Wait, Wait, Wait...Kirk Herbstreit Had A Pop-Up Shop For His DOG In Baton Rouge Yesterday???

Aaron Josefczyk. Shutterstock Images.

Hey guys. Apologies if this story is old news by now, but I'm playing catch-up on all the big CFB topics from yesterday. I was too busy watching the electric start to the Matt Campbell era at Beaver Stadium. And good lord, it was spectacular. But I doubt any of you wanna hear about that right now. 

I also doubt that any of you wanna hear about Kirk Herbstreit's dog more than you already have, but unfortunately, there's just no escaping it. Kirk Herbstreit will have a dog for the rest of your entire fucking life, and that woofer will be shoved in your face at every waking moment. Maybe even in your sleep. 

And if you were in Baton Rouge this weekend for the Clemson-LSU game, you might've seen a very physical reminder that the Herbstreit dogs are here to stay. There was a pop-up shop for Peter Herbstreit merch, and out of total fairness, it should be pointed out that a portion of the proceeds will go to veterinary schools and dog-focused nonprofits. So I'm sure it did some good, but this is still a bit bizarre, no? 

I'll be honest: I never really had a problem with Kirk Herbstreit's dog content. Did I find it kinda weird when his first dog Ben died and there were entire tribute videos dedicated to the good boy, only for Kirk to have another one of his dogs fill into that same role immediately after? Uhhh, yeah. Absolutely. But it was whatever to me. We got introduced to Peter Herbstreit, and everything was fine.

And for the record, I think a lot of the people who hated on Peter at the start weren't looking at the broader picture. The Herbstreit dog content might not have been your cup of tea, but you're lying to yourself if you don't think middle-aged moms were eating that shit up all over Facebook. So yeah, we're the diehard sports fans who couldn't give a fuck about the color commentator's dog, but there's an entire casual audience out there that doesn't mind when the dog invades the sports content. Not to mention, they're also consuming a fraction of the sports content that we do, so Peter is still a fun novelty to them. Not some overexposed pet. 

I guarantee you there are people out there who are fans of Peter Herbstreit, but they don't like college football. Just like there are people who don't like Barstool, but they're fans of Pardon My Take and Poor Decisions (the two biggest podcasts at the company, after all). 

Speaking of Barstool, though, it would be impossible to write this blog without acknowledging that our fearless leader Dave Portnoy has also dabbled heavily in the dog content game. I mean, Miss Peaches ran the internet for months. She has a seltzer with her face on it, for crying out loud. And yes, we sold a shit ton of Miss Peaches merch online. 

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But at least in that regard, Peaches is completely separate from Dave's sports content. And to my knowledge, we never had a physical pop-up stand for Miss Peaches merch, let alone at a college campus on a fucking football weekend. Could you imagine Dave pulling up to a Big Noon Kickoff site trying to sling "Anti-Human, Pro Dog" t-shirts? 

I just can't picture Kirk Herbstreit -- as he's jetting from place to place to cover college AND pro football -- having the lightbulb moment to start a brick-and-mortar store for Peter the Dog merch. I did see one tweet that said it was his son who came up with the idea. Or was it the same person who keeps spamming the McAfee button over at ESPN?? These are the questions we NEED answers to. 

Another question I have: Doesn't Herbstreit have three other golden retrievers? I'm not misremembering that, right? Why does Peter get all the love and attention? How did that selection process work? You guys are only focused on how annoying this never-ending dog bit is, but I'm also worried about the other pups. I want justice for those guys, too. 

We'll see if this Peter store becomes a weekly thing. If it does, it might be a loooonnngg football season, my friends.