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Meet Ben, ESPN’s jet-setting Golden Retriever

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Ryan Miller hears the whispers every weekend on college campuses across the country.

There’s Ben.

Is it Ben?

That’s Ben!

Miller is usually behind the scenes handling logistics and working with ESPN talent as a production coordinator on “College GameDay,” but Ben the golden retriever turns heads when they go for a walk every Saturday.

“He’s become kind of a national phenomenon at this point,” Miller said.

Ben is Ben Herbstreit, the furry companion of Kirk Herbstreit, the ESPN and Amazon Prime analyst. To those outside of college football fandom, Ben may look like your average golden retriever, one of the most popular pet breeds in the United States. He turns ten on Friday and is well cared for, with floppy ears, a perpetual smile and a wagging tail that moves back and forth like a lazy but reliable sprinkler.

But since appearing regularly on Herbstreit’s social media while tagging along on outings for the past two months for the weekly college football pregame show or games that Herbstreit calls, Ben has become a burgeoning star with enthusiastic fans. On a recent trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game, Ben had done just that a high-profile meeting with Uga, mascot of the University of Georgiaperhaps the nation’s most famous bulldog, and stopped by the Atlanta convention center to take part in the “GameDay” festivities.

“He stops at a tailgate and people say, ‘Oh, my God, look! It’s Ben! Ben’s here!’ It’s the funniest thing to see people’s reaction,” Herbstreit said.

Ben first joined Herbstreit on “College GameDay” in November 2021, when the show traveled to the University of Cincinnati for the Bearcats’ game against Tulsa. The Herbstreits live in Cincinnati, so Ben went to work with Dad that day. He first set out on a business trip in October, when Herbstreit took him to Seattle. Herbstreit said his family has been through difficult times, including the hospitalization of his 20-year-old son, Zak, for a heart condition. Zak, a tight end at Ohio State, has rejoined the team but is not practicing and has said he is still receiving treatment.

Ben offered Herbstreit comfort while he was away. The family’s other two Goldens, Theo and Mitch, from the same breeder in New Jersey, stayed home.

“We like to tailor our lives around Ben and whatever he needs,” Herbstreit said. “I report to Ben, that’s pretty much how it works. Everyone else reports to my wife and I, and we report to Ben.”

At home, that means getting up at 6:30 a.m. to serve Ben and his four-legged brothers breakfast and taking them for a walk. The trio then lounges in Herbstreit’s home office while he works “on the dot” until 2 p.m., when Ben leaves to make sure lunch is ready.

“It’s hard not to give in to him with his eyes and how cute he is,” Herbstreit said. “And how demanding he is.”

Along the way, Ben is a certified emotional support animal for Herbstreit. He received his ESA license and official red vest in early November, allowing him to join Herbstreit in more places, including hotels where pets are not normally allowed.

“What I do, people just think: ‘Well, just fly privately, no problem!’ But you’re away from your family, you work and you love what you do, but it’s tough. So to be able to bring him along was huge for me,” Herbstreit said. “People say that man is the best friend, but really – it sounds strange – he is. He is my husband.”


Kirk Herbstreit went through the process of certifying Ben as an emotional support animal. (Courtesy of Ryan Miller)

Now Ben goes everywhere. and “Where’s Ben?” is something Herbstreit hears often.

He gets it from his ESPN colleagues. He sees strangers asking about Ben on social media. Some students who flock to the set on Saturday hold up signs that read, “We love you, Kirk, but we love Ben more!” or, “Kirk, can I pet Ben?”

A show of support even came in an unexpected way from legendary sports broadcaster Al Michaels, Herbstreit’s partner on NFL games for Amazon Prime, after Ben attended a production meeting with 35 people in a large hotel boardroom.

“He wasn’t on a leash,” Herbstreit said. “We’re talking about serious things, and he’s making his way across the room to say hello to people. When he got close to Al, I could tell that Al wasn’t too keen on it. So I snapped my fingers to get Ben to come to me, and I thought, “I better not do that again.”

The following week, Michaels questioned Ben’s absence in a similar environment.

“I said, ‘I left it in the room. I just thought it might be better. I didn’t want him to interrupt anyone or get in anyone’s way,” Herbstreit said. “He says, ‘No, nonsense! You have to bring Ben here! ”

It was clear that Ben had completely won over Michaels when Michaels wanted to check in with Ben late one night after returning to their hotel after a game. Herbstreit assumed his dog would be waiting for him at the door, but when he entered his room, Ben wasn’t there.

“He had laid down on the couch in the hotel room and was sleeping soundly. I talk like deep sleep,” Herbstreit said. “So I go back out into the hallway and say, ‘Al, you gotta come in here and see this.’ He entered the room, looked around the corner and saw Ben fast asleep on the couch. He pulls out his phone and says, “Oh, my God, I have to video tape this!”

“I get a video of Al videotaping Ben. He thought it was the funniest.”

Herbstreit’s other colleagues are also attracted to Ben and say that Ben gives the entire set a lift.

“The overall vibe is much more positive when Ben is there,” Miller said. “He keeps all our personalities fresh. When we’re all missing home, it’s virtually impossible not to smile when he’s around.

Darren Gaul, a production and talent coordinator who works at Herbstreit, said: “He lets everyone pet him. He is not aggressive in any way. He welcomes everyone.”

Gaul added that Ben’s jacket “terribly soft.”

According to the members of his travel team, it doesn’t take much effort to get Ben from one place to another. He enjoys popcorn, long walks and a bit of TV, but Miller says he is “really a low-maintenance dog.”

Ben usually walks freely without a leash around stadiums, football fields and sets, unless there are other dogs around. He masters air traffic and navigates hotels with ease once he is shown the path from the elevator to Herbstreit’s room.

“He has become such a traveler that as soon as we get out of a car, he sprints to the plane,” Herbstreit said. “I’m still packing my bags, and he’s already on the plane.”

The most important thing he needs on any trip is his bed. Miller bought one at a pet store in Athens, Georgia, last month when “College GameDay” visited for an Ole Miss-Georgia game. It’s a square of memory foam big enough to fit a sleeping toddler or two, and it travels from campus to campus on the show’s bus. “It’s just part of the show at this point,” Miller said.

During games, Ben usually hangs out with Miller or Gaul in one of the luxury buses or in the makeshift offices that the production crew sets up on site. Sometimes Gaul takes Ben into the booth, like during the Washington-Oregon State game, when Ben made a TV cameo hanging out at the feet of Herbstreit and Chris Fowler.

Once the show is over, Ben and Herbstreit take a plane to their next destination, sometimes another game, sometimes back home. With the college football season coming to a close, Ben’s schedule should be relaxed, but fans can rest assured that they will likely see him on the road, including Thursday’s Patriots-Steelers game in Pittsburgh and Saturday’s Army-Navy game in Foxboro, MA.

And when they get home, Herbstreit and Ben will soon have someone new to keep them busy. On the way back from the Army-Navy game, they make a stop to pick up a puppy. A rival for Herbstreit’s affections? Never.

“Ben will say, ‘What? I’ve already raised two and you’re asking me at my age to raise another one? You didn’t do this because of me! What are you doing to me?’ I think this could be our conversation with the puppy jumping on top of him on the plane,” Herbstreit said.

“He’s going to look at me like, ‘I thought we were boys?'”

(Top photo courtesy of Jackson Collier/University of Florida)

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