Kirk Herbstreit’s amazing race for ESPN-ABC
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Say a prayer, keep your fingers crossed, light a candle and hope for the best.
For the U.S. economy?
Oh sure, that too, but we were thinking more about ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, who faces quite a beat-the-clock challenge Saturday as he prepares to broadcast the big showdown at the Cotton Bowl between No.1 Oklahoma and No. 5 Texas.
Herbstreit will be wearing a couple of 10-gallon hats in Dallas.
The Houston Chronicle, well, chronicled what could be the toughest six minutes in the former Ohio State quarterback’s up-to-now fantastic, fun-filled and highly compensated life as the toothpaste commercial (OK, he’s smart too) portion of ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ football crew.
Herbstreit will be multitasking for parent Walt Disney Company.
First, he and partners Chris Fowler (Mr. Inside) and Lee Corso (Mr. Downside) will host their wildly popular ESPN pregame show from outside the Cotton Bowl.
Then, the crew moves inside for an on-field ABC report, after which Herbstreit has six minutes to race up the stadium steps before ABC throws its in-the-booth coverage back to Brent Musburger and ... Kirk Herbsreit.
Hey, Brent says to red-faced Kirk, weren’t you just on the field?
(Note: Print reporters do this all the time, rushing back from the locker room to the press box, but the Nielsen Ratings are usually terrible. Last week, for example, I had to stop twice for base-camp rests on my way up the Coliseum steps after USC-Oregon, nearly blowing deadline and my Achilles’ tendon).
If things go well for Herbstreit, we envision a reality cable series that can be reported on by ESPN.com, aired on ESPNU, cross-referenced to in Spanish on ESPN Deportes and investigated by ESPN’s ‘Outside the Lines.’
I’d be interested in seeing, for instance, how long it might take Herbstreit to scale the stairs of the Empire State Building or the Washington Monument.
In Rome, of course, you have the Spanish Steps.
There’s three shows right there.
God’s speed, Kirk Herbstreit.
-- Chris Dufresne
