Kirk Herbstreit: Some Ohio State Fans Don’t Like Me ‘because I Am Fair, Because I Am…objective’

Despite their shared interests, the relationship between some Ohio State Buckeyes fans and ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has been strained for some time.

Things came to a head this past season when the former OSU quarterback routinely referred to some Buckeyes fans as the “lunatic fringe” while seemingly taking jabs at Buckeyes faithful over the way Tennessee fans took over The Horseshoe in their College Football Playoff game. He also predicted that OSU fans would boo head coach Ryan Day if the team fell behind in that game. Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod, who also happens to be an Ohio State fan, wrote in December that Herbstreit’s complaints about the fanbase had “lost the plot,” one of several instances last season where the ESPN analyst seemed to lose focus.

Cooler heads seemingly prevailed when Day led Ohio State to a national championship earlier this year, and Herbstreit has tried to make it clear that he’s as big of an Ohio State fan as anyone.

Still, there’s a lingering sense of unease regarding the College GameDay analyst and his alma mater’s fanbase.

Herbstreit appeared on the Built 4 More podcast earlier this week, and he was asked what it feels like to call OSU games and whether or not he’s “dying” when watching the team he roots for.

“When you go on a national network, you can talk like sound like you’re talking to your Columbus audience,” said Herbstreit. “If you want to grow in the business, you have to talk like you’re talking to the country. The goal would be for them to never to know where you went to school.

“I’m not dying. It’s like I flip a switch during the game. When you put so much work into something with your prep… if you’re just going to ask me, ‘Am I a fan?’ Oh my God.

“I love Ohio State. I was a captain there. My dad was a captain there. Just the way I grew up. But when I call their games, they’re a team, and the other team’s a team. I’m there to give analytical viewpoints. Try to give the viewer at home kind of the how and the why of how things are happening during a game.”

In terms of the way some Buckeyes fans react to him, Herbstreit had a specific idea of why some do not appreciate him.

“I know Ohio State’s fan base is probably as loud as any fan base in the country on social media, and a lot of that fraction are not fans of mine. Because I am fair. Because I am, you know, objective.”

While he’s undoubtedly allowed his point of view, that’s a debatable explanation for why a percentage of the OSU fan base often bristle with Herbstreit. Perhaps that’s an aspect of it, but we’d have to imagine his pointed criticisms of them on national television play a more significant role.

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