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Women and Sports

14
Vote

by Kayos

As most people know, women being involved in sports is very minuscule. The reason being is we have too much of an emotional brain wire to comprehend or even make a decent contribution to them. I beg to differ. Most of my female friends are very active in sports. Very few of those friends can actually hold a decent conversation. Only one I know of is proficient in sports as much as I am. Yet, men (generally speaking) won't allow the ladies access.

In a way I can see where they are coming from. Take Dana Jacobson. She's an anchor on ESPN2's First Take and I don't like her presence that she portrays while being on-air whether it is television or radio. She holds her own but I think she's more of a reporter than a sports commentator. Linda Cohn. Excellent sports journalist but not much of a commentator. Those fru-frus found on the sidelines are horrible. I find myself always wondering what in the devil are they asking the coaches.

Now those women that make for great commentators, the females who actually know the sport and can converse the inner workings of the game are few and very far between. Robin Roberts before she moved to network television, excellent. Cheryl Miller, Sports anchor for TNT, excellent. Stacey Dales, Kara Lawson, and a few select others are great commentators. We need more of these females because they know the mechanics. We don't need the female that is there to look pretty. We need a woman that knows what type of question to ask and why she's asking it.

So why is it that the females that know their sports aren't allowed the sideline pass into the fraternity? Has it become such a male dominated society that women can't be considered for the position? I've seen the community and breaking into it is a hard one and literally on the who you know basis. Women have the vast knowledge of sports if they want to have it. It doesn't take much for her to study the game. I've studied football since college. I lacked the information on how to break into sports journalism. The position for females in sports are limited to basketball because of the female counterpart and football so the men have someone to look at during pre-game, halftime, and post-game. This isn't fair to the females that can observe and watch the game with as much intensity as most men do. Does sports have to be limited to the male perspective?


Enable Comment Auto-Refresher
KelsdadAll-Star
832 days ago
Score 3+-
Amy Lawrence. She's an ex-college basketball player and works the overnight shift from Bristol on ESPN Radio. Sweet voice, very knowledgeable. Don't even realize I'm listening to a female half the time, which I guess is the ultimate compliment.
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JuTMSY4Legend
832 days ago
Score 2+-
As far as broadcasting...you're right...when you stop thinking about her as a women and more as a commentator/anchor...its a good thing
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Ea34Div-I Stud
832 days ago
Score 1+-
That's how I always felt about Robin Roberts. Her work on ESPN was outstanding!
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JuTMSY4Legend
832 days ago
Score 5+-
I hope this isn't received as a sexist comment...but a big issue is: Men are physically better at most sports...Realistically a men is more physically "gifted" (for lack of a better term) than women...

As far as sports reporting...well...its certainly further along than it was even 10 years ago...I mean, you just rattled off 10 names who wouldn't have been even close to the sports news business 10 years ago

Finally...the internet has made the sports world, not only more accessable to women, but people in general...and the results are clear...

Look at AGM regular meg...she probably knows more about baseball, football and sox/pats than most people here...look at her comment scores ; - )
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MegECass110AAA-er
832 days ago
Score 1+-
Awwwwwwwwww thanks
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KayosWaterboy
831 days ago
Score 0+-
I will concede that men are realistically better because a woman wasn't really bred for handling the physical endurance. Truly and women be honest...we weren't.
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JuTMSY4Legend
831 days ago
Score 0+-
I think that has a profound effect on sports...but...thanks to mediums like the paper or more notably the internet, women can enter the sports discussion much more freely... Its also one case where being overly PC is good, because you're forcing people to take note...
Permalink
MegECass110AAA-er
832 days ago
Score 4+-
I can understand what you're saying. I think a large part of why there aren't many women in sports (the number is growing, by the way) is many women are intimidated by trying to hold their own amongst men. They don't realize they can have their own perspective and not just try to bicker with the guys.

You talk about sports being limited to the male perspective; shouldn't the male and female perspective be pretty similar though? We watch the same games, we think the same things, we enjoy the sports just as much. Sure, I have a soft spot in my heart for some good-looking athletes and leadership, but still, I'd like to think my perspective is similar to what most other guys are thinking.

