Daughters of Legendary College Football Coach Meyer Rip ESPN Over Classless Joke
ESPN received a rap across the knuckles from Urban Meyer’s family after an anchor with the network mocked the former Ohio State football coach.
Meyer retired as Ohio State’s head football coach earlier this year after his team won the Rose Bowl at the end of last season.
He has stayed with the school as assistant athletic director and also works as a college football analyst for Fox Sports.
On Saturday, he was on the sidelines of the Fiesta Bowl watching Ohio State lose to Clemson 29-23. John Anderson, host of ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” noticed Meyer while watching the game’s highlights and made a crack about the coach’s presence, according to Fox News.
Oh my god the shade!!!???? pic.twitter.com/vNWsMnwBHo
— Rj (@rd606) December 29, 2019
“Look at Urban Meyer,” Anderson said. “He was going to be spending time with his family, went to this game instead.”
Meyer’s family responded with a show of unity, not only attacking Anderson for the jab but also noting that the family had been together for days prior to the game. Others also said ESPN was out of line.
That casual ESPN jab at Urban Meyer and the ignorance ( @spinnershells and the rest of their family were there with him for the Fiesta Bowl) sums up the inherent bias against #OSU and the reason for my disdain for the four letter network in one 4 second clip.
Utterly classless!
— Matt Baxendell (@MattBaxendell) December 30, 2019
ESPN has gone too far with comments. Many that I know who watch actually mute the sound to concentrate on the game. We do! I’m really proud of Urban Meyer’s daughters for speaking out about this. https://t.co/5UAQxm6PW3
— Joan Oakley Leibert (@joytoyou1) December 31, 2019
Meyer’s daughter, Nicki Meyer Dennis, whose husband is a quality control coach for Ohio State, sent out an angry Twitter broadside.
“How is this type of commentary even acceptable? The entire family including grandkids went to support my husband and the Buckeyes,” she wrote. “We had the best week in Arizona.”
She added: “.@ESPN have some class. This is bad. I’d @ this guy but don’t know who it is. Pass it along friends.”
How is this type of commentary even acceptable? The entire family including grandkids went to support my husband and the buckeyes. We had the best week in AZ. @ESPN have some class. This is bad. I’d @ this guy but don’t know who it is. Pass it along friends ? https://t.co/rqAtv4pdGh
— Nicki Meyer Dennis (@Nicki_07) December 30, 2019
Urban’s other daughter, Gigi Meyer, offered a fact or two in case ESPN wanted them.
“But we were all there the entire week… In fact, probably been spending too much time together. But keep ‘em coming,” she wrote.
But we were all there the entire week… In fact, probably been spending too much time together ? but keep ‘em coming @espn ❤️ https://t.co/BFmkmopNbq
— Gigi Meyer (@GG_40) December 30, 2019
One thing John Anderson pic.twitter.com/Td604hkiZG
— Gigi Meyer (@GG_40) December 30, 2019
Urban’s wife, Shelley, unloaded as well.
I am DEEPLY offended by this off-hand rude/ignorant comment by someone who knows NOTHING about our family-We were ALL together this bowl trip-urbans job was limited to a couple hours the 26th/27th and more on the 28th (not that it’s anyone’s biz)-still WAY less than coaching. https://t.co/BgRDvx4cjb
— Shelley ❌eyer (@spinnershells) December 30, 2019
“I am DEEPLY offended by this off-hand rude/ignorant comment by someone who knows NOTHING about our family,” she tweeted. “We were ALL together this bowl trip-urbans job was limited to a couple hours the 26th/27th and more on the 28th (not that it’s anyone’s biz)-still WAY less than coaching.”
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