Kirk Herbstreit - The Most Prepared Broadcaster in The World

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on Kirk Herbstreit’s exceptional preparation as a broadcaster and his emotional experiences tied to Ohio State football. It highlights his profound connection to the team, including personal family interactions and the challenges he faced during a pivotal moment when Ohio State won the national championship, showcasing the depth of his investment in the sport.

Key takeaways

• In sports, emotional connection runs deeper than wins; it’s a human story amidst stats and glory.
• Kirk Herbstreet's moment of vulnerability on national TV proves even analysts aren't immune to the thrill of the game.
• The 'Lunatic Fringe' of fans are like weather—unpredictable, but one win doesn’t change the climate of loyalty.
• Winning isn't just about the scoreboard; it’s a cathartic release for players and fans alike—a shared emotional battle.
• Ohio State's journey is a reminder: sometimes the greatest comebacks are written not in the history books, but in hearts.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ryan Hawk (Host) · 20 min speaking
• Kirk Herbstreet (Guest) · 46 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Bob Greg, Jack Sawyer, James Lonitis, Trevon Henderson
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Game Day, Bob Greg, Chris Fowler, Amazon
3. 20:00 – 30:00: College Game Day, Game Day, Bengals, COVID-19 pandemic
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Lee Corso, Bob Greg, College Game Day, Game Day
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Lee Corso, Chris Fowler
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Game Day, Bengals
7. 1:00:00 – 1:05:51: Lee Corso, Bob Greg, Centerville High School, Amazon

Notable quotes from "Kirk Herbstreit - The Most Prepared Broadcaster in The World"

• Feeling and I'm just like so it was it was really cool. It'll be a great I've done this 29 years. That'll be one of my one of my favorite memories just seeing Ryan Day just his…

  about College Game Day · at 4:39

• A lot of the boys here. we both were lucky enough to play for the legendary Bob Greg and Ron and, we have we could talk about that for two and a half hours. I know. what's your what's your memory of playing for.

  about Bob Greg · at 8:33

• Game day on everything I do, it's those values. I'm sure you do the same thing. Yeah. So, like I'm doing Amazon with Al Michaels and I'm doing Game Day and I'm doing Saturday…

  about Game Day · at 11:30

• So, the amount of hours that takes for me to feel confident and again, I didn't even go to an NFL camp and here I am calling NFL games as the expert game analyst. And so, and I'm working with freaking Al Michaels, you know? So, like.

  about NFL · at 16:38

• First game. I think it, oh my gosh, it was Chargers Chiefs in Kansas City. Chiefs won the Super Bowl the year before, and I have no idea how I'm going to be accepted. And I'm on the field pregame.

  about Super Bowl · at 18:42

• Fair. Or I can try to get my arms around it, try to be understanding, which I've done. I'm not a fan of collectives. I'm not a fan of pay for play. I'm not a fan of going and…

  about NIL · at 32:47

• You if your team can pull that up, but that would be priceless. so Lee Corso is 89 years old. He'll be 90 August 7th. here's what's crazy is he came back. He did me a f favor.…

  about Lee Corso · at 39:07

• So that was on a Thursday. I was calling the Bengals at the Ravens when he died. And I went home for my son's game.

  about Bengals · at 57:08

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Lee Corso — Person · Referenced mentor / iconic colleague · 5 mentions · first at 38:43
  Discussed as Herbstreit’s longtime College GameDay colleague and mentor; the conversation centers on Corso’s legacy and final show.
• Bob Greg — Person · Referenced coach / formative influence · 9 mentions · first at 8:38
  Cited as a legendary high school coach who shaped Herbstreit’s values around preparation, humility, and resilience.
• Chris Fowler — Person · Referenced broadcast partner · 4 mentions · first at 11:42
  Appears as Herbstreit’s long-time college football broadcast partner and as a voice in the Ohio State/Ryan Day discussion.
  With Al Michaels and I'm doing Game Day and I'm doing Saturday Night Football with Chris Fowler. these are three behemoths in my industry and most people have won and it takes everything you have to do that one.
• Ron Olry — Person · Referenced coach / formative influence · 2 mentions
  Discussed alongside Bob Greg as a key coaching figure who modeled preparation and resilience; also referenced as “Coach Olri/Alry” in transcript.
  I think some of that stem from Bob Greg and Ron.
• Jack Sawyer — Person · Referenced athlete (Ohio State player) · 1 mention · first at 2:43
  Mentioned with other seniors as emblematic of the team’s “mission” after adversity.
  Are they going to they had it and I didn't know what to expect and to see guys like Trevon Henderson and Jack Sawyer and JT so all really all of them but to hear them they so the coach says something about them and then they.
• Trevon Henderson — Person · Referenced athlete (Ohio State player) · 1 mention · first at 2:43
  Named as part of the senior event after the Michigan loss, illustrating the team’s resolve and leadership.
  Are they going to they had it and I didn't know what to expect and to see guys like Trevon Henderson and Jack Sawyer and JT so all really all of them but to hear them they so the coach says something about them and then they.
• James Lonitis — Person · Referenced former player / source · 1 mention · first at 3:31
  Cited as someone Herbstreit talked to for player perspective about the Tennessee game atmosphere and motivation.
  Convinced they were going to win. And Ohio State just dominated the game. And I think when talking to James Lonitis and a lot of players when they came out and saw all that…

Companies & orgs

• Amazon — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 11:35
  Mentioned as part of the speaker's professional engagements in sports broadcasting.
  Game day on everything I do, it's those values. I'm sure you do the same thing. Yeah. So, like I'm doing Amazon with Al Michaels and I'm doing Game Day and I'm doing Saturday…
• Bengals — Company · Referenced team · 3 mentions · first at 13:29
  Mentioned in the context of the speaker's personal fandom and professional broadcasting coverage.

Concepts & topics

• NIL — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions
  Discussed as a transformative and controversial aspect of modern college athletics.

Places & events

• NFL — Event · Referenced event · 2 mentions
  Discussed in the context of the speaker's broadcasting career and the transition from college to professional football coverage.
• Centerville High School — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 1:02:55
  Mentioned as the speaker's alma mater and a key location in his personal and professional development.
  STP said that night. So, like it again humanized you. You also come from here. we see this fellow center football players here. Head coach Brent Olery. new head coach John Pucket.
• Super Bowl — Event · Referenced event · 2 mentions · first at 18:49
  Mentioned in the context of the speaker's professional broadcasting experiences and the NFL.
• COVID-19 pandemic — Event · Referenced event · 1 mention · first at 23:31
  Mentioned as a backdrop to the timing of the speaker's book release and personal reflections.
  Over the years to write a book by different authors that had approached me different ideas and then when COVID hit, Jean Wjowski, who is a reporter on college game day, he…
• Sunny Younger Award — Event · Referenced event · 1 mention · first at 39:25
  Mentioned as a fundraiser and part of the speaker's connection to his high school and community.
  Lee Corso is 89 years old. He'll be 90 August 7th. here's what's crazy is he came back. He did me a f favor. I don't know if you guys still do the Sunny Younger Award. We used…

Media & podcasts

• College Game Day — Media · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 15:35
  Central to the speaker's professional identity and contributions to sports broadcasting.
• Game Day — Media · Business focus · 8 mentions · first at 11:30
  Mentioned as part of the speaker's professional engagements and contributions to sports broadcasting.
• Amazon Prime — Media · Business focus · 1 mention · first at 11:35
  Mentioned as part of the speaker's professional engagements in sports broadcasting.
  Game day on everything I do, it's those values. I'm sure you do the same thing. Yeah. So, like I'm doing Amazon with Al Michaels and I'm doing Game Day and I'm doing Saturday…
• Dayton Daily News — Media · Referenced media · 1 mention · first at 10:32
  Mentioned as part of the speaker's early experiences with media attention during his high school sports career.
  Loving your teammates and not getting caught up in your own accolades. I started probably like you, I started to get a little bit of run was I think the Journal Herald or the…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 You ready, dude? Yeah. All right. I I got to say something first about uh how this whole thing got put together. So, Kirk Herbstreet is the most prepared human in the world when it comes to his job. Whether it's football, broadcasting, whatever it takes. The second or maybe tied for the first is Terry Herbster. His sister is amazing. Chef Terry, where'd she go? Right here. Oh, just the amount of prep, the amount of prep and text and calls getting ready for this. This is so cool. Like, it runs in the family. It really makes a lot of sense.

