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Fans are praying for\u00a0Kirk Herbstreit<\/a>\u00a0and his family following some heartbreaking personal news.<\/p>\n The ESPN broadcaster attracted rife criticism after Ohio State beat Notre Dame to win the National Championship on Monday night, especially because he could not hold the tears back during the postgame segment on SportsCenter.<\/p>\n He has since disclosed how hard the last year has been for him, revealing his wife Alison was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, compounding the loss of his dog Ben and his son Zak\u2019s heart issues.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t really talked about this publicly, but Ali my wife faced some stuff. It\u2019s been a tough year for me behind the scenes,\u201d Herbstreit said on \u2018The Pat McAfee Show<\/a>\u2019. \u201cMy wife got diagnosed with breast cancer, Ben dies, it was just a lot of emotion. And when you do what we do, you endure.<\/p>\n \u201cYou do your job. And I think what happened, I couldn\u2019t predict it, but when they won \u2026 it was like almost, I don\u2019t know, maybe a release of all that pent-up stuff. And it just got the best of me. I\u2019m an emotional guy in general and when things touch my heart, I\u2019m not good at talking when that happens.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n “It’s been a tough year for my family and I have a lot of gratitude for Ryan Day..<\/p>\n I was just so happy for him and his players..<\/p>\n My wife was in the booth with me and we were looking down watching our son” @KirkHerbstreit<\/a> #PMSLive<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hCaju4KUsK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n