Steve Kornacki is going for the gold-en girls.
While discussing the dominance of the U.S. women’s basketball team during the 3rd hour of TODAY on Wednesday after the squad won its 50th consecutive Olympic game in a streak dating back to 1992, the NBC News national political correspondent invoked the name of "Golden Girls" star Betty White.
Since women’s basketball became an Olympic sport in 1976, the United States is a staggering 66-3 with eight gold medals, with the first one coming in 1984. The team has won gold medals in every Olympic Games dating back to 1996.
So, how can you adequately put that into perspective? Kornacki found a way by comparing the team's accomplishments since 1976 to the national treasure that is White.
“Betty White — she’s been around awhile," he said. "How many Emmys does she have in that time? Is it more or less than eight? Which one of these is bigger, the number of golds for the U.S. women’s basketball team or the number of Emmys for, I believe, 100-year-old Betty White?”
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While White is actually 99, Kornacki’s question set off a debate among Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Jacob Soboroff, Sheinelle Jones and Jenna Bush Hager, who had to guess.
Jenna went with the team, while Al and Craig said White, while Soboroff admitted he Googled the answer.
As it turns out, White has won five Emmy Awards in her career, with the first one actually coming in 1975 for her work on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Her last victory came in 2010 for hosting “Saturday Night Live.”
She’s certainly no slouch, though, having notched a total of 21 Emmy nominations in her career, a number that the women’s basketball team can only hope to achieve in a few decades or so.
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