Before you dive for the comment form and brand me a sexist idiot, give me 30 seconds and hear me out. This complaint has nothing to do with the quality of the reporting of the female sideline reporters; the good ones are good and the bad ones are bad just like any other reporting.
My biggest complaint about female football sideline reporters is that the once “new thing” of having a female sideline reporter has turned into the “token thing” or “compulsory thing” of having a female sideline reporter. It is a rare game now that does not have a female sideline reporter.
There have been a few attempts at having a woman do play-by-play but for the most part, the very fact that the female sports reporter is nowhere to be found other than the sideline at an NFL game or college game is proof that the position is at best a token gesture and at worst sloppy treatment of women for their looks by the network.
Are these women reporters beating out comparable men for the same position? Or are they filing a position the networks now offer only to females?
As a male sports fan, I can tell you that the token female sideline sports reporter does nothing for me sexually. If anything, a super hot chick interviewing my favorite coach as he tries to run off the field is a little distracting simply because of the fact the reporter is so elegantly beautiful and obviously misplaced next to frumpy old Bill Belichick in his sweaty hoodie.
I think the networks should crap or get off the seat. If they are honestly going to try to integrate women into sports reporting, do it. Although I probably wouldn’t enjoy listening to it very much, put them in the booth every now and then. If the networks aren’t serious about integrating them, stop what has become the obvious joke to everyone else.
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I agree that the token female sports reporter is a joke.
However, I feel that, as a woman, I am allowed to take this complaint a step further. I don’t particularly want ANY women as football reporters. I want a reporter who has some first hand experience! Women won’t really have this and the men who choose football reporting ought to. I value someone’s opinion much higher if they have actual experience doing what they are talking about.
If the fans don’t want to have women football reporters, do we still have to have them? I wish the answer was no.
Kristy on August 13th, 2007 at 8:48 pm | Link
Kristy, the issue with having reporters with first hand experience is that they are athletes first and reporters by chance. This often leads to some of the dumbest commentary imaginable, although not always.
My objection to the sideline reporters is they rarely have anything to say about the game in progress. They tell us a lot of “He said” “He said”. I think their main purpose should be to give injury reports. We don’t care what the players had for dinner last night or how many tickets they had to get for family.
Betty Marie on November 3rd, 2007 at 1:22 pm | Link
Women on the sidelines is annoying as hell. When they start babbling usless banter about how one of the players uses honey on his hemorroids, I mute and go take a crap. Stay in the kitchen where you belong.
Chad Snaggler on December 30th, 2007 at 4:31 pm | Link