In the annals of bizarre hot mic moments, the ESPN broadcast of the Texas Longhorns and Arizona State Sun Devils in the 2026 NCAA softball tournament is definitely one of the strangest.
It was the top of the seventh inning with the Sun Devils and Longhorns battling for a spot in the Women’s College World Series. Texas had the lead 5-0 as Arizona State was down to their final two outs.
As play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown was talking about the Texas program competing for national championships, a very hoarse voice came over the microphone from a male fan inviting viewers at home to lick a certain part of his anatomy.
That’s an unfortunate hot mic incident for ESPN. pic.twitter.com/n6Dww7W7K0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 25, 2026
While it’s clear that the fan probably had a little bit too much to drink, or is making extremely questionable life choices while sober, the real question is how that came through so clearly on the broadcast. Did someone storm the broadcast booth and reach the mics before being taken away? Did the gentleman in question find a field-level mic to scream into?
The way the broadcast continued without even a second of hesitation in response to the hot mic would lead one to believe that it was another mic that was somehow hot and broke through on the airwaves. We’ve seen hot mic moments lead announcers to break up in laughter before, but this wasn’t one of those. If Brown actually did hear it coming through his headset and kept his thought process going, it’s one of the greatest examples of broadcast composure that you will ever see.
Between this moment and the headlines going on with Jason Williams and his former alma mater in Florida at their matchup with Texas Tech, hopefully, all the weirdness is working its way out of the NCAA softball tournament before it reaches the College World Series.
About Matt Yoder