0:35 So, he's like, "Now I know where he gets." It does. It makes a lot of sense. Kirk, to start, I um I was telling you before when we were hanging out uh eating backstage that um I vividly remember the January night a few months ago, sitting in bed by myself for the moment, my daughter's with or my my wife's with one of my daughters and crying watching you cry. As Ohio State wins a national title, Scott Vanpelt throws it back and you go, "No, no, no, no, no. Can you have go first?" No, no, no, no. And yet, and I just want you to take us back to that night. Like, what are you feeling?

1:10 What's it like at that moment when when they throw it back to you and you're trying to bring yourself together after the Bucks win it all? Ru, it was that part was so hard and scary. I mean, you're on national TV. The game just ended. Um I I don't I I think um I I obviously love Ohio State, but I think this particular this this particular team Oh, yeah. This particular team when they lost to Michigan, um the reaction I know Ryan very well. The reaction that a lot of the fan base had towards him and towards that team. Um, I just happened I had a son on the team who had he had uh some heart issues, had to had to medically retire, but Ryan kept him uh on board.

1:52 So, when they did senior tackle, right after they lost to Michigan, my wife and I went up. It was just a family. It's a closed event. When I played, it was open to the public. Now, it's it's closed. And it was they just lost to Michigan and everyone hates them. And it's closed at to uh to the public. It's at the Woody Hayes facility. And the seniors are sitting at about the 20 yardd line. Ryan Days at the goal line and all the families are on this side. It's like a a tunnel. All the families are on this side and all the the other team teammates are over here. So, it's like a a cool setup and each position coach comes up and he's in charge of saying something about each senior in his in his group. And I I went in there thinking, how are they going are they going to cancel this after that game?

2:39 are they going to they had it and I didn't know what to expect and to see guys like Trevon Henderson and Jack Sawyer and JT um so all really all of them but to hear them they so the coach says something about them and then they grab the mic and then they some say something I was just like I think Ally was too we were just blown away by 48 hours later it's them against the world I know you guys like to say Ohio against the world you guys weren't involved in this this them against the world. And when I saw that, I left there, I was like, "Wow."

3:15 Like, "These guys are on a mission." And then when the Tennessee game, you look, I go out, I called all four games. The Tennessee game, it was 40, 30,000, 40,000 Tennessee fans, they were convinced they were going to win. And Ohio State just dominated the game. And I think when talking to James Lonitis and a lot of players when they came out and saw all that orange after all the noise on social media about fire rind day, they were kind of like everybody and I knew that was like lighting a fuse. And then they went Tennessee and I called every game Tennessee, Oregon, Texas in Dallas and then the championship game uh against Notre Dame. And it was just I think it was a for me I try so hard to be impartial. I try so hard to be just objective and fair. It's almost like the culmination of just ah just the a release because you're looking at confetti coming down and you're seeing all that go on with these players who

4:16 had everybody against them and they had their moment. I was just happy. It was what a story for them. They should write a movie script on on really that story. So I think it was that my son he had heart failure. you're almost faced a heart transplant that being a part of it looking down seeing him you know just all kinds of stuff that was going on and it was just like all of that at once and Scott Vampel's like Herby what are you feeling and I'm just like so it it was it was it was really cool. It it'll be a great I've done this 29 years. That'll be one of my one of my favorite memories just seeing Ryan Day just his family just how happy they were. It was cool. It was good. It was a real human moment, man. I think it brought a lot of people close to you.

5:01 Um, and it's it's actually been kind of a weird year for you with Ohio State fans. You you mentioned the Lunatic Fringe, which has been repeated a lot and now you know they come back and win it and you feel like this emotion like how do you feel through that? Like when after you mentioned some of the fans, there may be some in this room that are part of the Lunatic Fringe, Kirk, I don't know. I mean, how do you how do how do you feel about that? Well, I I think Fowler said something about during the game, the game was pretty much over. They were up by whatever it was, 20 or 30 points and his final few minutes. And he said, "Is this going to be enough to to to make the the masses come back and get back in the corner of Ryan Day?" And I said, "I mean, you're asking a guy to try to thank for the lunatic fringe?" I I said, "I have no idea what they think, you know." So, that that that's when it kind

5:48 of took off. But um I've always felt that there's 90% of Ohio State fans that whether they win or they lose, they're proud of them. And this, by the way, this isn't an Ohio State thing. This this is every fan base. There's a guy we hear loves Florida. I'm sure there's Notre Dame, Michigan. Roll Tides here. I mean, every fan base has that 10% that we're all embarrassed of, you know, and they we they do. It might be more than that. I don't know. It's I I'm just being honest. They They are They're crazy. Nobody thinks they're part of that 10% though. No. No. And listen listen. The reason I know I'm a Reds lunatic fringe fan so they I've seen your tweets about the Reds. No, I I I have a strong thing and then I'm like delete delete delete. No, I am a psychotic Reds fan. They won 6-4 tonight. So, they're gonna have a winning. It was good. They're going to they're actually going to have a a winning nine-game road trip, which for

6:49 us is monumental. I mean, that's that's monument. Hey, buddy. What are you doing? Hey, you figured out. I think so. I mean, how am I supposed to work with this? This is what I get. I mean, that Come here, bud. Are you kidding me? I mean, look. Hey. Um, so I'm a lunatic fringe member myself, so I get it. I understand it. We all come from a good place, but when things don't go well, it's like here we go again, you know, kind of thing. So, I understand it's emotion. Um, but I it's not Ohio, it's Michigan has it. Every every bit, every everybody has it. I just think when you do my job and you're you're trying to be kind of even and the voice of reason and try to be the kind of the conscious of the sport. It's a when you take bullets all the time. You just it's almost like when the season starts in September, you're you're you know, you have an ability to kind of withstand and then it just kind of keeps

7:47 going and going and going and by late October, you're just like you're ready to swing, you know, and so you have to be careful of engaging. I love to engage on on social media, but um I don't want to say something rude and and be disrespectful. So, I I'm better off just avoiding it because um it's so easy to just tell people to f off, you know, just like they're just because they're just so rude. Um so, I just what I do is I mute them or I block them and just kind of move on. You you just mentioned uh you know, we all come from somewhere.

8:20 STP said that that night. So, like it again humanized you. You also come from here. Uh we see this fellow center football players here. Head coach Brent Olery. Uh new head coach John Pucket. Um, a lot of the boys here. Um, you know, we both were lucky enough to play for the legendary Bob Greg and Ron and, uh, we have we could talk about that for two and a half hours. I know. Um, what's your what's your memory of playing for those two? Oh my god. Uh, how' they impact your life? I would say um, you learn Coach Olri was always taking notes, always the first guy there, always the most prepared person. and he injected confidence in us that we knew we were the most prepared, most in shape, most resilient team every Friday night. And the the cool thing about that, and I'd love to hear you talk about this, is that is portable for the rest of your life. You can take what you learned in your your those formative

9:20 years and and do that for the rest of your life. Be resilient. I mean, as I said, you're the most prepared guy in in all of sports, in all of broadcasting, all the Emmys or whatever. But to me, I have to believe that that that some of that stem from Bob Greg and Ron. I and I think that's why I'm such an advocate for high school football because of my own experience. Yeah. Because it's not just about trying to get a scholarship and and going on and going trying to get to the NFL. It's about about what these guys are doing.

