You’re probably aware that Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN’s award-winning college football analyst, will cover Monday night’s national championship game between Oregon and Ohio State.
You may not know — or perhaps have forgotten — that Herbstreit was raised in Ohio, attended Ohio State and was the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback and most valuable player in 1992. His father, Jim, also a Buckeye, was an assistant coach under Woody Hayes.
Herbstreit is active in Ohio State fundraising activities. And he admits to bleeding scarlet and gray.
So some Oregon fans probably will put Herbstreit under an audial microscope during Monday’s coverage (6:30 p.m. from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas).
“I’ve been doing this (broadcasting) for 19 years,” Herbstreit recently told Ohio reporters. “But if you had a camera on me during last week’s Ohio State-Alabama game, you would have thought I was 7. I was going crazy — like I did when I was a kid.”
(He wasn’t covering the game.)
“I’m allowed to be a fan. I’m not going to pretend to hide from that. But when I go on the air, I’m going to be fair and objective and just analyze the game.”
Herbstreit, who has gained a reputation for occasionally being outspoken, was critical of Florida State’s postgame response in a semifinal when the majority of the team left the field without shaking hands with the winning Oregon players.
And he inserted a bit of pessimism regarding the future of college football during a conference call with writers when sizing up Monday’s championship battle.
Herbstreit and broadcasting partner Chris Fowler answered numerous questions while discussing the strengths and potential weaknesses of both teams before Herbstreit voiced concern about the game in the years ahead.
He noted that hurry-up offenses, high-scoring games and the seeming lack of defense in today’s college competition are not necessarily good in the long run.
“Great defensive plays are made to stop drives, but the rules favor offense,” he said.
He advocated the rules committee examine potential changes, adding, “In some ways, the games look like arena football.”
Ratings roulette. The Green Bay Packers can claim honors as the most popular NFL team — at least on “local” television — according to Nielsen’s final 2014 local ratings.
The Packers, on Milwaukee television stations, registered a 45.2 rating in 16 games.
The New Orleans Saints, who led the ratings parade last season, finished second with a 42.8 rating, while the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks were third (42.3).
The Broncos were fourth with a 41.6 rating, down 4.6 percent from a year ago.
Predictably, the Oakland Raiders had the lowest viewing average (10.9). And the supposedly glamourous New York teams didn’t fare much better: Giants with a 13.9 rating, Jets at 11.2.
The Nielsen reports do not record the number of viewers watching in bars and restaurants or those using personal mobile devices.
Ratings represent the total number of television households in a given area.
Couch potatoes’ delight. Because of network broadcasting deals, NBC, rather than CBS, aired Saturday’s New England Patriots win over the Baltimore Ravens in an AFC playoff game that deserves at least “near classic” classification.
And speaking of near classics, how about Sunday’s Green Bay vs. Dallas Cowboys game on Fox?
So CBS scheduled men’s college basketball — No. 1 Kentucky beating Texas A&M in double overtime. It concluded right before the start of the NFL game.
Thus, sports couch potatoes were provided with superb entertainment that began in the late morning and ended in the early evening.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post.
“Odd Couple” will bat leadoff for MLB
The MLB Network is pitching a series of documentaries to whet your appetite for the 2015 baseball season.
First up: “The Odd Couple: Bruce Bochy and Tim Flannery” (7 p.m. Tuesday), which explores the strong, longtime relationship between the manager of the San Francisco Giants and his recently retired third-base coach. Bob Costas is the host.
