My dad was telling me about this yesterday, so I looked it up. I think some of the results would surprise many of us around here in the least.
This one, though, was a touch surprising to me…
Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN) +44 SEC bias
ESPN’s leading personality covering college football can’t seem to escape the accusations of bias despite multiple efforts to push back against the narrative. Herbstreit has gone as far as saying, “These people talking about the SEC, how much they pay you — are you kidding me? I’ve been here for 30 years.”
Herbstreit is the highest-ranking individual in our poll who reported a bias that didn’t tie to an alma mater or a recent coaching job. Herbstreit, a former Ohio State captain, clearly disagrees with the insinuation that he’s in the bag for ESPN and the SEC. Unfortunately for Herbstreit and ESPN, there is still work to be done, as nearly two-thirds of our voters believe there is a bias toward the SEC despite Herbstreit’s continued protests.
Let me just say he ain’t biased for Georgia, that’s for sure. While Mickey may have made him into an SEC shill, let’s not look past his infamous efforts to sway QBs from Georgia, although he did us a favor when we dodged Raiola. Maybe he’s a Georgia fan, come to think of it. Hmm.
How Finebaum got anything but a 100 on the thing is slightly a headscratcher, but it’s not scientific. Anyway, in case you’re wondering who came in as the least biased…here ya go.
At least McAfee has something going for him.
Re: the pro wrestling announcer/former punter…I guess that’s the benefit of just being a bandwagon fan everywhere you go? He’s biased toward the crowd in any given location, which I guess washes out in the end.
Van Pelt would love to be seen as biased, I imagine, but Maryland sucks too bad at everything but lacrosse and men’s soccer for him to get a chance. Same would go for Chris Fowler and Colorado.
I love me some SVP and Stanford Steve. About the only two personalities I enjoy from ESPN. Rece Davis is pretty good too, but the rest of them are the reason I don’t really watch anything other than live games on those networks.
There are several juicy names on that list, but Finebaum retires the trophy. Danny Kanell isn’t for the ACC; he just lives to grind an axe against the SEC. Corch isn’t biased for anything except Corch.
Good insight on Kanell’s mindset.
I listen to Dusty and Danny in the mornings on my drive to work. Danny’s hatred for the SEC is so bad that Dusty regularly calls him out for it on air. On the rare occasion that he has something good to say about the SEC, Dusty double checks him to make sure he heard him correctly.
Tim Brando may not be biased, but he sure leads for biggest schmuck in the land.
Bear in mind that’s a pretty crowded field.
So true, and yet he used to be one of my favorite announcers years ago. Not sure what happened but he went from good to a schmuck in the flip of a switch.
The rest of the list is just idiotic. ESPN does shill for the SEC but we do kick everyone’s ass, so we have that going for us.
I’ve hated Herbstreit ever since he stole the NC from us in 2007. Every team that had a shot that year was flawed, but at the end of the season, we were slated to play for the NC (and would’ve destroyed anyone). Instead, Herbie blathered on about conference championships (the same thing they want to ignore now by putting Bama in the tournament) and we got screwed.
I guess technically McAfee isn’t biased, but he’s the biggest douche on screen. Although I will say I accidentally watched Gameday before the OU-Bama game and noticed he was wearing a coat/tie and seemed a little more restrained. I wonder if his producers told him his schtick is getting old?
Ari Wasserman as unbiased? The guy who for years was a beat writer for Ohio State?
I don’t think these people know what unbiased means.
Not everyone can call it straight like Coach30 – shrug emoji
If a guy (Herbie) is just being honest about where the best college football is played, he’s going to be seen as biased for the SEC by those that don’t recognize it as just being honest.
Herbstreit sometimes ventures into reality with his rhetoric and it pisses off the B1G morons who believe he owes some kind of allegiance to their fantasies.
OUD, the network that promotes SEC games signs Kirk’s paychecks. Kirk is being honest about what message his employer wants to send.
I think several of his rants over the past few years have been what is best for the network, not necessarily what he personally wants. Every rant he has spewed previous to this year’s “SEC is better” has been harmful to UGA (and usually helpful to bama, with the exception being 2007). My family doesn’t understand my dislike of the guy, but I hate how he uses his platform in a way that I see as detrimental to my team. I’m curious if he would even acknowledge that his rants in 2007 or 2023 were harmful to UGA. I expect he would completely discount that because “he was arguing for a higher, more noble purpose” .(My words, not his.)
Finebaum makes his bones in the SEC. Interesting they omitted the rest of the SECN crew but rather than conferences they should have drilled down to specific teams. And the whole Portnoy / Barstool sports thing…I’m too old for their demographic, don’t get them or like them, don’t understand how they wormed their way into the sports picture.
I think it is a great start on an All-Fools list.
The “Announcer or pundit X is biased for which conferences” comments the point. I have no clue what Heirbstreit tells his family at the dinner table as to the best conference or Uran Meyer whispers into his wife’s est at night as to Big 10 versus ACC and SEC.” What they say in private is how they feel.
What Awful Announcing missed in its post is that it doesn’t matter which conference Heirbsterit or Meyer of Johnson prefers what matters is which conference their employers have a contract with. Fox, CBS and NBC televise Big 10 games that are broadcast at the same time as SEC games. The announcers are paid a shit ton to increase their employer’s ratings. Joe Tessatore has a financial incentive to talk about how great Auburn is before and during its game with Georgia and the EVERY WEEK IS WAR IN THE SEC BROUGHT TO YOU BY ABC/ESPN/SEC NETWORK AND THERE ARE NO WARS ON THE OTHER CHANNELS!!!! narrative.
I will bet 100% of the State Farm employees and 100% of the USAA employees express that their product is better than the other.
That last list has a huge flaw. Wasserman used to report at Ohio State and his commentary was heavily biased towards the Buckeyes for years. I stopped listening to anything he said 4 years ago for that reason, so maybe he’s changed his stripes. But, I doubt it.