9:49 Like I don't know if if you still do it, but when I was going through, we would get up in the summer at 5 in the morning. I mean, it was still dark out. And you know, your buddies that didn't play football, they're at a party. They're probably getting in at 5. and you're you're just getting ready to get up and go go work out and it's a massive sacrifice and um you don't know if you're going to become a starter or not. Everybody's there. We're all doing it together. And that's why I'm so big on on simple old school values like hard work and uh facing perseverance and facing adversity and just uh getting knocked down and getting back up and loving your teammates and not getting caught up in your own accolades. I mean, I started probably like you, I started to get a little bit of run was I think the Journal Herald or the Dayton Daily News. He'd be in the paper and be on channel 7, Omar Williams, channel 2 and

10:39 Bob Greg would be like, "Yeah, Mr. Hollywood, here he comes." And I'm just like, "He's a golden boy. Yeah, the golden boy." I'm like, I'm just like, I'm not the golden boy. Like, I want no attention. And that's why, you know, I I to this day I hate attention. Like if I walk into a room, my goal was to get from A to B as quiet as I can. Like like I How does that guy choose to go be on TV for I know I I don't that's that's I love what I do. Doing, you know, being recognized is just kind of part of it. But I think it goes back to Bob Greg and and Ron Alry just they didn't tear your knees out, but they just made sure as a 16, 17, 18 year old that you knew this ain't about you, right? This is about us. And I it just I don't know. It's it's it's one of those things that on game day on on everything I do, it's those values. I'm sure you do the same thing. Yeah. So, like I'm doing Amazon with Al Michaels and I'm doing Game Day

11:41 and I'm doing uh Saturday Night Football with Chris Fowler. I mean, these are three behemoths in in my industry and most people have won and it takes everything you have to do that that one. And so, man, I go right back to Bob Greg and Ron and and that that program that that's how that's how I I think what these guys are going through. It's not about social media. It's not about, you know, what do you what star are you? It's about the values that you learn and how it's going to impact you down your life. And maybe it's hard to see that, but you and I see it when you when you get out. So Bob Greg and Ron Orin, all those guys, they impacted just thousands of kids that that didn't go on to play college football or and uh they they normalized really hard work and being very prepared and being able to bounce back when it doesn't go your way. They normalized that. So now when you go out into the world and what's just normal

12:31 for you is actually not normal for everybody else. That's the thing I'm most is the fact that like this is what we do. And that's what I want to ask you about like can you actually walk through a week in season? I know Ally probably like oh god I don't see him but like walk through a week because you have to prepare for three behemoths as you said. Thursday night with the legendary Al Michaels NFL games. Different sport than college. Then Saturday game day, which is the show to watch to get ready. And then you go do the game Saturday night.

13:01 So what's your prep process like throughout the week? Uh it's just, you know, my four boys. I have one still at the house. He's about to to leave. So you try to balance out family with with your job. Like everybody in this room, those four months are the toughest just because every minute when I didn't do NFL, Sunday was like a unplug day, collapse on the couch after the week of game day and and the Saturday night game and just watch the NFL, but really maybe watch the Bengals and then really dial in on the on the the Sunday night game and then watch highlights of the other games. And now if I'm doing Chargers Raiders next week and the Chargers are playing the Broncos and the Raiders are playing the Dolphins, I'm sitting there on Sunday off of a couple hours of sleep dialed into those games, you know? And so it it starts on Sunday, your week of prep and then by the time you wake up on Monday, you guys ever have those weeks

13:58 where you wake up Monday at 7:30 or 8, you're behind? I that's that's kind of where I start every single week. I I wake up and I'm just like I'm behind. And um it's just kind of a a sprint. It's it's like if you get on a treadmill, you guys ever get on a treadmill and you can walk at 3.5 or 3.8 or 4 or you could sprint at 10 or 11 or 12? I feel like I'm on a treadmill at 11 for like four months. And then I It's funny. And then on January 21st, I don't ease it down to seven to six. I go from 11 to zero, you know? And like it just stops for eight months. And then I I take him for a walk with uh with all his other guys. And I love to go to the woods with these guys. But yeah, my normal week is just if I'm awake and Ally or the boys don't have something going on, I'm on the phone with a producer. I'm on the phone with a quarterback. I'm talking to a coach.

14:48 It's really just non-stop. The hard part is juggling Al Michaels Thursday night. All those notes because we do a Zoom. If we're doing the Chiefs and they're on the road, we got Andy Reid for 20 minutes. You got Patrick Mahomes for 20 or 30 minutes, their defensive lineman, maybe Chris Jones for 20 or 30 minutes, and then you do it's really hard to explain. It's just not it's just non-stop preparation because my thing is I'm not a guy that was a Heisman winner. It's, you know, when I first started at Game Day in 96, I could choose to be embarrassed of who I was on national TV or choose to have a bit of a chip on my shoulder. And I was kind of a chip on my shoulder guy my whole life. So, I chose instead of like when I started in 1996 on College Game Day, unless you were a Big 10 fan, you had no idea who I was.

15:39 So, my idea of like trying to build my brand was they're going to know me from my work ethic. they're gonna know me like, damn, I don't know who that dude is, but he seems to know what he's talking about. Like, that was my goal. Um, and to this day, I mean, I still try to be the guy that's, like you said, the most prepared. So, if I'm talking Kansas State one segment, Missouri, UCLA, Texas, Florida State, like, whoever we're talking about, I want to try to be overly prepared because the conversation on game day could go anywhere. you know, they give you an idea of where it might go, but Desmond might say something and I'm like, all of a sudden, I'm going to react to that. Or Nick Sabin might say something and I got to react to that.

16:21 And if you're not prepared, you don't know where it's going and you don't know how to have information to have um credible uh comments. So, I prepare 100% and I use 20%. for all three shows. So, the amount of hours that takes for me to feel confident and again, I I didn't even go to an NFL camp and here I am calling NFL games as the expert game analyst. And so, and I'm working with freaking Al Michaels, you know? So, like that was a that was a behemoth using that word behemoth again. That was a big step for me in my career to be confident. But luckily, it was late in my career. I'd accomplished some things and Al looked at me um as an equal to him and I I looked at him like wow, you know, and I I'd worked with Mike Tico.

17:15 My my four people that I've called games with are Mike Trico, uh Brent Musberger, Chris Fowler, and Al Michaels. Like those are the only four people I've ever called games with in my entire career. So by the time I got to Al, I'd been with Mike Trico. I'd been with Brent Musberger, Chris Fowler. So it felt like even though I was intimidated because it's a step up to the NFL and it's Al Michaels, I still felt with the work ethic, I'm going to be okay. And so do you ever uh I think a phrase that's out there now that's more common is impostor syndrome. Like people are a little nervous about like do I belong? vulnerable like it's hard to believe that you would ever feel like but do you did you the first night on Amazon the first NFL game you ever that sense of like well I don't I'm I'm differential by nature so I am very I don't deser I don't deserve your respect in my brain until you earn it

18:14 like maybe that's not how they view it but that's how I view it so in the NFL I was super like the first game I called college game I walk out. He's with me. Ben used to be with me. We just not to be cocky, but I know the boundaries. I know where I can go in the pregame. Teams are warming up, balls are flying through the air. You know, if Alli's with me, I'll say, "Come on out." You know, it's just a very comfortable setting for me. NFL, I'm calling the first game. I think it, oh my gosh, it was uh Chargers Chiefs in Kansas City. Chiefs won the Super Bowl the year before, and I have no idea how I'm going to be accepted. And I'm on the field pregame.

