Kirk Herbstreit's Very Odd Take On Michigan Fan Base
College Gameday host and ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit is certainly no stranger to putting his foot in his mouth when it comes to the Michigan football program.
During the 2020 season, Herbstreit found himself in hot water after he floated a ridiculous conspiracy theory about Michigan during the College Football Playoff rankings show. Based on no evidence whatsoever, Herbstreit suggested that the Michigan Wolverines would use the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to avoid playing Ohio State.
"I still think Michigan waves the white flag and potentially avoids playing Ohio State next week, and then Ohio State will potentially get a game on the 19th," said Herbstreit. "They could be sitting there with six games - Michigan could opt out basically of that game and keep Ohio State out of six games to qualify for the Big Ten Championship. That doesn't make sense to me. But that could potentially happen next week."
Needless to say, it didn't take long for Herbstreit to backtrack and issue a public apology.
"I had no business at all saying that," Herbstreit said in his apology posted to twitter. "I have no evidence of that. It's completely unfair to the University of Michigan, to Jim Harbaugh, to his players and coaches and I just want to apologize. Again, I did not mean to insinuate. I have no evidence at all. Michigan - right now they're trying to do the best they can to cover and contain a virus from spreading on that roster. I wish them all the best. I hope they can play Saturday against Maryland. Hope they can play against Ohio State."
While the suggestion that the University of Michigan would use COVID-19 as an excuse to avoid playing Ohio State is bad, Herbstreits latest comments about the Michigan fan base are even more ridiculous.
During a recent appearance on Pardon my Take, Herbstreit gave a bizarre explanation for why he believes the Michigan fan base lacks passion.
“They’re not as passionate about sports,” said Herbstreit. “You know how Michigan, they have great fans but compared to Madison, or State College, or Columbus, or Iowa. It’s almost like ‘Yeah, we went to the game, we’re running companies we’re doing other things. We’ve got other things going on besides football. Our lives are bigger than if we win or lose on Saturday.'”
Not surprisingly, Herbstreits comments didn't sit particularly well with Michigan fans - as they quickly took to social media to voice their displeasure.
