Kirb Herbstreit offers flimsy defense for ESPN's decision to interview Ted Cruz on College GameDay

ESPN committed a bizarre broadcasting faux pas last Saturday, by giving Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) an extended platform on College GameDay to push for the passage of the so-called Protect College Sports Act (which also could be called the Screw College Players Act or, as Simms suggested, Protect the ESPN and SEC Contract Act). The story has resonated throughout the week, and it looms over Saturday’s episode of College GameDay in Oxford, Mississippi.

Kirk Herbstreit, one of the College GameDay analysts, addressed the situation in comments with reporters on Friday.

“I was first really impressed,” Herbstreit said, via Mississippi Today. “I’ve never seen a guy booed that long and be able to just power through that. You know, I don’t know if he could hear what I could hear, but it was pretty — I think he was booed pretty much the entire time he spoke.

“I don’t really get into politics. It’s just not — I’m kind of an independent guy, right down the middle of the fairway. I’m for America, so whoever helps us as a country, I’m for. Whether it’s somebody on the left, somebody on the right, so I don’t really follow it. I don’t know anything about his political views. I don’t know what he’s for or against. I care about football, my family, and my faith, and my country. Those are things I love.

“And so, I don’t really pick sides, and I was surprised. I didn’t know what his deal was, so him being booed, I asked people, ‘Like, what’s going on here?’ And we had him on because they were gonna be voting this week, and maybe he could give us some insight to what’s going on. That was really it. So we’re not picking sides in any way at all. We just want to see the chaos that’s surrounding this sport kind of be reeled in, and if this will help us get to that, then great. Now, the fact that the guy that sits right next to me, Nick Saban, was heavily involved in putting this act together, this guy loves college football more than anybody I’ve ever met. And so if he’s happy about what this could do, then I follow his lead. But yeah, that was surprising. But, again, I don’t really follow it, so I didn’t really understand it.”

There’s a lot to unpack there. I’ll keep it simple. Herbstreit is either flat-out lying or he’s ridiculously naive.

How can anyone say “I love my country” while being completely detached from the issues that shape its present and future? How can any American adult not know what it means to be a Republican or to be a Democrat, and how those labels have become so inherently polarizing and conducive to negative reactions?

Beyond Herbstreit’s claim that he’s clueless as to why someone like Ted Cruz would be booed, Herbstreit’s position that he’s “right down the middle of the fairway” and that ESPN isn’t “picking sides” on the issue at hand can’t be reconciled with his viewpoint that the “chaos” needs to “kind of be reeled in” and that he supports anything Nick Saban recommends on the matter because Saban “loves college football more than anybody I’ve met.”

It’s entirely possible to love college football and to want to limit player pay and mobility. Which is precisely what the Screw College Players Act will do.

The word “chaos” is a matter of perspective. From the players’ perspective, it’s not chaotic; they have real rights and power. From the perspective of those who don’t like the fact that the rabbit has the gun, it’s definitely chaotic. Because the rabbit has the gun.

The best news is that folks seem to be figuring out what’s going on here. The powers-that-be don’t like the fact that they’ve lost some of their power, given the implosion of a system that was fueled by antitrust violations that collectively prevented players from getting paid. In the aftermath of the reckoning, those who don’t like the new reality are shedding crocodile tears and screaming “the sky is falling” to anyone who may be able to help them implement a system that limits the new rights the players enjoy.

It’s a grift. It’s a scam. Herbstreit has made himself part of that scam while pretending to be neutral — and not even his dog will shield him from the criticism he now deserves.