Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso's Unbreakable Bond on College GameDay

I I want to touch on Lee because your friendship with Lee Corso is very very obvious when you watch college game day or you see your Instagram what has that relationship been like over the years since that audition and now being on game day together for almost three decades uh it's changed a lot I you know from that very first audition where I I sat next to him and I was nervous and he he he tried to Cal me down and they hired me and I I show up you know that first season and he treated me as an equal you know I I I'll never forget how comfortable he basically put his arm around me and made me feel like it was just me and Chris and him and he was an analyst and I'm an analyst and we're going to talk about these games the show was only an hour back then but just how he made me feel where our relationship changed is when I don't know if you remember the Silly Sports Center commercials years ago that we used to do well game day used to do commercials like that we would go out to LA and my life changed from being single when I first was on the show to being married then having prey babies we had uh twins that were 2 lbs each they were born very early and as you're going through these life uh you know experiences you get in the back you know you're in LA and you're the photo shoot and I knew Lee and Chris but inevitably Lee and I would always get in the same car and he was he was a father of four kids he has three sons and a daughter and we would inevitably get into conversation cuz he's he's a guy that wants he ask you how you doing now how you really doing like a coach deep and I I would open up and I would talk to him and he would listen that was the key because my dad didn't listen real well he would listen and then he would listen and listen and then he would give me a thought or two about almost like wisdom that he was giving me so that would happen one time and then another time then another time then another time then it became like something I looked forward to and I needed so I in my career as soon as I my contract would run out and maybe go here maybe go there I'd go not my agent not my parents not my wife I'd go to Lee what do you think about this you know whatever he said I would listen to and that became who I'd get into a situation with my wife and we might move or we might I would go to him what do you think of this so I guess like another father figure in my life and then he had a stroke about 12 or 13 years ago and he lost his ability to speak and used the right of his body and he's worked real hard to get it back well then I found myself kind of like full circle I try to be what he was to me I try to help him whenever I can however I can um just because number one that's what a friend should do right but number two is he gets you know he's into his late 70s into his 80s I think a lot of people watch him and they see him tripping on his words and they think oh that son of a he's so old why is he still there and I'm like if you only knew his cognitive mind is as sharp as ever he just he's struggles sometimes getting his words out because of that stroke so whatever I can do when he gets tripped up I try to just be there just as a little Bridge or you know just try to do it as subtly as I can and so yeah we've we've kind of we've uh we've gone from just one extreme where I'm just looking up at him like what do I do right to you know becoming his equal I guess for many years and now just trying to help him in any way I can I think that is one of the most powerful things I watch where I can tell watching as a sports fan he's still there like he it's still the same leag Corso but like you said sometimes he does trip up on Words maybe he's not in as many segments or picks as normal or as he was for so many years but watching you kind of I don't know how to describe it I don't want to say training wheels but like you're his support system throughout the show and it is one of the most powerful things on TV I appreciate it yeah I mean he's again I for my generation I talked to my kids about kind of respect yeah and my generation I feel like we looked at the people before us not that they did everything perfectly but they went through a lot yeah and so I looked at them as an advocate I I I've always looked at people that have gone through before me is someone to learn from and especially when they're willing to teach you know give you time and I feel like I'm worried about my kids generation I don't know if they look at at the older generation that came before them them uh with the same kind of respect and I hope that I hope that they will because I I I think you can learn a lot just by listening paying attention and and asking questions to people that have gone before you favorite moment from college game day I've got a couple in my head uh when Lee I think said four-letter words yeah out in Houston yeah firing off the guns um but what's your favorite can you can you pick even know if I can really I mean Lee Lee kind of has his own Wing when it comes to there's so many favorite moments with him but yeah when he dropped an fbom on live TV would that was and Carl Lewis who was our celebrity picker is like good thing the show is TA you know on delay and I was like no no it's not uh that was a funny one because it was crystal clear most people would get fired if anything it helped his Q score go up um that was one they're just every week you know Pat McAfee coming on the show now um you know Pat a guy that has an incredible personality what people don't see with Pat is what how he is behind the scenes the energy that he brings um how much respect he has for the college game day brand um you know basically has his hat in his hand so respectful of Lee Corso of reys of Desmond everybody that's what makes him I think initially just come right in and be part of our team so he's been and again 28 29 years into this he's been like an Energizer Bunny for me personally behind closed doors and then on the set every week with him you just don't know what you're gonna get into so yeah man I I'm just very fortunate to do a show with so many moments where you can't really just pick one like every week like next year you know I think we're starting week one in Dublin Ireland um week zero in Dublin Ireland for Florida State in Boston College and then week one I think it was just announced we're going Notre Dame at Texas A&M so you know it's I'm already here we are in May and I'm already looking forward to it