Good article :)
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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer
832 days ago
Score 3+-
Good article. Seriously, thanks for sharing.

Now the million dollar question:

Does the world really need women to emulate the Woody Paiges and Jay Mariottis of the sports world?
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KayosWaterboy
831 days ago
Score 1+-
Woody Paige? Yes. Jay Mariotti? No. Don't like Jay. He's too one-sided to me. Woody Paige is all round comical. May not have the sports down as I would like but he's funny as hell. When you watch Around the Horn, always check out his chalkboard. Very interesting things on that board.
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SSreportersLegend
832 days ago
Score 2+-
I heard all of those women joined ESPN to beat up on Mike Tirico. (See Sexual Harassment Suspension)
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InterMatAll-American
832 days ago
Score 2+-
There definitely is a shortage of good women broadcasters. ESPN seems to use the same cover all broadcaster for much of their women's coverage. Of course, for women's hoops, it's all UConn and all UT all the time. Even during the days when my alma mater was making runs at a national title and ranked #1, the conversation was all about Geno and Pat. But back to broadcasting, good ones are hard to find because I don't think people take them seriously. The Fabulous Sports Babe schtick was boring, the Fantoo girls are good to listen to and bring a casual, but informative sports approach. It would be great to see a commmentator/reporter in sports along the lines of an Ashleigh Banfield, for example. I loathe listening to Beth Mowins call ANY game, however.
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SSreportersLegend
832 days ago
Score 2+-
Your ears are much more accustomed to Beth Mowins than most people.
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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer
832 days ago
Score 1+-
I don't think it is a matter of "shortage" but rather "few opportunities". If Tony Kornheiser is in the booth for Monday Night Football, it must be the end of the line for male commentators and the dawn of new era rapidly approaching...
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SSreportersLegend
832 days ago
Score 2+-
Who wants Pam Ward for MNF play-by-play?
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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer
832 days ago
Score 3+-
As long as it ain't Joe Theismann or Kornheiser, I'm still listening...
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JuTMSY4Legend
832 days ago
Score 2+-
I think Women sportwriters may reveal more broadcasting/commentating opportunities... I don't hate Jackie McMullin because she's a women, i hate her because she's an idiot...just like I don't like Michael Smith because he's black, i like him because he's not an idiot!
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JuTMSY4Legend
832 days ago
Score 2+-
i know that comment didn't make a ton of sense...just go with it!
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SSreportersLegend
832 days ago
Score 3+-
McMullan never wins on ATH, and rightfully so.
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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer
832 days ago
Score 2+-
At first glance, it looks like you are debating whether or not you like Michael Smith. "I don't like him because he's black, [but] I like him because he's not an idiot."
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JuTMSY4Legend
832 days ago
Score 1+-
uhhh...well my point is...Michael Smith and Jackie McMullen's sex and/or race have nothing to do with what i think of them....I dislike McMullen because she's dumb and I like smith because he's smart...
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RawbeezeitzMajor Leaguer
832 days ago
Score 3+-
Suzyn Waldman probably set women back 10 years.
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SSreportersLegend
832 days ago
Score -1+-
Pam Ward passes as a woman I think.
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KelsdadAll-Star
832 days ago
Score 2+-
The Fabulous Sports Babe? Holy No talent, batman! Someone actually remembered her for longer than 5 minutes after her career ended?

I remember when Suzyn Waldman was actually good. She fell into the trap of all (most) sportscasters..read dribble because you are contracturally obligated to do so by the sponsors, force yourself to say something because there are too many people in the booth nowadays, and so on. She's in the crapper for the same reason as others, not because of talent, but because outside influences affect your performance.

Robin Roberts went to work at ESPN every day for what, ten years? and I'm sure she got her share of shit jobs, sexist comments, and so on, and this as a former Division I athlete to boot. She perservered, and is now a respected National journalist for ABC. Sad to hear she is fighting breast cancer, hopefully she is able to get back on the air.
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KayosWaterboy
831 days ago
Score 1+-
Ya'll had serious conversation and I didn't een get to chim in with ya. Man, I'm gonna have to do my writing in the morning.  :) I'm really enthused at how many of you are very open to women in sports and with that I salute every one of you. Oh and Meg, you and I are among a very small club.
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