First, this is old news but it’s new news to me: Kirk Herbstreit has unexpectedly incredible leaping ability. As evidence, I present to you the following picture, which is from the 2002 BCS National Championship game between Ohio State and Miami. Many of you have probably seen this picture before, but I had not. Regardless, it’s awesome:

(Somewhere, KVB is now contemplating reading the rest of the article or sprinting to his restroom cabinet to grab a moist towelette and some hand lotion. Read on you crazy Buckeye. Read on.)

Though it is not perfectly clear in the picture, other sites have pegged Herbstreit’s sideline cohort as none other than former Ohio State running back Eddie George.  Makes sense to me, so we’ll go with it.

I’m just amazed at how far Herbstreit is off the ground. Clearly, he is leveraging George’s shoulders to propel himself higher, but anytime there is an athletic event going on and a white dude is higher in the air than anyone else…well, it’s unexpected and impressive.

So (almost a decade after that fact) kudos to Kirk Herbstreit, suit and all, for his incredible feat of leaping greatness.

Here is the play that caused Herbstreit’s jubilant jump, which every college football fan will remember well:

Herbstreit addressed this play in the most compelling section of his interview with Jason at The Big Lead:

“…the way the official first reacted, he should not have called pass interference. You could make an argument that there was contact early on the play, when the ball was in the air. But later in the play, there was no contact, it was a no-call. The way he reacted initially, I don’t know why all of a sudden later, he decided to throw the flag.”

Of course, naturally, prior to this explanation Herbstreit spewed the typical Buckeye nonsense about a call that went against the Bucks earlier in the game that led to a Roscoe Parrish punt-return TD. So even if it was pass interference, karma’s a bitch Canes fans!

Actually, I’m just expressing a little faux sarcasm because a) it’s more fun to write; and b) it’s fun to ruffle the feathers of Ohio State fans. They love themselves their football and take it somewhat seriously.

Herbstreit goes on to discuss how a few people have emailed the photo to him. And it’s quite obvious that included in said emails are critical remarks about his not-so-clandestine support for his alma mater. Completely unprovoked, Herbstreit goes off on a rant about how he strives to be objective when discussing the Buckeyes on-air, so much so in fact that he sometimes thinks that he is overly critical of them:

“When I’m on the air, I would challenge anybody to watch me when I do a game and try to figure out what school I went to. When I’m off the air … I’m an Ohio State fan. Sorry. I went to school there, I was a captain there, my kids wear their Ohio State jerseys almost everyday. They wake up singing the fight song. We’re an Ohio State family. [About the photo] I wasn’t on the air, I’m going to go crazy. My work speaks for itself. The way I’m fair and objective – sometimes I probably go too far in being critical toward Ohio State, but I had a ton of people send me that photo.”

Okay Kirk, we get it. Geez. Defensive just a little bit? Something tells me this must be a common theme in the critiques he receives from fans.

Honestly though, I tend to agree with him.

I like Herbstreit and think that he is one of the better studio and color analysts not just in college football, but in all of college sports. He is knowledgable, relatively consistent as far as I can tell, and while he obviously has a soft(er) spot for high profile teams like USC, Florida, and Ohio State, I don’t think it takes away from his ability to be objective and to be critical of those teams when the situation warrants it.

So as far as I’m concerned, his diatribe at the end of The Big Lead interview was a little unnecessary. He obviously felt that he needed to make that point though, so more power to him. 

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Plus, he’s in a cartoon! And if Flash Sports Tonight says that Kirk Herbstreit represents “all that is wholesome, pure, and true to the spirit of college football,” well it’s good enough for me.

 

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* – Kirk Herbstreit jumping photo credit: Wiz of Odds and The Thermocaster

It is spot on. Here is my favorite excerpt:

“But I also owe much of this site’s success to many people I’ve met along the way. Again, like anyone that’s been in blogging for a year or so, most all of us can point to several friends or any number of sites that have frequently linked to us, bringing attention upon our work.

Without those friends and the support of fellow site owners, many sports blogs get lost in the shuffle.

In order to get that support, you’ve got to write something worth linking to. In addition, you’ve got return those favors and publicly note the support of those that have helped you.

I don’t believe this relatively new member of the blogosphere understood – like I’ve come to understand – you have to pay your dues.”

If I sat down to write a post about what I have learned in the five months that Midwest Sports Fans has been up and running, I could only hope to be able to articulate it so perfectly.