18:56 I don't know. Am I allowed to? Like I'm standing on the sidelines and I'm like with my my spotter. I'm like I don't we allowed to go the team teams are warming up. Mahomes is right over there. Justin Herbert's over there and I'm like are we allowed to go out there and say hi? I mean there's other people out there. Are we? So I just kind of first few weeks I just kind of stayed over here and waited. And then Mahomes came over. This is what's cool about my job. Mahomes comes over to jog in. He sees me. He's like, "What's up?" It's almost like I'm that um uncle or relative that they haven't seen in a while because they they look at me like I'm college football and they miss college football. So, they see me, they're like, "Oh my god, what's up?"

19:38 You know, and it's that really helped me be like, "Oh shit." Like they're they're cool here. That like I I I belong in the arena. that probably helped me as much as anything is just them making me feel like, you know, you're part of this, you know, and now I've done it for three years. So now it's very different now than where it was in that first year. We're going to open up in a second. I'll ask one more question and then uh Terry, I think we'll open it up for for you guys to ask some questions. So while you're gathering, I'll I'll go one more.

20:08 So Kirk, uh I confirmed this and I I was rereading your book this morning and um this is the guy for those who haven't read it yet. You should, by the way, but for those who haven't that decided to take a zero in a public or community English class when you had to give a speech, right? Take a zero out of 25% of your grade and you just gave it up because you were too afraid to give a speech in front of the class. This got Kirk Herbstreet. Really? I need to hear to hear more about this. Yeah. My my senior year, I uh did not give I my name came up. Miss Nihart, if she's here, she was the uh teacher. She uh asked me to give it was my turn to give a a speech and I just said, "I'm I'm good." And she said uh and she said, "You're good." And I said, "Yeah, I'm good." And she said, "It's 25% of your final grade." And I said, "Okay, like I'm I'm not uh I'm not doing it." And she she's like, "Kirk,

21:08 you really need to do it." And I said, I I was like, now you're making it worse cuz now I'm getting like attention just like please move on. So I got to I got a zero on that. And I blame it on my ninth grade year when I was I don't know if Chip Casano is still here. Anybody in my class, they they'll remember this name. You'll remember this name. There was a a girl Centerville has very pretty girls uh when you're in high school. And in ninth grade, there was a girl named Leo Ustation. And I hope hope she's not here.

21:43 But I stood I it was my turn to give a speech in ninth grade and I was like, "Oh, okay. I'm not comfortable, but I guess I got to do it." So I stumbled up to the front of the class and I had some note cards and I I run hot. Like normal temperatures, what 986? I run at like 100 just in general. So, I'm the guy when it's February, windows open, air condition on, if college game days at Baton Rouge, it's 100. I got air conditioning things below. I'm just always hot. I'm hot right now. It's just the way I am. And I walk up to the front of the room and I'm sweating and I start to talk and my face gets really red because I'm I just that's what happens when you get embarrassed. And my face turns red. She's sitting right here and in the middle of my speech, she goes, "Oh my gosh, look how red his face is." And I I officially retired from speeches that moment. I was just like, "What is she thinking now?" I I don't

22:46 know. I was like, "I will never I'll never do that rest of my life." And uh and to this day, if if Terry would have asked me to stand up here and give a speech for 20 minutes, I would have been like, I'm good. I was like, is it moderated? Ryan can maybe come in. I'm like, I'm in. So, she scarred me when I was uh I was 14 years old to this day. I think you turned out all right. Terry, do you want to open it up? Yeah, absolutely. Um I actually Oh, you go first. Um Kirk, I would love for you to tell everybody how the book came into existence. like what that process was. I remember when the publisher talked to you. Yeah. Well, uh and I've been asked over the years to write a book uh by different authors that had approached me uh different ideas and then when COVID hit, uh Jean Wjowski, who is a a reporter on college game day, he asked me, he writes books and he said, "I'd really love to to write a book with you.

23:46 We have some time now. this might be a good time to you for you to reflect. Would you consider? I said, "Let me let me think about it." Um, the world was, as we all remember, everything was closed down and we really didn't know what was going on. And I, after thinking about it for a few weeks, I decided to uh to take him up on it. and he wanted to just kind of tell my story of, you know, my life going back to when I was a kid with with my mom, my sister, my brother, my my dad, and just kind of all the way through some of the obstacles we faced. And I think I think what he wanted me to do was um give examples to show people, you know, you the appearance that you give on air versus what your life was like is very different. And I think people would love to hear some of the stuff that you had to to go through in order to to get to where you are. And so we he said the only thing is you got to be comfortable with being vulnerable.

24:44 Like we we really have to open up some topics that you probably haven't thought about, you know, in 30, 40 years. So I I said, "Okay, I would do it." But but I don't think I really understood as we went way back and he talked with my mom, he talked with my sister, he found a lot of stories out. So by the time he got to me and he came to my house for I don't know four or five days. By the time he got to me, he was bringing things up that my mom maybe shared with him or my sister shared with him going way back. Um you know, my parents divorced when I was about I think maybe eight or nine years old. And it it was pretty traumatic experience for for our family.

25:24 And I think a lot of people, you know, whether they're adults going through a divorce or kids, you know, you're worried about your kids. So, I just opened up and and uh he's just saying I I opened up and talked about that. I I talked about my time at Ohio State and you know, I came out as if if they did stars back then, whatever. I mean, I would have been a, you know, a five-star guy that was supposed to walk in and play right away and I didn't, you know, and I opened up about falling flat on my face and what that experience was like. And the whole point was just trying to reach people that maybe were going through hard times. You know, my wife and I when we had our our our twins, they were our our first boys.

26:04 They were born at 2 lbs, you know, each at 28 weeks. So I could take my ring. I remember taking my ring going down their foot all the way up to their hipbone and their skin was transparent. You could see their organs. And so there people that that have that spend time in the NICU, you know that I didn't I you know, you hear about NICU and you think, oh my gosh, and then your kids are in the NICU and you're they're holding on fighting for their lives and you go through it. I thought, man, to maybe share that experience, maybe that'll help, you know, people out there that are. So anyway, we we had a bunch of stuff, you know, the Ohio State stuff I talked about. I went to a sports psychologist when no one no one did that, you know, and I I remember going in to see him. He changed my my career. And I remember walking into his office like making sure none of my boys or nobody saw me like going in there to like clown on me that

26:54 I'm going to see a sports psych. That was 1991, 1990 911. And so I thought, man, I I didn't even think I guess I do have a few stories that are are pretty um relatable, you know, and and so we got together and we talked a a lot. I don't know, you said you've read it. Um it's just try it's not a how-to book at all. It's more of this is my experiences. This is what I've been through and just sharing those. I give you huge props for how vulnerable you got. I mean because it's as you said before we're getting ready for this like hey get do the juicy stuff that's better than just the boring stuff but like you did that in your book you know and that's scary and people are going to judge you and they may judge you and you're just putting yourself out there and I think that's really hard to do and but that makes it makes it a better book because it's more real right it's actually what happened. Yeah. Yeah. And

27:45 and I I I had to talk about Ohio State coaches. you know, the the only people that I had to be honest where it was uncomfortable were a couple Ohio State coaches and and um a guy I worked with in broadcasting. And I I I I said, "Are you going to edit this? Are you am I going to be able to read this?" He said, "Yeah, of course." So, I told him everything and then I read it. I was like, "No, we we can't we can't say that." And he's like, "You got to keep I was like, "No, no." And then he he went back, tweaked it a little bit, and then I read it again. I was like, "Oh my god, I I just don't feel." And he's like, "Listen, part of writing a book is being honest. If you're not honest, then it's not the reader is going to sense that."

