Desmond Howard's Trip to the Hot Seat

Desmond Howard's blunder on ESPN's bowl pregame show Tuesday night earned the former Heisman winner a trip to the Budweiser Hot Seat on Wednesday. Karl Ravich lobs him a softball and Howard attempts to smack it over the fence. Said Howard: "I misspoke when I said Cal vs. Texas as opposed to Cal vs. Texas A&M. So I apologize to the Longhorns and Aggies fans. But I know you don't need me to tell you who you're playing against in the bowl. But whether it's Texas with an A&M or without an A&M, I'm still picking Cal to win the Pacific Holiday Bowl." A couple of things here. First, we understand where ESPN and Howard are coming from, but he should have stopped with the apology and everything would have been good. Instead, he throws in the "you don't need me" and "whether it's Texas with an A&M or without and A&M." OK, if we don't need you, then why are you on the air? Second, putting Texas and Texas A&M in a generic category comes off as an attempt to trivialize Tuesday's mistake. Not good. And this Hot Seat segment is anything but hot. Frankly, how in the hell did Tuesday's mistake happen in the first place? We may never know, but one would like to think there are checks and balances in place to prevent such errors from getting on air. On the plus side, we commend ESPN for the correction, but given that Tuesday's clip spread through the Internet like a California wildfire, it really had no choice. ... Again, thanks to The 12th Manchild.