And after reading MoonDog’s post, it occurred to me that there is a long list of people I need to thank for helping Midwest Sports Fans achieve the modest but exciting amount of success that we have had. Obviously blogrolls and links are the best way for a blogger to do this, and I plan to be much more proactive in doing so moving forward, but if any of our supporters are reading this I want to give them the proper shout outs.

First and foremost, I have to thank the writers who have contributed content to the site. People like MidnightWriter, KVB, Kaner, Plough, Chad, Stephanie, Josh, Squizz, MJ, Ryan Russell, Gerlach, Coop, Fraschetti, EJ, Joe, Rick Reuben. Hopefully you all know how much I appreciate your contributions, both in terms of new posts and comments. You keep the action happening at MSF, especially on those days when I’m burnt out, busy, or write something that totally sucks.

And to all of the regular readers and subscribers, you have my deep gratitude as well. My goal, and the goal of our writers, is to produce something informative or entertaining, or both. There would be no reason to do so without eyes to read it. So thank you for keeping us on your regular rotation. And to people MNRC, even though all of the Browns fans hate you because you’re a Steelers fan, you are our most loyal commentator, and much appreciated because of it.

I also have to give a special shoutout to Dash and the rest of the Deadspin crew. As any sports blogger knows, there is website whose link carries more power than Deadspin. Traffic always spikes, and any SEO nerds like me know the value of links from high authority sites. For all of the inclusions in the Blogdome, I am truly, truly appreciative.

There have been many other sites in addition to Deadspin who have linked to our content as well. I won’t list every single one out by name obviously, but almost all of them have found their way into the Blogroll (or should soon). Special thanks go to Ryan at Cowher09.com and SaveLeBron.com, ClevelandFrowns.com, KVB and the Flash Sports Tonight crew, and we have to give a special shoutout to Kornheiser’s Cartel. We got started about the same time and exchanged links right off the bat. I’ve definitely been impressed with what you guys have created.

I don’t want to go on and on. Obviously I’d like to thank everyone who has done something to support what we are doing here at MSF. One way we will accomplish that is to start regular link roundup posts. I’ve been, admittedly, a little lazy in not putting these together. But after reading MoonDog’s article, it reminded me that you can’t expect to create a successful sports blog without sharing the love that others have given you. I’m not sure we’re really big enough yet to have as huge impact on other sites as they have had on us, but it’s time to start trying — and doing one more thing to pay dues and be an active part of the sports blog community.

So thank you to Moon Dog for writing such a great post, and thank you again to everyone who has supported us here at Midwest Sports Fans. The first five months has literally been one of the fun and exciting experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m looking forward to bigger and better things in 2009.

And maybe, just maybe, the Browns can become consistent winners and Indiana’s athletic department can show signs of competence.

Now I’m just being ridiculous.

As you may have noticed, our post frequency has lessened over the the past week.  I am currently taking on a few tasks with the long-term interests of Midwest Sports Fans, and our partners, in mind.

1) We are seeking new writers.  I will be initiating an online recruiting campaign this week to find sports fans who are passionate and want to write for our site.  My goal, as I’ve stated before, is to every sports team in the Midwest covered.  It will take a while to get there, but we will.  If you are visiting and interested in having a forum to write about your favorite sports team, and having your writing promoted online, shoot me an email.

2) I am also going to be spending some time working on one of our partner sites, FlashSportsTonight.com.  The producers of this site and I have some exciting things planned for the future, so stay tuned.

3) I am currently entertaining the idea of also starting another blog that will partner with Midwest Sports Fans, but that will focus exclusively on IU basketball.  I haven’t decided for sure yet, but stay tuned for details if you are an IU fan.

4) We are developing an innovative way to bring live-blogging to Midwest Sports Fans.  This will be a feature of the site in the coming weeks.

Don’t worry, the posts will be coming again soon.  Truth be told, this was a pretty depressing sports week for me.  Carlos Quentin broke his wrist, the Dolphins lost, the Browns looked terrible, and Tennessee lost to UCLA.  So I would only have been posting depressing crap anyway.  Once the White Sox clinch a playoff spot, the Browns get it together against Pittsburgh next week, and Tennessee beats Florida, you can expect some wholehearted gloating and excitement back here on Midwest Sports Fans.

In the meantime, feel free to browse our archives or post comments telling us that we are geniuses/complete idiots for our posts.  Have a great week.

-Jerod