ESPN issued an apology on Tuesday for play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger’s on-air commentary about Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron’s girlfriend, Katherine Webb.
During Monday night’s BCS National Championship game, Musburger said of Webb, “Well, I tell you, you quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women! What a beautiful woman!”
Many viewers criticized Musburger’s commentary on Twitter, calling it “creepy” and inappropriate.
In a Wednesday-morning interview on the “Today” show, Webb told Matt Lauer she didn’t think the 73-year-old Musburger’s comments were inappropriate and that an apology was unnecessary.
“I think that if he would have said ... that we were hot or sexy or made any derogatory statements like that, I think that would have been a little bit different,” said the 23-year-old 2012 Miss Alabama. “But the fact that he said we were beautiful and gorgeous, I don't see why any woman wouldn't be flattered by that.”
Since her unscheduled appearance on Monday’s football broadcast, Webb’s Twitter following has swelled to more than 235,000.
Personal take
Why is this an issue? While what Musburger said was entertaining, it certainly wasn’t any different than what most male viewers were already thinking.
In fact, Musburger probably put it more tastefully than what was heard in sports bars and living rooms across the country.
So the old guy found the young woman to be attractive. So what. So did the bulk of America.
The viewing audience’s ire shouldn’t be directed at Musburger, it should be directed at the NCAA for allowing the BCS to ruin another college football season!
The NCAA will institute a four-team playoff beginning with the 2014 season, but in light the recent run of lopsided and anticlimactic national championship games, a playoff should be instituted post haste.
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