ESPN wants you to know you should be grateful for the Pac-12’s late kickoffs

A near constant complaint of Pac-12 fans is the proliferation of late kickoff times around the conference during football season. Earlier this week, Washington coach Chris Petersen gave voice to those complaints in a way that no other conference coach has before.

“I just want to say again to our fans, we apologize for these late games, and also just reiterate it has nothing to do with us,” Petersen said during his weekly news conference. “We want to play at 1 o’clock. It hurts us tremendously in terms of national exposure. No one’s gonna watch our game on the East Coast that late. We all know that.

“We haven’t had a kickoff before 5 o’clock this season. It’s painful for our team, painful for our administration, and certainly and most importantly, for our fans.”

Petersen isn’t wrong about any of that; we know that as well as anyone, as late kickoffs tend to have lower attendance given the remoteness of Pullman.

Well, ESPN would have you know that it will not stand to have its good name besmirched by a loudmouth coach on the west coast, and Kirk Herbstreit is here to deliver the message loud and clear:

Paraphrased:

• Herbstreit has been an ardent promoter of the Pac-12; and
• The Pac-12 should be grateful for all the money ESPN is giving them; and
• The Pac-12 really should be thankful their games can be seen at all; and
• We are all ingrates for complaining.

What a turd.