What's wrong with Mike Tirico? NBC's Kentucky Derby host dealing with potential illness, absence

Billy Heyen

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What's wrong with Mike Tirico? NBC's Kentucky Derby host dealing with potential illness, absence image

Mike Tirico is ubiquitous as a host on NBC's biggest sporting events.

But on Saturday, his Kentucky Derby host status came into question.

Tirico was missing on the set as of about 3:15 p.m. ET in favor of Ahmed Fareed.

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What's wrong with Mike Tirico?

Here's what we know for sure: Mike Tirico had to step away from the NBC lead-in to the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon.

Temporary host Ahmed Fareed shared that Tirico is feeling "under the weather."

A number of social media posters wondered about Tirico's status about half an hour before he was taken off the broadcast.

One wrote, "Mike Tirico is a real mudder fighting a cold."

Fareed implied that Tirico may return to the set when the marquee race of the day gets closer.

But as of 3:15 p.m. ET, Tirico was missing, a strong voice for NBC lacking for at least a little while.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle