Courtesy of some expected common sense, a potential national nightmare was averted earlier this weekend.
Along with Lee Corso, one of the constants you can count on seeing when you turn on ESPN‘s College GameDay Saturday mornings during the football season is the Washington State flag flying somewhere in the crowd, regardless of from where the show originates. Ol’ Crimson first appeared around the GameDay set in Austin on Oct. 4, 2003, and has made it to every show since, a streak of 224 straight appearances.
Unfortunately, there was some serious concern earlier this month that the streak wouldn’t make it to 225.
ESPN announced Aug. 13 that College GameDay would set up camp and televise its popular pregame show from Walt Disney World ahead of the Week 0 Florida-Miami matchup at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium Aug. 24. In a cruel and potentially streak-ending twist, the Magic Kingdom’s rules prohibit, among other things, flags from being flown on the Walt Disney World Resort Property.
All was right with the world in the end, though, as Ol’ Crimson was indeed front and center ahead of what would turn out to be a Gators win over the Hurricanes as, not surprisingly, Disney bent its rules regarding not only flags but signs as well.
And there it is. #TheShotSeenRoundTheWorld MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. More to come from the Magic Kingdom. #GoCougs #WaveTheFlag @olcrimson #225 pic.twitter.com/XFc1hsK3OP
— OlCrimsonOG (@Cougwill) August 24, 2019
Hey, look at this,” ESPN’s Rece Davis said as the flag was shown. “Look who made it into the Magic Kingdom.”
“The streak’s alive,” Kirk Herbstreit said.
“I want to point out, too, the streak is legit and authentic,” Davis added. “Now, we’ll cooperate with our friends, but Washington State has to do its part and they have.”
Herbstreit chimed in: “They’ve made big efforts throughout this streak and they made another one today.”
“Congrats to the Cougs,” ESPN’s Desmond Howard said.