Ben Herbstreit on TNF (Credit: NFL on Prime Video)

Kirk Herbstreit and his golden retriever, Ben, have become ubiquitous figures in the lives of football fans this season.

And that continued on Thursday, as the 10-year-old Ben Herbstreit stole the show in Cleveland for Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football between the New York Jets and Browns. He’s already won over Al Michaels, and it didn’t take long for him to win over the rest of the country.

Ben has been on the road with Heberstreit and the TNF crew for the past six weeks, according to Michaels.

“He’s working the sidelines tonight,” said Michaels. “Everybody loves this dog. There he was with Aaron Rodgers; Benny and the Jet right there.”

One of three goldens that the Herbstreit own (Theo and Mitch remain at home), Ben was recently certified as an emotional support animal, which means he can join Kirk in more places, such as hotels, making it easier for the pup to join his dad all week long, whether it’s at whatever campus GameDay is at that weekend or on the plane to the next game.

With just over seven minutes left in the final TNF game of the 2023 NFL season, Ben visited Kirk and Michaels in the booth, sporting a headset.

“You’ve heard of three in the booth?” said Michaels. “What do you think?”

Here’s what fans on social media thought:

https://twitter.com/timehasflownby/status/1740591148568301749?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1740591148568301749%7Ctwgr%5E2e0dee7c1ab183e8040a1985ded4221bd34cc806%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Ftimehasflownby%2Fstatus%2F1740591148568301749

https://twitter.com/BartolosCologne/status/1740588450028679190?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1740588450028679190%7Ctwgr%5Eb393335785245b22b2a3a834483b3305a98fffe3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FBartolosCologne%2Fstatus%2F1740588450028679190

Will Ben return to the booth next season? Will he join Kirk on College GameDay? Only the Herbstreits know for sure. But one thing is certain: the NFL and its fans won’t soon forget Ben the Golden Retriever.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.