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Kirk Herbstreit guessed that he’s been “sideways” with someone once or twice during his 55 years.
With Ryan Leaf recently calling Hebrstreit and Pat McAfee “overly sensitive” and “narcissists,” while also accusing the duo of costing him his ESPN college football broadcasting gig, it appears that list has grown.
“When someone does that, I really don’t know how to respond to it. I don’t want to get caught up in a game of lashing back out on him, I don’t know what he’s referring to,” Herbstreit said Thursday on the SI Media podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina. “But I honestly do wish him the best and hope he does — I don’t know what he does on TV but he’s doing a good job and I hope he keeps doing it.”
Herbstreit found himself in a sports media controversy this week after Leaf made his fiery allegations and pointed criticisms of the pair of “College GameDay” hosts.
Leaf alleged the two high-profile personalities played a large role in his removal from calling games last year after he criticized “College GameDay” following Lee Corso’s remarks about his alma mater, Washington State, and Oregon State.
Cougars coach Jake Dickert thought Corso called it the “nobody watches us bowl,” when it appeared the ESPN star labeled it the “nobody wants us bowl,” in reference to conference realignment and the two schools being passed over while fellow conference mates left for rival conferences.
Herbstreit then quote tweeted a response from Leaf, while McAfee later called out Leaf during a “College GameDay” segment.
“Huh? Is this a real tweet??? You must have been hacked Ryan,” Herbstreit tweeted on Sept. 24, 2023. “Lee’s point OBVIOUSLY was-it is 2 teams that have been left out-that haven’t found a home yet-NOT the “no one watches Bowl”. Know you’re excited your boys won but DAMN!”
Awful Announcing noted Leaf did not call another game after his remarks.
Huh?Is this a real tweet???You must have been hacked Ryan. Lee’s point OBVIOUSLY was-it is 2 teams that have been left out-that haven’t found a home yet-NOT the “no one watches Bowl”. Know you’re excited your boys won but DAMN! https://t.co/hfMIBt9YX8— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 24, 2023
“The coordinated producer calls me and I said, ‘Well, you’re not making this decision. Who’s making this decision?’ He said, ‘Well, someone above my pay grade.’ And I said, ‘Well, you need to have someone above your pay grade call me,’” Leaf told Outkick. “So they did and by that time I had confirmed with people on why it happened. So when I got them on the phone, I was just like, ‘Yeah, I think this is about right. I think you and I, we don’t have shared values and so I think this is probably the proper decision.’
“I get it, I get it. You got $85 million people (McAfee’s contract) scaring you. You got to fall in line. I understand that, on my end of things.”
Herbstreit second-handedly learned of Leaf’s comments and detailed how he tried to help him when he broke into the television business.
He said Leaf always gave off a thankful vibe for being willing to help him.
“From everything he always communicated to me, he appreciated — in fact, he stopped in a Rose Bowl one time with his son and was like just thanking me for kind of being in his corner and kind of helping him,” Herbstreit said. “I was happy to do that, of course. I do that with anybody and everybody.”
Herbstreit added that he felt compelled to respond to Leaf on X about his remarks since Leaf brought Corso into the picture.
“If there’s one way to get me riled up is take a shot at one of my teammates, especially an 88-year-old at the time, Lee Corso,” Herbstreit said on the podcast. “I thought we were friends, so I just said, ‘Hey, man, what are you doing here? Why are you coming at us and Lee?’ I thought we were always good and then he came back at me even harder and I was like, ‘Wow, maybe there’s something going on that I didn’t know about.’ And he was vocal a few other times on social media and I don’t know what I did or where things got sideways and now he’s out saying things again.”
Leaf claimed he heard from both Herbstreit and McAfee after being axed, but Herbstreit did not offer any details — nor was he asked — on that claim.
“They tried play it off like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Leaf said. “Just silly stuff. It is what it is.”
