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Kirk Herbstreit pushes back on accusations of SEC bias: ‘I love every team. I love every conference’
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Kirk Herbstreit is surprised that he gets accused of having SEC bias considering his Big Ten background.
Herbstreit recently touched on the topic of opinions during an appearance on the Pure Athlete podcast. The long-time ESPN college football analyst described himself as someone who tries to be a pleaser and tries to be fair.
Having been a professional observer of college football, Herbstreit feels he is certainly qualified to give his opinion. What he doesn’t get, however, is being accused of being an SEC shill, considering his roots in another conference.
You don’t have to agree with them, but they’re fairly educated opinions, but they’re mine,” Herbstreit said, per Awful Announcing. “If we want to disagree, let’s disagree. I have no problem with that. But I can assure you that my opinions aren’t just flying by the seat of my pants or ‘What can I say to upset a certain fanbase?’ Like, I’ve never done that — ever. We get accused at ESPN that we love the SEC. I love every team. I love every conference.
“I went to a Big Ten school. I was the captain at Ohio State; my dad was a captain. I love Ohio State. But I’m not on [ESPN] pushing Ohio State’s agenda or the Big Ten’s agenda. You would think I would be accused of being a Big Ten homer. I guess for some SEC people, maybe they think that. I just watch every game, and prepare, and talk with a lot of coaches during the week, and give you a take. The people that attack me, I’ve come a long with that, because at first, when I would see that, I don’t want to reason with them … I learned over time, there’s just some people they want to be mad; they need people to attack.
As he has discussed before, Herbstreit again said that attacks from college football fans wear on him.
None of it sits easy with me,” Herbstreit said. “My answer to it is not get on it, not be a part of it, which is a shame because I like interacting with fans that enjoy normal back-and-forth or ‘Hey, I have a question for you.’ I could do that all day, but I don’t like the ‘FU,’ ‘I hate you,’ ‘You’ve always sucked.’ It’s just poison to my soul,l and I just, unfortunately, it keeps me off of that where it can’t impact me in a negative way. All I do is work, talk to guys, have opinions, and do the best job that I can. Again, I’m not claiming to have all the answers, but at least I have informed answers and opinions when I give them.
This isn’t the first time Herbstreit has publicly discussed his social media interactions. He caught the attention of the college football world when he appeared on Andy & Ari in January and said he was not active on social media.
I deleted Twitter a long time ago,” Herbstreit said on a January episode of On3’s Andy & Ari podcast. “I don’t have it. I just have a buddy… My son tweets stuff out.”
“I don’t read anything. I don’t see anything.
In February, however, Herbstreit said he was the one active on his account, stating that he had taken a break during football season.
[H/T Awful Announcing]
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
