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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mary Clarke

Fans blasted Kirk Herbstreit for mispronouncing Shohei Ohtani’s name on Thursday Night Football

Kirk Herbstreit Shohei Ohtani Football

Shohei Ohtani and his monster $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers is no doubt the biggest sports story we’ve seen over the last few months. That fact alone makes it quite bewildering that someone like Kirk Herbstreit managed to mispronounce Ohtani’s name during Week 16’s Thursday Night Football game.

With the Los Angeles Rams hosting the New Orleans Saints, Ohtani made an appearance at neighboring SoFi Stadium, thrilling fans in the process. Given Ohtani’s celebrity status as a superstar baseball player, it’s no wonder all eyes were on the 29-year-old during his time at the game.

During the Thursday Night Football broadcast with Al Michaels and Herbstreit, the duo talked about the Dodgers star as he was shown on the big screens in the stadium. But instead of saying “Shohei Ohtani”, Herbstreit said something completely different.

Yikes. Given that it seems Herbstreit was coming into Thursday night’s game a bit under the weather, the mispronunciation could have very well been an honest mistake. It happens! Still, it’s not a great look to mispronounce the name of baseball’s biggest star on a national broadcast like that.

Sports fans also took exception to Herbstreit’s mispronouncing Ohtani’s name on Thursday Night Football.

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