Desmond Howard recently delved in to the storied history of “College GameDay,” an ESPN staple on which he’s served as analyst since 2005. Perhaps the most interesting nugget gleaned from his reflections is how Erin Andrews may have been too “Hollywood” for her colleagues.
Andrews served as a reporter/contributor on the long-running ESPN pregame show for two seasons (2010-11). She was ultimately replaced by Samantha Ponder when she left ESPN to join FOX Sports and pursue other interests. While the move arguably has paid off for Andrews, it sounds like it was welcomed by at least some members of the “College GameDay” crew.
Howard relayed his impressions of Andrews during an appearance on the podcast “Origins,” which is hosted by James Miller, writer of the definitive book on ESPN, “Those Guys Have All the Fun.”
“It was my first time working with Erin, so I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know what the expectations for her were for the show,” Howard said. “So, I just went with the flow. As long as those guys were happy with what she was doing and her contributions, I was like, ‘So be it.’ In the meetings she had some stuff going on with ‘Dancing With the Stars’ or whatever. So, she was kind of like into that Hollywood scene.
“I remember we’re in a meeting and she was talking about Perez Hilton and I remember looking at her and asking, ‘Who is that? Is that Paris Hilton’s sibling?’ But she was like reading something from a Hollywood website. And I would look at [Lee] Corso and he would have that old-man silence that was loud as hell. So, he would sit there, but his silence was deafening. I could tell it was working his nerves.”
Howard went on to say Ponder fit in much better with the crew, saying she “in her own quirky way was a little more down to business because she’s not that Hollywood type at all.”
Andrews will serve as sideline reporter for FOX’s coverage of Sunday’s divisional round matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings.
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