Caught The Big Lead’s 5Q interview with Kirk Herbstreit a few minutes ago. Solid work. Good interview. Two things in particular caught my eye.

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. 

What are your thoughts on Kirk Herbstreit?

• Total Ohio State homer.
• You mean Hunkstreit? Who cares if he's objective or not. I'd do him.
• He's a turkey neck away from being Beano Cook.
• Fair & balanced, and one of the best football analysts out there.
• Overrated. He just looks good when compared to Lou Holtz, Mark May, and Lee Corso.

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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