ESPN sportscasting legend Brent Musberger certainly stepped into a situation when he pointed out during the BCS National Championship Game that Alabama quarterback A. J. McCarron's girlfriend was beautiful. After numerous comments that Musberger was ogling and/or being creepy, Katherine Webb, McCarron's girlfriend and former Miss Alabama 2012 said she took it as a compliment.
"It was kind of nice," she said, according to the Associated Press. "I didn't look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don't see how that's an issue."
Katherine Webb's beauty may not have been so distracting had the Notre Dame Fighting Irish given Alabama a tougher game. As it was Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit, the guys that announced the game, were talking about all kinds of things, but when the guys in the booth kept putting the camera on Webb, Musberger certainly obliged by commenting on her beauty.
One of his remarks: "Wow, I'm telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman. Wow!"
Perhaps he was a bit too effusive in his admiration. He did make other comments. But, again, it wasn't as if he had a football game to announce past the Second Quarter (the Crimson Tide went on to win 42-14).
But Musberger simply placed Webb, whose photos became a prime search target within hours, in a category of women that have been singled out due to their relationships with college quarterbacks over the years.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Texas A&M Aggies quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel's girlfriend, Sarah Savage, fired up the Internet after she was photographed with him and his Heisman.
And who can forget the clicking frenzy that occurred after Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy's girlfriend, Rachel Glandorf, was zeroed in on by ESPN reporter Rick Reilly, who described her as "hotter than shrimp vindaloo" in 2009.
Tim Tebow's girlfriend was the subject of media scrutiny several times as well when he was in college. In fact, photos of Lucy Pinder were much in demand for a while.
There's even Top 10 lists of college quarterback girlfriends.
It was nice of Katherine Webb to acknowledge that someone acknowledging her beauty wasn't a bad thing. Besides, the amount of media generated by the Musberger's comments, the camera shots during the game, and subsequent interviews has only placed Webb's star on a meteoric tangent. Her Twitter account jumped from 2,000 to 200,000 in five hours. To date (four days since the Alabama-Notre Dame game), she has amassed over 265,000 followers. Her sudden fame has caused her to change her phone number. And now it looks like she might appear in Sports Illustrated.
So don't be surprised if the beautiful former Miss Alabama doesn't thank Brent Musberger for her breakout moment after all is said and done...
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