ESPN Bet Host Is An Instant Star, Kirk Herbstreit Tweets Mid-Game & Nick Saban Eats Breakfast Like A 5-Year-Old
I spent the morning shielding Charissa Thompson from the woke sports media mob, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm a little rushed today. I usually start on Nightcaps around 10. It's currently 1 p.m. and I'm just now getting going with three hours till first pitch. Thank God I found new ESPN Bet host Erin Dolan to help ease tensions.
Appears a ton of you did, too. We'll get to her.
Welcome to a Friday Nightcaps -- the one where I quickly and I mean QUICKLY pump out some good content for you guys because I'm up against the clock and most of you have already punched out anyways.
We're gonna get to ESPN's Erin Dolan here in a bit. She's found herself thrust into the spotlight now that ESPN Bet has launched, so she might as well join class now before she's too big.
Remember, we create stars here. See Sydney Smith and Gia Duddy if you don't believe me.
We're also gonna talk a little Kirk Herbstreit -- who has an unreal motor -- eat some breakfast with Nick Saban and maybe check the mail while we're at it.
Nothing annoys me more than an overflowing mailbox come Monday morning -- especially on a holiday week.
Let's get this show on the road before I get fired for not having this done in time. Ding, ding, ding! Class is in session.
ESPN Bet launches and so does host Erin Dolan
And away we go! Just like ESPN's newest venture -- betting.
The ESPN Bet app officially replaced Barstool's sportsbook earlier this week, as I'm sure everyone here knows. It's been an all-hands-on-deck push from the World Wide (Woke) Leader as far as marketing goes, and for good reason.
This is likely make-or-break for ESPN. Everything else lately has failed because they're become some intolerable, so they really, reeeeeallllly need this to work.
Frankly, it probably will. Not even woke ESPN can screw up the one thing we all love, right?
Side note: has anyone used it yet? I live in Florida and can only legally gamble on the Hard Rock app, which is beyond fine with me, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
Speaking of betting -- I threw a dart at the wall on Gus Edwards scoring the first TD last night and hit. What a way to start the weekend. We'll get to more bets down the road if we have time.
Anyway, all that to say ESPN Bet has a brand new show on every day now, which has thrusted Erin Dolan right into the spotlight and into our hearts. She's gone viral this week on social media, which means it's time to welcome her to class.
Everyone be nice!
Kirk Herbstreit is an absolute machine
Welcome to class, ESPN Erin! Don't mind the ESPN mocking. It's nothing personal. We just despise your employer for obvious reasons.
Don't despise Kirk Herbstreit, though. At least I don't. This guy is an absolute animal from Thursdays-on every single fall.
Seriously, do you realize the air miles he puts in? This week alone he's flown to Baltimore, back home, and over to Harrisonburg for Saturday's College GameDay.
After Lee dons the headgear around noon Saturday, Kirk will be back on a plane and on his way to OREGON for the Oregon State-Washington showdown.
What a stud.
Anyway, our man also loves his damn dogs, and took time during the TNF broadcast last night to give them the shine they deserve:
Nick Saban has breakfast fit for a champ and I pulled off the fantasy trade!
Hilarious. What an animal.
As for last night's game, I again just felt bad for Al Michaels. The poor guy finally gets a good TNF game after like two years of crappy team vs. crappier team, and then Joey Burrow gets hurt in the second quarter and it's a runaway after that.
Goodness, can this guy catch a freaking break?
Speaking of last night ... that fantasy football trade help I asked for in yesterday's class is no longer needed. I pulled it off!
I sent away Bijan Robinson and Tank Dell for De'Von Achane and D'Andre Swift. I mean, I won that trade, right? Don't see how I didn't.
Grade away!
While you're doing that, here's Nick Saban's breakfast order:
PFT calls out 'a--holes' and 'pieces of sh-t' NCAA right to ESPN's face
I assume Nick's talking about those Oatmeal Creme Pies. If so, it's no wonder the guy has won a billion national championships.
Those things are insanely good. I feel like we've forgotten about them over time, but buddy, they are absolutely atop the snack mountain from back in the day.
Mount Rushmore!
That last one, by the way, is hugely underrated. If you've never had it, do yourself a favor and grab one at the Publix later today. They're always on the display stand right in front of milk.
Can't imagine why I needed to do a three-day fast earlier this week!
OK, before we rapid-fire this bad boy into a Friday night filled with shenanigans and shame, here's more sweating from ESPN!
Mail time!
What do you reckon the ESPN Bet over/under is set at for them to pull McAfee off the air? I mean, the wokes in Bristol just CAN'T be happy about this on their network.
This is a double whammy, too, because ESPN canceled the Barstool show after like five minutes about a decade ago.
Remember that? Hilarious.
Also, I'm with PFT here. But I also come from a family of James Madison alums, so I'm clearly biased. True story. Beautiful school. LOADED football program. I thought about going there myself back in the day.
OK, mail time before we hit the road.
From Ryan in OK, responding to my request earlier this week for a full report from his trip to my great, big, beautiful, free state of Florida:
(It's a long one, so we'll break it down in to sections).
Trip to Florida (tampa bay) went pretty smoothly. Airport was a million times better than the hellscape that is the Orlando airport. Seriously you could check your bags and get your boarding passes printed from kiosks in the rental car return parking garage. Just breeze right past the main terminal lines and out to security. Security was pretty efficiently run and sped right through. Only time I’ve been sniffed by a drug dog for a domestic flight though.
Anything is better than Orlando. Truly a miserable experience. 100000% agree.
Made a point to go to WaWa. Goodness that parking lot is a madhouse. But they had clean bathrooms & a cold beer cave so they are basically everything I want in a gas station.
WaWa has taken over down here in recent years. It was all the rage until Buc-ee's started invading the state about two years ago. You wanna talk long lines, try going to one of those on a Saturday afternoon. Chaos. Great pork sandwiches though.
I thought tampa (at least what I saw of it) seemed like a pretty clean city, and most everyone I interacted with was polite & friendly. I know “Florida Man” gets a bad rap, but I didn’t run into any psychos or witness any wild things go down.
Tampa is definitely one of the up-and-coming places down here. It's the sexy, buzzy city right now. Be careful, though. Couple counties over that way just recently flipped red, so they're still a little suspect. Head on swivel.
Finally, Nightcaps reader Mike sent along this little video and asked me to send it Megan Rapinoe's way if she takes me up on my offer to bring her to church sometime.
For those wondering, I have NOT heard from her yet.
Take us home, ESPN Erin Dolan
Good stuff, fellas. Glad we could catch up!
Finally, let's get rich on the way out.
SMU-Memphis tomorrow feels like an OVER 64 game. I think Georgia also beats Tennessee by more than 10.5, the Notre Dame-Wake Forest game goes over 46.5 and UF-Mizz goes over 57.
Big over guy this week. What could go wrong?
OK, that's enough for today. I'm running out of time! Take us home, Erin.
Let's go have a weekend.
OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).
We on board with Erin Dolan and ESPN Bet? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.