28:31 I'll tell you the hardest part was I had to if if you've not read it or I I ended up doing the book on audio. So I I had to go through that and just to read the words and go through it. You know, it it was number one challenging to do that and um pretty pretty emotional to read that story out loud. Um so yeah, it was it was a good experience for sure. Terry, we got a question right over here. Hello. Uh my name is Stephanie Little and uh you were talking about Coach Olry which he ended up going to Springboro and he coached our child, our son who's now going to be a junior. Very instrumental in his life, very impactful. My question is um with the NFL draft be beyond the Sanders situation, were there any other surprises for you that you was kind of shocking?

29:25 I don't know. Oh man, let me think. nothing about football. I would I I would say I I I as a Bengals fan um I was surprised they didn't get more offensive linemen to protect Joe Burrow. Um, I I did I mean I did like that they addressed the defense because I mean that that was the that was a concern obviously last year, but I don't I don't know. And the and the Sanders stuff, I mean that that was that was kind of crazy for a lot of people. Um, uh, yeah, that was that was wild. We'll see how that you know, they they uh also drafted Dylan Gabriel, who I'm a huge fan of. Uh little short but quick decision maker, very accurate. You know, if you watch the Ohio, if you're only experienced with Dylan Gabriel's Ohio State game, it was almost like the field was like that. Ohio State was on a roll. If you remember Dylan Gabriel in Eugene, he played pretty well. He's very accurate. He can move around. Uh he's

30:33 just short. I mean, if if he were 6'2, everyone would be probably putting him in the first round. He played at UCF. That's the world we're in. UCF, Oklahoma, and Oregon. Started at all three places. Um, which is really strange. I mean, sometimes the portal I think he's look, honestly, I think he's looking for squirrels. Here he comes. Um, but no, there there's there's really this just wasn't one of those years where there were so many big names that you were surprised other than Shador Sanders. So, um, nothing really, uh, I'd have to go back to give you a great answer, but nothing stood out to me. It was great to be there. I was there first round on Thursday night. Um, Nick S, me, Dez, and, uh, and Reese Davis did it on ABC. We had a blast. We do it very differently. We, Guy gets drafted, we celebrate the player, we talk to his mom, we talk to his sister, we show you a story about maybe some

31:32 some kind of difficult thing in his career that he had to overcome. We don't really break down, you know, oh, they need this or they need that. It was really more about the players. Uh, kind of a college game day spin on the draft is what we do on ABC. And we we had a blast. So, it was cool. It was uh Green Bay is such a great town. Just a you would not believe how where where Lambo Field is, right? I mean, it's in the middle. It's like a village, you know? It's just like neighborhood Lambo, you know, just it'd be like Lambeau Field being right over there. I mean, it's the it's the wildest thing where most of these NFL stadiums are in a huge uh downtown. It's just just in a uh it's like in a little suburb. It's cool.

32:12 Great question. Thank you so much. Hi, Kirk. Uh being a lifelong college football fan, it feels like with NIL and the the recent decision uh that they're going to be able to pay him from the schools that we're in a a different sport almost. What's your take on that? You know, I I'm a traditionalist, so all this was difficult to to digest, but I I I I look at it like I'm not retiring, so I can put my head in the sand and just say, "This isn't right. This isn't fair." Or I can try to get my arms around it, try to be understanding, which I've done. Um I'm not a fan of collectives. I'm not a fan of pay for play. I'm not a fan of um going and buying a player to bring him to your school. I think that's stupid. I don't think it's right or healthy or sustainable. I am a fan of if Jeremiah Smith becomes Jeremiah Smith after he gets there and becomes maybe the biggest name in the sport and he can go make not

33:16 because it's hey here's whatever you need. It's Pepsi wants to do something with him, whoever. Like, if he can make money in marketing, which is name, image, and likeness, it's marketing. So, if he can create money for himself, I think we've all gotten to a point where that makes sense. But not a guy is over at um Bowling Green and he's an all-American and LSU needs a left guard and they're just like, how much how much does it take? A lot of these guys, these five stars, they're taking to me, they're looking at their lives like this and not looking at it 40 years down the road. They're just looking at it right here. And they have whether it's parents or agents that are just trying to get as much as they can. And going back to some of the life lessons I learned from Bob Greg and and Ron in this program here.

34:05 Sometimes that might be the right answer. Joe Burrow left Ohio State. He wasn't going to get an opportunity. Made sense for him. Dwayne Haskins went ahead of him after JT Barrett left. It worked out great for him. There's plenty of examples where it works. I just don't think the first sign of adversity you should leave. I I think you have to fight through that adversity. I just don't believe in um leaving your teammates. I just I it's so foreign to me that that's even in play. Um so it's that part of it's really difficult. So I don't want to say I don't believe in NIO. I don't believe in transfer portal because I think sometimes it applies, but I just don't I I I think if you take a coach, these coaches are a little bit hesitant on how hard they're going to be on these guys uh because they don't want him to leave. Imagine being a coach and you're worried about is this guy going to leave if I if

34:57 I really do what I want to do with him? And so, uh that's a concern for me. I I the whole thing I think where we're going and hopefully two or three years hopefully is different from right now like the NFL there there are rules right there's free agency like if if uh Brock Pury who makes 850,000 in the middle of a Super Bowl run decides at week eight I don't want to play anymore I'm a pro bowler you're only paying me 850 I'm worth 50 million why am I going to play either get my contract right or I'm not playing next week against Philly you imagine if that happen. That's what college football players are doing.

35:38 Complete BS. The the players went from our era, you had no say to now they have all the say. All to say. So it to put it in our perspective as parents, if you have kids, imagine if your kids were, I don't know, 12 years old, and they're like, "Hey, I need the keys to the car." And you're like, "Uh, I'm your parent. You can't drive. You're 12." And the kid's like, "Oh, really? Give me the keys or I'm going. So, I'm going to go live somewhere else. And you're like, "What? No. No. No." And the kid has all the power. You have no power. No. Please don't leave. Don't leave. That's Does that make sense? That's what that's what college football is right now. The 12y olds are deciding what they want to do.

36:22 And you're the parent going, "Okay, whatever you say." It's it's it's like the world is upside down right now when it comes to that aspect of it. What's crazy is you still turn a college football game on in Saturday, the marching bands come out, the uniforms come out, and we still go crazy. So, as much as they're trying to kill the sport, I don't know if it's ever been more popular. So, what I think the players are underestimating is what we all digest. They're great players, but I hate to say this, they're a dime a dozen. Like, you're on you're on a conveyor belt as a player. There's other players coming right behind you. As long as that Ohio State uniform is in play or that Michigan or that Notre Dame fight song or that US, that's all fans care about. So, they're important, but they're not they don't deserve all the say like they have right now. They they need to learn some things and go through

37:17 some tough times because it's for their own good. When they get older and become employees, whether it's the NFL or in the real world, they become husbands, they become fathers. This is hurting them long term, not helping them. So, they got to they got to fix it. And by the way, who fixes it? The NCAA doesn't fix it. The the conference commissioners are supposed to be in charge, but Greg Seni is worried about his constituents in the SEC. Tony Patiti is worried about the Big 10. No one's worried about the global view of the sport. They're worried about their region. So, how the heck are we going to fix this? Who Who's in charge? That that's probably my biggest concern is we're coming up with all these great ideas, but who do we present them to? No one's no one's the boss. And everyone's afraid to be the boss because they're afraid of litigation because if you stand up to a player and his agent, you get sued or

38:16 you get threatened to get sued. So then you go, "Okay, go back to the tw You're 12 years old. You want to drive, go drive." That that's that's where we are. Hey, hey, Kirk, question for you. And and first of all, thanks for not forgetting where you came from. We're all real proud. Thank you. Thanks, buddy. Thanks. My name is Klein and I want to ask you, I know this is coach Corso's last who's going to do one more show. I know you have a special relationship with him. Could you share some of that and then also maybe your favorite Lee Corso story?

