We’ve written countless posts over the years about First Take‘s Stephen A. Smith screwing up team rosters, who plays what sport, league rules, and more. So, with that in mind, it’s worth noting that his former First Take partner Max Kellerman (who Smith pushed out) also made a remarkable factual gaffe Monday. Kellerman’s new This Just In show led into ESPN’s coverage of the Myrtle Beach Bowl (between the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the Old Dominion Monarchs) Monday. And that led to Kellerman (seen above) recording a live promo for it where he mistook what conference Tulsa was in (he said ACC, which ESPN has an extensive deal with, but Tulsa is actually in the AAC) , misidentified the name of their quarterback (it’s Davis Brin, not Darren Brin), and got their team name wrong (it’s Golden Hurricane, not Golden Hurricanes):
when your daytime hosts didn't watch any college football this year pic.twitter.com/nUPqKWkYvX
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) December 20, 2021
And this is part of why so much of ESPN’s studio programming isn’t taken seriously. An average sports fan on Twitter pulled in for this promo would likely have made less errors than Kellerman did, especially if they had a teleprompter to help them out. And that makes it so comical that a company with ESPN’s level of resources couldn’t provide correct information to a studio host looking to promote one of their own bowls.
But this also illustrates how little attention Kellerman is paying to sports outside of the particular sports he has takes on. Anyone who had spent a second looking at college football over the past few years would be well aware that Tulsa is not an ACC team, but that category apparently doesn’t extend to Kellerman. And he’s making millions of dollars for being a sports host who doesn’t pay any attention to one of the sports ESPN has major rights to, so it seems like his life decisions are working out okay for him.
Even if that means Kellerman has less knowledge than your average college football fan, ESPN has decided that his takes are worth millions, and that they’re worth a prominent spot in the middle of the day. So the people who might actually get Tulsa’s name, conference, and quarterback right remain on the sidelines, while the Worldwide Leader gives us more Kellerman instead. Score one for the take artists, and subtract one for the people who actually know anything about the sports ESPN has rights to.
[Timothy Burke on Twitter]
