Remembering all the creepy comments made by broadcaster Brent Musburger about women

Brent Musburger, who announced Wednesday that he is retiring in the coming weeks after decades in the broadcasting booth, is considered a legend in the sports world, providing play-by-play commentary for some of the most iconic moments in recent history.

However, Musburger is also remembered for more than a few incidents in which he made comments about women that many considered objectifying and downright creepy, and for which he has seemed unapologetic.

The first time this happened was in 2005 during an ABC broadcast of a college football game between Florida State and University of Miami. Coming back from a commercial break, the camera showed a group of Florida State fans at the front of the crowd, including a woman named Jenn Sterger.

“Fifteen hundred red-blooded Americans just decided to apply to Florida State,” Musburger said in reference to Sterger’s looks.

Musburger’s comments catapulted Sterger to fame, which she parlayed into modeling gigs for magazines, a column with Sports Illustrated and sideline reporting job with the NFL’s New York Jets, where she allegedly received explicit voicemails from quarterback Brett Favre, per Business Insider.

Then in January 2013, Musburger did almost the exact same thing at the college football national championship between University of Notre Dame and the University of Alabama. As the camera focused on Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron’s then-girlfriend, Katherine Webb, Musburger commented on her looks and seemed to imply Webb was dating McCarron because of his on-field success.

“You quarterbacks, you get all the good looking women," Musburger said. “What a beautiful woman.”

"Wow!" Musburger’s broadcasting partner, Kirk Herbstreit, said.

“Whoa!” Musburger added.

“A.J.'s doing some things right down in Tuscaloosa,” Herbstreit said.

“If you're a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it around the backyard with pop,” Musburger finished.

Musburger’s comments forced ESPN to apologize, saying he had gone “too far,” as social media lit up with people commenting that Musburger, who was 73 years old at the time, came across as leering and creepy, per Yahoo Sports.

Webb later defended Musburger, saying she was flattered and didn’t think his comments were objectifying, per USA Today.

Musburger has since said the controversy was silly.

“I called a beauty queen beautiful," he told the Associated Press. “Are you kidding me?”

Just a few days after his comments on Webb, however, Musburger seemed to land himself in hot water again at the end of a college basketball game between Baylor University and the University of Kansas. Signing off for himself, his broadcast partner Fran Fraschilla and sideline reporter Holly Rowe, Musburger appeared to say Rowe “is really smoking tonight,” per USA Today.

ESPN defended Musburger, saying he had actually said, “It was really smoking tonight,” though the game itself was a relatively low-scoring affair, 61-44, as the fourth-ranked team in the nation beat an unranked squad.

Musburger and Rowe never commented on the incident.

In 2014, Musburger was covering a game between Iowa State University against Kansas when the program’s producers selected a “Sixth Man of the Game,” training in on a group of three Iowa State fans taking a picture of themselves, per Sports Illustrated.

“I am pleased with this selection. Oh yeah,” Musburger said. “Why not a selfie? The fans of Iowa State, the ‘Sixth Man of the Game.’”

And lastly, Musburger came under fire at the beginning of 2017 for comments he made about college football player Joe Mixon, who was charged with assault after punching a woman so hard in the face he broke several bones.

Musburger, while calling the incident “brutal” and “uncalled for,” during the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, said he wished Mixon well and hoped he enjoyed a successful NFL career, lashing out at those who criticized him for his praise.

ESPN and Musburger say his comments, which drew sharp condemnation from viewers, are not the reason he is leaving the network.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Remembering all the creepy comments made by broadcaster Brent Musburger about women."