38:53 Man, I would love to pull up my I don't know if you can pull up my favorite Lee Corso story, but if you Google Lee Cors Lee Corso um fbomb, it would probably be my I don't know if you I don't know if you if your team can pull that up, but that would be priceless. Um so Lee Lee Lee Corso uh is 89 years old. He'll be 90 August 7th. Um, here's what's crazy is he came back. He did me a f favor. I don't know if you guys still do the Sunny Younger Award. We used to do something called the Sunny Younger Award at Centerville. Was a fundraiser. Um, Sunonny Younger was a former Centerville Elk and he was in Vietnam, lost his life and and I I guess Bob Greg or the the the families of the football players came up years ago, maybe in the 70s with a a fundraiser. So anyway, when I started to work at ESPN, probably right around when you were playing, we decided to try to bring whoever it might be. I had Mike Trico come back uh with me one

39:57 year. I had Chris Fowler made Corso. I had Mike Vrabel. Um we just every year we were trying to like what should we do this year kind of thing. We kept trying to raise the bar. Well, one year Corso came back, did an amazing job, and a week later he had a stroke and really never has never really fully recovered. And I think our relationship before was me looking at him and him having his arm around me. Uh, not just on air, but I think where our relationship really changed was off air. When I got married, I would ask him questions. You know, we'd be in the back of a car going to a photo shoot and I didn't know him that well, but he was a really good listener.

40:38 So, I would just bring up stuff and I always call him like Yoda or like Don Corleó, you know, he's kind of kind of petting a cat as you tell in the story. He's this Italian big Italian presence and here I am just like here's my thing this time, you know, and he just is like listening to me, but he's really listening. picture Don Corleó, you know, just like listening and then he would say like two sentences and I'd be like, "Oh, oh, okay. All right." And I would just so time after time he would do that. Um I remember my kids, you know, my kids like to play with Legos, you know, I'm throwing a ball and they, you know, are they going to play ball? And he's like, "Play the Legos. Play Legos with They want to play Legos. Play Legos." You know, he's like he's like, he goes, "You're building a new house.

41:23 Good for you. That's great." He goes, "Hey, have you decided what you're going to do in the rooms?" I was like, you know, he's like, "Whatever Allison says, you just go," okay, sounds good. He goes, "She wants purple pillows." Purple pillows. Okay, sounds good. He's like, "All you do is nod your head." So, um, anyway, there's just millions of those kind of stories over the years. So, when you talk about life with somebody, it changes from just sitting next to him and working. So, our onair relationship really changed. And I always, he was my mentor. I always watched him. He's putting the head gear on and I'm like, I'm just sitting there watching, learning how he does things without him really coaching me. I'm just watching.

42:03 And I think after the stroke, they didn't know if he'd ever come back because he couldn't speak. After the stroke, he slowly got his words back. And I just, it wasn't like we had a discussion. I would just be sitting next to him and he'd get caught on a word and I would just try to subtly like interrupt him in a funny way or just try to whatever I could do to just kind of just quietly just kind of give him a little nudge or just a little just a little crutch for him to kind of gather himself and just finish his thought. And I didn't really think anything of it. I think you probably done the same thing.

42:39 It's just what you do, you know. And and I think over time that was 15 years ago. So imagine maybe some of you either have been through a stroke or you know people. So his cognitive thinking at at 89 is firing. I mean he knows everything. He just can't get his words out. So if you younger guys, you don't realize what Lee Corso was. Lee Corso was hot takes before we knew what hot takes were. Like he was the guy that said something and you everyone was like, "Oh my god, I can't believe he just said that." Like he was that guy without trying to be that guy. Um he he is an icon in our industry. I was so fortunate to sit next to him and and watch him and learn so much from him and just build a relationship over time. It didn't happen overnight. I mean this is my 29th year. This my 30th year this year on the show and we just build a rapport and a love uh for one another.

43:33 But our roles changed after the stroke. I try to take care of him after all those years. He took care of me and um the last few years have been tough. You know, Nick Sabin came on the show, Pat McAfee now is on the show. Like the vibe of the show from when I started with Chris Fowler, young Lee Corso, myself, Chris Felica, Tom Raldi, Chin Wo, Jahowski, um eventually Desmond came on, David Pollock, you know, all those people are gone with the exception of Desmond. So, I'm like the last person that I started with on the show. So, the vibe is is different. Doesn't mean it's better or worse. It's just different. And Lee decided um that he's going to do one more show. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's Ohio State Texas cuz he started with with the uh Brutus headgear that Ally uh helped get him to wear that that first time and it would be the last time. You know, the challenge there is that is currently a

44:31 noon kick. As much as you guys don't like those noon kicks, it's which it would be great for this moment. 100,000 people in that stadium. He comes out to do his last pick, puts the headgear on. 100,000 people could be symbolic of the nation showing their love for him. I think that would be so fitting to end his his run like that. I'm hoping it stays at a Saturday noon. I think Ohio State's trying to get it to be moved to a night game. So, I have no idea how that'll play out, but uh I think our hope is that it's in Columbus and it would be just an awesome awesome moment.

45:09 But he's he's my guy. Love him to death. And uh he's uh and I tell you when he retired he doesn't he doesn't have a computer. Like he does, forget social media, he has a flip phone. He knows nothing other than what his family or I tell him. And uh I I reached out to him and I was like he still faxes, you know, from his office. Uh yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. He has no idea what's happening. And which by the way, it's kind of nice. I I I may graduate to that. Um but he uh I had to reach out to him after he retired and it went public a couple weeks ago and I just I knew he probably hear from his four kids. I knew he'd probably hear from him, but I said I had to call him and just say, "How are you? You doing all right?" Um, you you you got to know what's going on out here. I mean, it was just an avalanche of love. Like, you guys know in social media, it's very rare to have 100% positivity about something. It was

46:07 100%. And I was just like, man, they are people. I just want you to know they love you. You know, it's just like, you need to know that. And he's just like, you know, he always changes subject. I appreciate it. And then we talked about something else for about 15 or 20 minutes. And then I said, 'Okay, man. I'll talk to you. I love you, buddy. Take care. And he goes, "Hey, Anchor, tell tell everybody I appreciate that. It means a lot to me that they that they did that." I was like, "I'll let him know." So, I sent out a a tweet letting him know that um that you know people love him and are thinking about him. So, that's going to be a rough show to get through uh that last last show. It really will be over here. Yes. Hello. My name is Josh Copeland. I I a big mental health advocate. So, I wanted both of you, if it's okay, um, with y'all busy schedules and how successful you are in your chosen field, what do you all do

46:56 currently for your mental health and how do you balance that with as busy as you all are? It's a great question. Um, for me, it's my faith. You know, I I get tested a lot and I I don't want to get involved in politics in any way, but there was an incident that really touched me and I apologize if I offend anybody, but there was uh we have twins and there were twins down in I think it was Frisco, Texas at a track meet and one of them got and I don't know the the deal of what happened. One of them at Attractme got stabbed by another guy in the in the heart and died right in front of his twin.

