Author and sportswriter Jeff Pearlman is not buying ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit’s claim of not knowing anything about U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s political views after the congressman appeared alongside Herbstreit on College GameDay last weekend in Austin, TX, to discuss the Protect College Sports Act. Cruz was heavily booed by the crowd throughout his appearance, a development that Herbstreit said left him “surprised.”
“I don’t really get into politics. I’m kind of an independent guy, right down the middle of the fairway. I’m for America,” Herbstreit told local media on Friday, with College GameDay in Oxford, MS, for LSU-Ole Miss.
“So whoever helps us as a country, I’m for. Whether that’s somebody on the left, somebody on the right. So I don’t really follow it. I don’t know anything about his political views; I don’t know what he’s for or against. I care about football and my family and my faith and my country. Those are things that I love. So I don’t really pick sides. And I was surprised. I didn’t know what his deal was. So him being booed, I had to ask people, ‘What’s going on here?’”
Herbstreit’s response left Pearlman agitated with its lack of accountability, which he found “inexcusable.”
“You’re Kirk Herbstreit, you’re college-educated, you have four kids: Jake, Ty, Zach, Chase. So you, you’ve raised kids in this country, and you’re like, let’s take him at face value, ‘I don’t follow politics.’ Like, you don’t follow anything going on in America?” Pearlman questioned in a video posted to TikTok.
“You know nothing about Ted Cruz? You don’t know anything about Ted Cruz, one of the most famous political figures in America? You don’t know anything about him? You don’t know anything about what’s going on? You don’t know about climate change? You don’t know about corruption in the government? You don’t know about the Kennedy Center? You don’t know about— like, do you not follow anything? You don’t follow anything? Media being banned from the White House, good or bad. Like, it is so inexcusable just as an American. I’m being serious.”
@jeffpearlmanauthor Is Kirk Herbstreit naive, dumb or naive and dumb? #kirkherbstreit #tedcruz #espn #gameday ♬ original sound – Jeff Pearlman
Pearlman added that he would’ve at least respected it if Herbstreit had owned supporting Cruz’s politics, even though Pearlman himself disagrees, or any stance that didn’t feign complete ignorance to the country’s goings-on.
“I really mean this. I swear to God, if you like Trump and you like what the Republicans are doing, at least you’re following, and you have an opinion. If you like the Democrats and you like what the Democrats are doing, at least you have an opinion. If you’re mad at government as a whole and you don’t like either, at least you have an opinion. The idea that you can live in a modern society with so much information and just be like,’ I just root for America, I just love my country, and I don’t care; I just want it to go well,’ is so f*cking pathetic. I’m like, dumb. Just like dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. And reinforces a stereotype about the talking head ex-football player.”
To Pearlman’s point, Yahoo’s Dan Wolken noted that Herbstreit’s “Following” list on X, which features a heavy dose of (right-wing) political figures, suggests that he’s much more knowledgeable about politics than he suggested while talking to reporters. It’s the public shirking of any political consciousness that the New York Times bestselling author finds so appalling.
“It’s more than anything, it’s just stupidity personified. That’s all,” Pearlman concluded.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.