Not many people likely had Shannon Sharpe vs. Kirk Herbstreit on their sports media beef bingo card this year, but that’s what happens when folks get on the wrong side of Herbstreit when it comes to Ohio State football.
Saturday night on ESPN’s telecast of Tennessee at Ohio State in the College Football Playoff, Herbstreit directly addressed First Take and their criticism of the Buckeyes program. That led both Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe to respond Monday on the show, with Sharpe coming out the most aggressively by far.
Despite only appearing on First Take part-time, Sharpe sent a veiled threat toward Herbstreit, telling the football analyst, “don’t play with me.”
Yet just a few hours later, the two seemingly made amends, and Sharpe offered a mea culpa on his podcast Nightcap.
“My point was, and I don’t know if he was talking to me, but I just felt that I didn’t think at that point in the time the commentary was warranted. Yes, Ohio State won. I think everyone knows Kirk Herbstreit went to Ohio State,” Sharpe said. “I believe you can stand up for your friends without taking a shot at your teammates. And I felt he was taking a shot at First Take.”
Unc addresses his ‘First Take’ comments on Kirk Herbstreit @ShannonSharpe @ochocinco @ShayShayMedia_ pic.twitter.com/4AFnVzSv9N
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) December 24, 2024
Beyond Herbstreit’s allegiances in Columbus, Sharpe compared this learning lesson for Herbstreit with Sharpe’s own pile-on with Nightcap cohost Chad Johnson earlier this year over Johnson’s tardiness for a livestream. Sharpe said he regrets airing that disagreement out on-air, and believes there is no room for comments like Herbstreit in a public forum.
Sharpe confirmed that Herbstreit reached out to him over text message on Monday and the two “cleared the air.”
“I was glad that Herbie reached out. We were able to put this behind us,” Sharpe said. “I know he’s happy that Ohio State won, and I know if he lives in the Columbus area and he mentioned that he’s a very good friend of Ryan Day, but being good friends and then taking a shot [are different]. I just wanted to know, are we teammates or are we not teammates? That’s all I needed to know. Because if we’re not teammates, let’s throw caution to the wind … and I’ll take shots five nights a week until [there’s] no more.”
Classic Sharpe. Too professional to ever fully hammer anyone (even Skip Bayless), but also with a healthy ego that keeps a foot on his enemies’ throats even while apologizing to them.
Over the past year or so, Sharpe has beefed with everyone from Shaquille O’Neal to Mike Epps to now Herbstreit. This is how they always end: with Sharpe bowing out to take the high road and keep the conflict on his terms.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.