47:38 And I just thought I put myself in the shoes of that dad when I heard that story. And then I just happened to hear him speak and the world we live in today. I thought, "Oh my gosh, like he he's gonna be really emotional and go after this guy." and he was upset and emotional about losing his son, but he almost was like praying for the other guy. Like he forgave the other guy. And I was like, that's that's like a whole different level of of your faith being tested because I feel like my faith really gets tested a lot when people come at me um on social media. I I didn't get into this line of work to I just have I I'm really prepared and I give opinions and that's it. That's the end of the story. And I don't have an agenda. I don't have I I'm not smart enough to do some of the stuff that people say. But boy, when it happens time after time, you you can get really resentful and it can really affect you.

48:40 So my answer is a lot of times delete the app. That's and that's not healthy, right? That's that's like a putting a band-aid on something. So, I've just found daily devotional prayer and really trying to connect helps me like helps me get to a point where I'm like, "Okay, I I I I need to work on me to be able to get to that point where that dad is." You know what I mean? So, it's that that's that. And then just being having very honest conversation with with family and friends and opening up. I'm a guy that likes to have conversation. I like to open my heart up with the right people and I find that to be very helpful as well. I would also mention that I feel like your dogs for you are, you know, Ben and Peter, honestly, Ben and Peter and and all the other guys just such a comfort, especially on the road. I think that's huge for me in the woods. Like some people like to be at a beach um and like see a sunset at the beach. I

49:42 I love the woods, you know. I I love when I my dogs and I'm on a trail and I'm in the woods like that that that probably as much as anything connects me from a spiritual standpoint to where I need to be. So I take a walk every day. Um and we're moving back. Our plan all along was to move back. We moved our son young youngest son up to go to high school and he's finishing right now. So um that chapter is kind of closing. Our goal all along was to go back to our home in Nashville. We kept our house. So, we're going to go back uh June 1st and we're excited about that. One of the things my wife and I talk about we miss is there's a a trail that uh that we just love and we go to every day and we miss that so much. So, uh yeah, I think there's a lot of Sorry, that's a long answer, but there's just a lot uh there.

50:32 I appreciate the question, Josh. Do you have Do you have anything? Um I think no honestly I think people don't all get the luxury of uh like voluntary hardship. Uh what I mean by that is like we were put through incredibly tough things I think at Center for Football. That's why why Kirk and I bonded so much and have ever since. Um but I think you got to keep doing that stuff. So to me like you talk about mental health. I think I need to choose to do really hard things every day to prove to myself that I can keep doing hard things so that when adversity strikes, I'm prepared. And so I always feel like punishing myself in the gym, running, lifting, reading, I I've interviewed 630 of the world's most impactful leaders over the past 10 years. I wasn't as smart as any of those guys and girls. So to prepare and to get ready and to do the hard thing and then do the hard thing and then do the hard

51:32 thing. I just think you got to do hard things. I think you have to voluntarily choose to do the hard thing so that when adversity strikes, you're more prepared when mentally like it's tough or oh, I don't know if I can handle this. No, I've built evidence for myself. I build evidence for myself every single day because I choose to do hard things. So I think like that's maybe that's not the nice fuzzy like fun answer because it's hard but I think it's the right answer. It is for me at least to say like if I voluntarily choose to punish myself physically and mentally whatever comes my way I feel like you know I can't predict that but I have a a better chance of getting through it because I've done it before. I do it every day.

52:13 And I think, you know, unfortunately, like we gotten lazy, like too many people are lazy. Like we got to choose to do the hard thing on a regular basis. We do that. I like your odds of uh conquering whatever the the thing that you don't want to happen. I like your chances of beating that if you're doing it every day leading up to those moments. And I'll just add for this group uh just because I have I have four sons and I have one as senior in high school. Like th this generation a lot of times they get ridiculed. I I've just found that this generation, I can't imagine going through what they go through, whether it's Snapchat in middle school and seeing all the emojis go to a party that you didn't get invited to.

52:52 You imagine going through that uh in 8th grade or, you know, just everybody being in your business and everything on online. Um, you know, I I just think if you're a parent of this age, just being there, listening, and you guys having some grace for yourselves, cuz it is is really ch none of us can relate what you guys, you know what I'm saying? Nobody can relate to what you guys are going through. So, your coaches, your parents, um, just being in your corner, helping you get through it. It's one of the best things about team sports though, your guys. Like, you got your guys and you're lucky to have such good coaches. It's like you I know you don't fully realize that right now, but God, you're going to you'll realize it as you get older.

53:34 Like, man, we were so lucky. We were so lucky. The coaches, these guys care so much about you. It seems traumatizing for you at 16 or 17, if you have coaches to help you get through it or your parents get through it, you're going to realize you're going to be okay. Like, it's it's like it's probably paralyzing for you to go through it. Maybe you know people, maybe you gone through some yourself. But you guys, I mean, I cannot I just again, I think all of us look at you and think keep just stay strong, you know, like like for me, if I were you, your faith, going to church, like talking to parents, talking to coaches, but just keep grinding because it's not easy doing what you guys do. People are cruel and you guys are in you're you're like in a sewage, you know, of of just a bunch of crap and you're somehow trying to find a ladder to get out of it. And that that's what a coach or a parent or

54:25 your boys that's that's who they are. They'll get you through it. But it's not easy what you guys are dealing with. And I don't mean just sports. I'm talking social stuff. You know, you get to college football and you play on national TV and you miss a field goal and the game's on the line. You get death threats. Death threats. That's real. You know, Will Howard, he he took a knee against Oregon. He played his ass off at Oregon. He took a knee because he lost lost a time and he took death threats. Like, it's just insane that these people have a voice to get to you and you just got to somehow insulate yourself, you know, the best you can cuz it's it's brutal. We are all dying to know what is Peter's favorite treat.

55:16 I tell you, it when I feed my dogs, it's become like a science project. Um I after Ben died his young he was 10 years old and the way you know I felt like you know love to see him live another four or five years and it just happened so sudden from cancer and the more people I talked to the more people talked about how cancer is um obviously such a big thing with with us but for also for canines and all animals and because I I love dogs so much I you know researching the ingredients and why is this happening and actually I I'm doing a um he not me. I I'm with him. We have a three-day parina shoot Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, uh because of because of him.

55:59 And a lot of it is about what you need to feed your dogs and trying to help dogs out. So, he is he you've never seen a dog attack a bowl of food uh the way he does. I've never I've had dogs since my sister uh brought uh the first golden I had back in 1985, a dog named Megan, who was another gem of a dog. Um I've had a golden to my life since that day moving forward. And this guy, I don't know if it's his big head or what it is, but he just he attacks his food. Um just a sweetheart. They're all different. Their spirits and their energy are all just so different. You know, when Ben passed away, I took him to a Texas A&M game and he was limping very, very noticeably after that game like just literally the next day. And so a friend of mine who lives in New York said, "Hey, I know a holistic doctor. You got to get him over to New Jersey. This guy works miracles." And D. So I I immediately flew to New Jersey and tried

56:59 to do everything that I could for about four or five days. And it just just it was at that point it was too late. And the very, you know, season doesn't stop. So that was on a Thursday. I was calling the the Bengals at the Ravens when he he died. And I went home for my son's game. Uh I would go home after after the Thursday games to get back to see Chase. And uh I thought, do I bring a dog out? I mean, he was at the time like 13 months. never been out in public without all the dogs. I just because when I take him I take them all. He's never been out solo. So I took him to a Centerville playoff game at uh Winton Woods. I know they played Winton Woods and he went I was like am I allowed to take him into the game? It was sold out and I took him in and he was totally chill uh in the game in the stands. He was just kind of like looking around and I was headed to LSU, Alabama uh in Baton Rouge, which is

58:00 one of the most hostile environments uh that the sport has. And I'm like, I'm just going to take him with me and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, he can stay on the bus. And I took him out in the pregame and first he came on game day and everybody went crazy to to meet him. And um he's all perked up, tail, he just didn't know what he was doing. He's just like, "Hey everybody, what's going on?" And then I took him out on the field pregame. I always take Ben out. I might as well take him out. I'm talking loudest music you can think of is on the speakers. Balls are flying and bouncing.

