ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel chose to do Saturday’s hit on College GameDay from the stadium, which led to a tense exchange with Desmond Howard. The latter called out the former while live on national television for ducking the Michigan crowd.
It was super awkward.
If news breaks about the Wolverines’ sign-stealing scandal, the odds are high that Thamel is the one responsible. He has been all over the shenanigans involving Connor Stalions and the program run by Jim Harbaugh.
As a result, he is public enemy No. 1 amongst Michigan fans. Well, public enemy No. 2 behind Ohio State.
Thamel is not well-liked among the maize and blue. They have been very hostile toward him over the last few months and their erratic behavior led ESPN to change its structure for GameDay in Ann Arbor.
Where Thamel normally does his hits from the set, usually in the crowd, he did not on Saturday. Howard, a former Wolverine who has been very vocal in support of his alma mater, thought that the decision was weak and proceeded to chirp his coworker for hiding in the stadium.
Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit were quick to defend Thamel.
The latter gave the classic “woah, woah, woah” as if to tell Howard to take his foot off of the gas. The former explained that Thamel was not in the crowd because of threats from the Michigan “fringe.”
It was a safety decision.
In rebuttal, Howard defended his fanbase and suggested that Thamel would have been fine. And if he or the network really that concerned, security guards could have helped to minimize those worries.
A Michigan Man™️, Desmond Howard, encouraged a coworker, Pete Thamel, to put his safety at risk because other Michigan Men™️ can’t handle factual reporting. The entire exchange was uncomfortable and the tension was palpable.
Thamel did not respond to Howard’s criticism!