Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Roll up! Roll up! Step right this way, folks, the circus is in town!
That’s right, football fans, the once-venerable College Gameday made its way down to Coral Gables (24 miles south of where the actual game will be) for the hotly anticipated matchup between the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes.
And by “hotly anticipated matchup” I mean “coughing baby vs. atomic bomb.”
Why Gameday decided to choose a game between a top-five team and a program getting ready to make a coaching change instead of some of the other ranked-on-ranked games from today, I will never know, but I digress.
I realize Gameday is supposed to be entertaining, but I’m starting to think the show has run its course.
It’s gotten to be a caricature of its former self, if that makes any sense at all, and today is just a snapshot of why that has become the case.
We can start with the fact that they chose to host their show on a campus that is a 45-minute drive from the stadium in which the game is being played.
I mentioned it before, but there were so many other great games being played on actual college campuses today, including ranked matchups between Utah and Texas Tech as well as Auburn and Oklahoma.
If that wasn’t enough, we can get into the content of the show as well, which left a little to be desired this morning.
At one point, the entire Gameday panel and guest (we will get to him in a moment) had to give their two cents on a WWE match happening later tonight.
Of course, fans were none too pleased.
Oh good! I thought I was being too much of a Boomer, but it looks like I’m not alone.
I thought this was College Gameday, not Smackdown Live.
Their choice of guest this week was an interesting one as well, with Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk making the hour drive south from Fort Lauderdale to join the crew, no doubt taking advantage of the off time he has while recovering from surgery.
Now listen, I obviously love Matthew Tkachuk, but other than currently playing for a South Florida sports franchise (that doesn’t even play its games in the same county, mind you), what ties does he have to the University of Miami?
And then we get to the grand finale.
Full disclosure, I think Pat McAfee is entertaining.
He’s good for the sport of football and sports in general.
But man, he is trying way too hard to fill the void left by Lee Corso, and today was the last straw.
A three-and-a-half minute stroll towards the high dive all to announce he’s going with the home favorite like everyone thought he was in the first place.
Yeah, I know. This isn’t for me anymore.
I am a 32-year-old man with a son, so I realize I’m not exactly the target demo here, but I’ll be damned if I don’t spend my Saturdays complaining about ESPN ruining my childhood.
That’s what growing up is all about at the end of the day, right?
Anyway, enjoy another great weekend of college football, folks. We only get 12 chances to complain a year. Let’s take advantage.
