Orlando Franklin could not have timed his bathroom break any more poorly during Saturday night’s college football game on ESPN. Nature calls when nature calls, but there was a missed opportunity to take care of business during halftime.
How do we know? A hot mic caught his announcement on live television.
Franklin, a former second round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Miami, played seven years in the league with the Broncos, Chargers, Saints and formerly-known as Redskins. He joined play-by-play announcer John Schriffen in Honolulu to call the 2023 EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl between Coastal Carolina and San Jose State.
The game itself was rather uneventful until 24 points were scored in the fourth quarter, but that didn’t stop Franklin from keeping things entertaining during the early portion of the second half! Technically, it was his bladder (?) that made things interesting.
Schriffen showed some love to Spartans quarterback Chevan Cordeiro as the broadcast went to commercial with 11:51 remaining in the third quarter. As soon as his boothmate finished his sentence, Franklin declared that he was going to take a potty break.
The on-air proclamation was entirely on Franklin. He needed to give the ESPN production truck a full beat to get off the air before informing everybody of his trip to the bathroom.
His timing also could not have been much worse. Halftime allowed him plenty of time to hit the latrine and tend to any business matters.
And yet, three minutes (of game time) later, the entire world was made aware of Franklin’s alleviation. Fortunately, no further details were provided.
The hot mic incident would have been much worse if Franklin issued a more in-depth statement about the root cause of his stop in the loo. An even more awkward viral moment was narrowly avoided!