Snow popped up in a few places across the college football landscape Saturday thanks to Winter Storm Argos. It showed up in Ann Arbor during the afternoon, but if you watched College GameDay Saturday morning you would have known that the white stuff was already in the state of Michigan, because ESPN’s Sam Ponder was absolutely freezing in it during the barnstorming morning show.
ESPN’s Sam Ponder will be unhappy in the cold again this upcoming Saturday
Stop doing this to her, ESPN.
Host Rece Davis throws it to her for a segment with David Pollack, and Ponder immediately dispenses with the common TV segment handoff pleasantries.
“Sam and David are down in the midst of the snow ... try to stay warm, Sam.”
“Good luck with that, ain’t nobody got time for small talk, it’s too cold.”
Pollack asks her at the end, “you cold Sam? your teeth are chattering a little bit.”
“I’m trying to fake it, but I am not an actress, Rece.” And she was certainly not here for Desmond Howard telling her to “toughen up.” Howard played at Michigan and also for the Green Bay Packers, so he’s used to some powder. But apparently there’s an inside joke about his lack of adjustment to the cold even after all this time.
“Everybody on our set knows that Desmond can’t handle the winter.”
I am firmly with Mrs. Ponder (a Phoenix native) here.
I can confirm that cold weather and snow are indeed trash. As a recent Florida transplant to the home of ESPN, (Bristol, Connecticut) I’m having a rude awakening as well. But at least I’m home for the holidays in the Sunshine State. Ponder had to deal with the elements in Kalamazoo.
She did an interview with Western Michigan coach PJ Fleck in the cold as well.
Her spot with George Whitfield occurred while it was literally snowing sideways.
Ponder’s Saturday responsibilities don’t end when the clock hits noon, however.
If College GameDay isn’t at the site of the Saturday Night Football game, Ponder and Kirk Herbstreit get on a plane and fly to wherever the marquee game of the week is. This time it was Morgantown, West Virginia for Oklahoma-West Virginia. But what was awaiting Ponder at her next stop?
You guessed it, it was snowing in Morgantown as well. But here’s the thing: it wasn’t doing so 24 hours earlier.
In the last indecency of the day, the temperature plummeted 40 degrees overnight and the wintery stuff rolled in. But as a consummate professional, she delivered in her second snowy setting of the day.
And she’ll have to do it again on Saturday, as her assignment is Michigan-Ohio State.
It’ll be slightly better for her on the sidelines of the biggest game of the season. The early forecast calls for an overcast day and a 44-degree kickoff temperature. But as we’ve seen, weather can take a turn for the worst very rapidly.
So to recap: snow is bad, yet Samantha Ponder is very good at her job no matter the temperature. Cheers to you Sam, but with like hot chocolate or something, not anything remotely cold.
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