58:34 Players are all over the place. Players are coming over, petting him, full uniform. Um, and he's just kind of taking it in. He didn't freak out. He didn't do anything. He was just kind of like watching, wagging. And I was like, "Oh my god, this dude, he's made for this." And so from that point on, um, I took him every I I took him every Thursday, stays in a hotel with me, uh, goes to dinner with me. Um, Al Michaels, who's not a big dog guy. Uh, Ben Ben won Al over, which was great. Um, I should have shared that picture with you, Terry, to put up there. Al's like, I I don't know about dogs. And I was like, uh, I was like, okay. I was like, if you don't like dogs, I won't bring them around. He goes, yeah. And then he and the next morning he goes, "Uh, where where's Ben?" And I go, "I left him up in a room, right? You told me to." And he goes, "Uh" he goes, "Why don't you bring him down?" I go, "All right." So I

59:26 went back upstairs, got Ben, brought him down, and Ben's super chill. And Al kind of came over, kind of looked at there's like 50 people in the room, and he's like looking at him and reaches down, touches him, and he's like, "Huh?" And he sits down. We we called a game. Uh we were in Chicago. We called a game the Bears. We get done about midnight, get back to the hotel. We just happen to be across from each other. Never happened before. So we always go back to our room and then we go down to a like a restaurant bar for a kind of a postgame.

1:00:01 The the studio show, Sherm Wit, all these guys, we just all get together postgame. And uh I go out. I go he goes, "What is he? Did he take a [ __ ] in there?" I go I go, "No, dude." I go, "He's trained." I go, "He's not going to go to the bathroom." And it and he goes, "What do you think he's doing all day? He's been in there five hours." I go, "He's probably asleep." And and he goes, "No way." And I go, "Yeah." And I opened the door. He goes, "And Al went to his room." And I tiptoed, looked around the corner, and Ben was up on the couch in this hotel room, sound asleep. And I go, I go, I knock on his door. I go, "Come here. Look, come here." And he comes over. He looks and he goes, "Holy shit."

1:00:41 He goes, and he got so excited he gets his phone out and he's walking over and I'm filming Al Michaels filming Ben and he's like taking video to show his wife like look at this dog he just sleeps in the in the hotel and from that point on I couldn't go anywhere without bringing Ben around Al Michaels. So once that happened when when Ben when uh Ben passed and he he warmed up to uh to Peter too. So it's amazing. I've never I being around Lee Corso and being kind to him and bringing my dogs around, it it tells you a lot about the human element in this because I've called whatever it is 16 national championships, 17 Rose Bowls. I do all these things and people look at I think I'll be I'll be remembered for Lee Corso and my dogs.

1:01:30 Like I don't I don't I don't there's anything I can call that will be bigger than than those two. But uh I I love doing it. I love uh I love being a part of it. Uh I've got two years left, by the way, on my contract. I just signed a five-year deal with Amazon and ESPN. I got three down, two to go, and after two years, I'll either step away or keep going. I I don't know what I'm going to do after after two years. I don't know what I'm going to do. I wouldn't mind just tail I've never been to a tailgate. I wouldn't mind going to a tailgate. It look You guys look like you're having you look like you're having a hell of a time at those tailgates. I I look out my bus in the window and I'm like, "Oh my god, look at these guys. They're they're having a great time." You see that as a player, remember you pulling in, you're like, "Wow, there's so much fun." Smokes going through the air and everyone's

1:02:16 waving, having a good time. So, one day I'm going to participate in um in that. We would love that. I'd love to have you. Yeah, I tailgated for the St. A Center game. That was the only one of the few times I got to tailgate. Yeah, it was cool. Hey, uh that was the last question, but mom has a question, so I I can't say no to that. Oh, no. Yeah, Kirk, I've never asked you this. You're not going to make me cry. You're not going to make me cry. I'm not going to make you cry. Don't make me cry. Cry. Don't make me cry. Oh, I'm not going to make you cry. No, this is this is a question I've always wanted to ask you. And I never have. In Centerville High, at Centerville High School, you played both football and baseball. And you were good in both.

1:03:04 you played baseball. The whole team had played with so much joy and I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you had a 500 batting average as a senior. Okay. I have also wondered, you went into football, you followed it at Ohio State, you couldn't play both, so you your whole career you followed football and you've done very well in it. Do you ever miss baseball? Um, baseball, you probably know, baseball was my most natural sport. I just I don't know. I was back in our day. You can relate to this. Like we were in the yard. Like we were in the creek or the yard. Like that was all that was all we knew when you grow up in my era. And so we played whiffle ball, we played pitcher hand, we played pickle, we played anything you could imagine. Uh not to mention four square and all the other games that we played. Uh hide-and-seek. I mean it was just constant in the yard playing. And when we played baseball, I was always the

1:04:16 youngest and just I just loved it. I baseball is my probably my first love. Um baseball again was my most natural thing. I played for a great coach, Tim Engle K, who probably we're talking a lot about Bob Greg and and Ron Ary. Tim Engle K probably impacted me as much as anybody in my life as well. I don't if you guys know Tim Engle K. I know he retired a few years ago. Oh, did he? Yeah. T coach was a beast and scary like just a tough a tough coach that I I made the uh the varsity as a sophomore which was fun but scary just being around that that environment and um I burst my appendix almost died u my 10th grade year because they misdiagnosed it but I I think I miss baseball I mean I always miss it when I watch it now but I don't miss football playing football at all. I missed I didn't see how far I could go with baseball. Like if there's any regret I would ever have as a as an athlete, it

1:05:18 was I didn't go just in baseball and just and give it a run. Um but I don't I'm doing okay now, but I I I don't I don't I don't dwell on it, but um it would have been fun to see what what would have happened uh with that sport. But I was just going to say thank Terry. Thank you. appreciate you having me. I I know we stayed longer than uh than you had hoped, but uh Ryan Ryan, thanks, brother. Appreciate it. Love you, man. Love you. You too, man. so much.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Kirk Herbstreit - The Most Prepared Broadcaster in The World"?

Ryan Hawk (Host), Kirk Herbstreet (Guest).

What is "Kirk Herbstreit - The Most Prepared Broadcaster in The World" about?

The discussion centers on Kirk Herbstreit’s exceptional preparation as a broadcaster and his emotional experiences tied to Ohio State football. It highlights his profound connection to the team, including personal family interactions and the challenges he faced during a pivotal moment when Ohio State won the national championship, showcasing the depth of his investment in the sport.

What is mentioned in this Ryan Hawk episode?

19 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Lee Corso, College Game Day, Game Day, NIL, Bob Greg, Chris Fowler. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Kirk Herbstreit - The Most Prepared Broadcaster in The World"?

The episode runs 1 h 6 min; the transcript is about 12,879 words in 81 timestamped sections.

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