Mark WiedmerMost of us think we'd like to have ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit's life this time of year.
Not only is the former Ohio State quarterback bright, handsome and presumably fairly well paid, he gets to spend every autumn Saturday working one of the best games in the country for that week while almost assuredly having one of the best seats in the house.
But even Herbstreit probably will be happy to have his Labor Day weekend's workload draw to a close after Virginia Tech plays at Florida State tonight in Tallahassee.
Or do you think you'd like to work last Thursday's Northwestern at Purdue game in West Lafayette, Indiana, drive two hours Friday morning to South Bend to prep for the "College GameDay" show on Notre Dame's campus, fly to Chattanooga late Friday afternoon to watch twin sons Jake and Tye lead Montgomery Bell Academy to a huge win over McCallie, fly back to Indiana that night for Saturday morning's show, catch a Disney private jet to Orlando, Florida, early Saturday afternoon in order to work that night's Louisville-Alabama game, then head to Tallahassee on Sunday to get ready for Virginia Tech at Florida State?
If you're attempting to count the travel miles alone, Herbstreit conservatively totaled 3,755 while making seven one-way trips over five days. Not that he's complaining.
"This was clearly an extreme case," he said at halftime of the MBA-McCallie game. "With it being a long holiday weekend, there was a lot of football to cover. But I was also blessed that someone let me use their private plane to come watch my sons. I try to see every one of their games, especially with this being their senior year, but I was really fortunate to see this one."
While both he and his wife, Alison, were in the Spears Stadium stands, as soon as the game ended, he headed for the airport. On the flight back to Notre Dame, he posted this to Twitter: "Great team effort by the whole (MBA) group. Beautiful city and school. Great setting for a HS game!"
Before that, he said of McCallie and the other schools MBA faces in the TSSAA's Division II: "We moved to Nashville from Ohio eight years ago, and ever since then we've been so impressed with these schools down here. McCallie, Baylor, MUS, the Nashville schools. Great academics, great athletics. It's really been good for our family."
His twin sons certainly played good games Friday night. Jake scored the first touchdown of his high school career when he returned a Blue Tornado fumble for a Big Red touchdown in the game's first minute. Tye caught two passes for 15 yards.
"They've been offered preferred walk-on status at Clemson," Herbstreit said of the two oldest of his four sons. "They've also got some other schools looking at them."
Added Jake: "There's Clemson. Rice has talked to us and a few others."
Herbstreit has been talking for a living since 1996, when he first joined ESPN. His consistent strong work as part of the on-air "College GameDay" crew - which also includes Lee Corso, Rece Davis and Desmond Howard - and his work for ABC's "Saturday Night Football" earned him a 2018 Emmy for "Outstanding Event Analyst."
Yet not even an Emmy could spare him some justifiable criticism last week for a tweet he sent out when the NCAA cleared Michigan State's men's basketball and football programs of any potential violations in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case.
Wrote Herbstreit in a post since deleted: "Can't wait to watch, read, and listen to ALL the follow up stories from the same folks that had @MSUBasketball and @MSUFootball Guilty Until Proven Innocent. Is that one reporter that followed Coach Izzo around at post game pressers gonna chase him down now?!?"
Apparently reminded that ESPN broke the original story about the Spartans' football and basketball programs, Herbstreit later apologized, tweeting: "I've seen some strong reactions to my now deleted tweet about MSU. I apologize for the unnecessary dig at the reporters who worked hard on an important story."
His preseason picks for the four teams he expects to reach the College Football Playoff have had a rough start, too. While Alabama and Clemson - Herbstreit's choices to reach the title game, with Bama winning a third title in four years - still appear solid, his other two picks - Washington (which lost to Auburn) and Penn State (which was forced to go to overtime to subdue Appalachian State) - appear far shakier.
Then there's the national anger and frustration over his alma mater failing to part company with Buckeyes boss Urban Meyer over how he handled former assistant Zach Smith being accused of assaulting ex-wife Courtney Smith.
"I get it," he said of opposing fans' wrath. "And when you're tied to certain schools - whether it's Ohio State, Alabama, Notre Dame, whoever - you're going to hear more grief when something like this happens. That's just the way it is. But I'm still proud to have gone to Ohio State, to be a Buckeye."
However, as Friday night showed, he's proudest to be a supportive parent.
"This was awesome," he said of getting to see Jake's first touchdown. "Just so glad I could be here."
Asked what it meant to have his famous father in the stands, Jake smiled and said the words all parents would hope to hear: "It means everything."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.