Buckeyes would be 11-3 with the best team $20 million can buy — even Nick Saban said they have the best roster in the country — and Day’s scarlet letter against Michigan would still be visible from the space station.
At some point, just as it did a couple years too late with Cooper, Ohio State will have to ask: What does all the talent matter if it can’t pass the exams that comprise the majority of its grade?
If fans are waiting to see on Day, it’s not because they think he’s a bad guy or have — as Saban put it — a “psychotic obsession with Michigan.” (Let’s not put their obsession so mildly!)
They merely have expectations befitting of what is asked of them — the face value for a ticket to the Michigan game in the last row of the upper deck: $299 — and believe to whom everything is given, something more is required.
That’s not a fringe opinion.
And to those calling for perspective, buddy, where have you been?
That ship sailed just behind the Mayflower. There is no perspective.
Consider: Ohio State president Ted Carter leads a top national university. He oversees 65,000 students, 35,000 employees, and a $10 billion budget.
Day leads a football team. He oversees about 160 players and coaches and support staff, and a $72 million budget.
Day is paid $10 million per year.
Carter is paid $1.1 million.
An oncologist at the school’s world-renowned hospital makes a fraction of that.
Major college athletics is the Land of Make Believe, and it’s the fans and the passion and the debate that make the entire enterprise go.
Herbstreit could do worse than remember why he has such a lucrative job covering football in the first place.
It’s not because people have mild interest and lukewarm opinions.
He knows that better than anyone.
