Brent Musburger Signs Katherine Webb Bikini Poster: “She’s a 10!”

I already liked Brent Musburger before the Katherine Webb “controversy” exploded, led by our old friend the Big Ten feminist professor in the Bill Cosby sweater, but after last night’s Kansas at Iowa State game, I’m officially in love with him. 

That’s because Musburger signed a student’s bikini poster of Webb and added this commentary above his signature, “She’s a 10!”

The exclamation mark really seals the deal for me.

This represents the capstone on a story that was always ridiculous — ESPN threw Brent Musburger under the bus.

To refresh, during the BCS title game ESPN cameras featured AJ McCarron’s girlfriend, Katherine Webb, in the crowd. Webb, a beauty pageant contestant and former Miss Alabama, is, not surprisingly, beautiful.   

Musburger commented on Webb’s beauty and then the stupidity started.

Turns out, a small segment of idiot feminists were offended by Musburger calling a beauty queen beautiful. Indeed, the New York Times featured one of the dumbest quotes in the history of the newspaper when it quoted Michigan State journalism professor Sue Carter, she of the Bill Cosby sweater, “It’s extraordinarily inappropriate to focus on an individual’s looks. In this instance, the appearance of the quarterback’s girlfriend had no bearing on the outcome of the game. It’s a major personal violation, and it’s so retrograde that it’s embarrassing.”

So ESPN issued this lame apology brought on my an even lamer New York Times story:

“We always try to capture interesting story lines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said. “However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.”

Musburger never really commented on the reprimand, but it was clear he didn’t feel he’d done anything wrong.

After ESPN apologized, Inside Edition hired Webb to report on the Super Bowl, Sports Illustrated paid her to pose in a bikini in its swimsuit issue, and Disney, the parent company of ESPN, in the most hypocritical move of all, put Webb in a bikini for a diving competition that will air in primetime on ABC. You may have noticed the promos for the new show airing Sunday night during the Oscars. Those promos definitely lingered on Webb’s bikini-clad body.  

Webb even went on Dan Patrick’s show and thanked Musburger for his help:

“Thank you for everything you’ve done and for helping my career and helping me make a new life for myself. I was in Los Angeles and I was already modeling before, so all of this stuff that I’m doing is no strange thing to me. I was actually having a hard time in Los Angeles booking jobs. … After all this happened, people started calling.”

I reached out to ESPN to see if they had a statement on Musburger’s latest, “She’s a 10!” commentary, but the network declined comment.

Meaning, you’re looking live at ESPN giving Brent Musburger the last word. Somewhere our Big Ten feminist in the Bill Cosby sweater is quietly weeping into her turtleneck.

It’s not an apology from ESPN, but it’s probably as close as Musburger’s going to get.

Well done, partner.