The in-fighting at ESPN has spilled out into the public and is getting animated.
After Kirk Herbstreit called out his ESPN “First Take” colleagues for trying “to fire” Ohio State coach Ryan Day if his team lost to Tennessee in the College Football Playoff on Saturday, Shannon Sharpe issued a sharp warning on Monday.
“Stop. Stop it… ‘First Take gotta get him fired.’ That is not true. I did! Not First Take. That was me, Stephen A.,” Smith said Monday via Awful Announcing. “Don’t misquote me. What I said was, ‘this man Ryan Day, if he doesn’t get a national championship, he should go. Even with a 66-10 record.’ I didn’t stutter one bit, I ain’t stuttering now.”
Sharpe then escalated things by publicly warning Herbstreit.
“I’m gonna be a good teammate. I’m gonna let it slide. Everybody’s at ESPN. Because had you not taken the route you’ve taken, I would’ve lit their asses up,” Sharpe told Smith. “If we’re going to be on the same team, if we’re gonna work for the same network, don’t do that. Kirk, Chris Fowler, I promise you, if you ever mention any platform that I’m on again talking about ‘I wonder what they’re going to say as negativity,’ I promise you, ESPN ain’t got enough bosses to keep me off y’all for what I’m going to say… don’t play with me.”
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum also said last week on SportsCenter Day “will be booed off that field” if Ohio State loses to Tennessee.
“It’s going to be one of the most toxic atmospheres we have ever seen in college football,” he added. “People at Ohio State are really upset with him, they’re not forgiving him [for losing to Michigan] just because they have another game, even though it’s a bigger game in some people’s mind than Michigan.”
During Saturday night’s broadcast of the game, Chris Fowler asked Herbstreit, who played quarterback at the Big Ten school from 1989-93, how much the win over Tennessee would soften the blow of the loss to Michigan.
“I can’t speak on behalf of the lunatic fringe,” said Herbstreit, whose son committed to Michigan to play football. “I’m not sure how they operate. … The lunatic fringe at Ohio State is as powerful as anywhere in the country.
“It used to be 8-10 [percent of the fanbase]. I think it’s grown now to about 15-20. So I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll be happy tonight — be fired up about what the Ohio State team did. But God forbid they lose to Oregon. They may want to fire [Day] again.”
He then took aim at the guys on “First Take.”
“First Take tried to fire him, they said he was done, so I’ll be excited to see what they talk about on Monday after this performance.
“They had him out. They’re trying to find replacements. But here he is, he’s still got his hat on, he’s still coaching.”
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
