...So Erin Andrews covered a baseball game for ESPN one day...

I’ve wanted to write about Erin Andrews for a long time but just never had the desire to until now.

For those of you unfamiliar with Andrews, she is a reporter for ESPN. She covers events as a sideline reporter and interviewer. Her profile has risen the past few years and has become a household name within the sports television world.

She’s considered attractive, talented and actually does a decent job in my opinion. From a strictly looks prospective, she’s cute but not to the level that some guys are talking about. If I saw her on the street in Nashville, I would say, “OK, she’s cute.”

I really don’t have usage for sideline reporters, which I’ll get into later. So, for what she’s told to do, she’s competent.

She also has a good prospective on what she does, her role in sports, is blog-friendly (which is a positive in my book obviously) and a lot of other positives.

However, since Andrews has such a high profile position on ESPN, the backlash is starting to happen.

She recently covered a Cubs/Brewers game on ESPN and her wardrobe and general professionalism was called into question by Mike Nadel, a Chicago news service columnist. Here’s his post, which I suggest at least glancing at before reading my opinion of it: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/sports/columnists/x1370764220/Mike-Nadel-Blonde-bombshell-cant-distract-red-hot-Cubs

Of course this got some responses. First, here’s a relatively objective male prospective from Deadspin: http://deadspin.com/5031564/the-erin-andrews-backlash-has-officially-begun

I mostly agreed with the Deadspin article, however, I wanted to get a woman’s prospective. I usually look at things from a male prospective first because I'm a dude and I can't avoid it. Then as a minority such as an Eskimo (who never get the respect they deserve), someone from Panama or a black person, whichever one I feel like first. And then maybe from a woman's prospective. I have the male and minority thing down but sometimes find it difficult with women. So I came across this article: http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/andrewsreact.html

Finally, I then talked with another woman who’s a sports follower, my good friend Joan for her view on the situation.

She told me that first, she finds sideline reporters useless, which I disagree with somewhat. The only times that the reporters are useful are in two situations. First, if someone blows out a knee or something and they aren’t coming back in the game, that’s kinda important. Second, if they’re crappy like Emmitt Smith, OJ Simpson or Eric Dickerson. That unintentional comedy is very joyful to see.

BTW, what is up with Black Hall of Fame running backs being bad in this position? If we see Barry Sanders or Tony Dorsett on the sidelines, I’ll be scared.

Joan then told me that she agreed with the Milwaukee reported I linked to earlier. She said that good looking women tend to be ignorant to the fact that their looks helped them get into that position. She was also fair to point out that there’s nothing wrong with that, which I agree with. People get positions because of looks, race, age and a lot of other things like that. Society, especially employment, isn’t fair.

Joan then said that women in the sporting industry have to be great at their job to earn respect. I do agree with that. I can also say the same for minorities and people of certain ages and looks. However, that’s really a commentary of television in general.

People use the joke that you have a face for radio, but that’s true. You can’t move away from the fact that Andrews’ attractiveness helps her career.

Joan then proceeded to tell me this, and I’ll quote her:

“I also think that if you're just good at your job, you shouldn't have to flirt or wear inappropriate clothes (and yes, she {Andrews} does wear inappropriate clothes). The other part of being a woman in the sports industry means that you have to carefully walk a thin line: you can't be a bitch, but you also can't be a smiling, weak, yes-(wo)man, or you'll get walked over. You have to know how to stand up for yourself and how to voice opinions and disagree with people, but you have to be able to do it tactfully, diplomatically and respectfully or you'll never get people to work with you, or respect you.”

Joan then talked about the dress being inappropriate for the workplace, which in this case is a baseball field. Interesting insight into the issue indeed.

OK, so I’ve heard every opinion possible (accept from an Eskimo. If one of you knows an Eskimo, I would ask him or her as well).

Here’s my prospective of it, in bullet-point style:

• Andrews can’t help that she’s attractive. That’s my first thought. Along with that, if she wears a dress and looks well, is that her fault? It’s not like she’s wearing lingerie out there.

It’s the middle of the frickin summer and its baseball. Her dress wasn’t inappropriate at all. “Playing the sexpot?” I don’t get that at all.

But, once again, I’m a guy on this issue.

• If she’s taking advantage of her looks, good for her. People act like only women do this. Why do you think you don’t see ugly men on things such as early morning shows like Good Morning America and Today, soap operas and other “female-focused” shows?

The majority of men who watch ESPN like attractive women and the network knows this.

• She’s does interviews/sideline reporting. Personally, I can do without it because I really don’t find it interesting. If Andrews and other sideline reporters left TV, I wouldn’t really care. However, for what she does, Andrews does a good job. Why do some people really care about this? She’s there to provide some fun stuff. If she’s friendly with the players before the game, that’s probably a good thing. The players will be more open with her and we can learn more about their hobbies or how many cars they own, you know, tangible information like that.

• These are men. There have been hundreds of times when I’ve been hanging out with my friends and a cute girl walks by and we say that she’s cute or give an extra look. It is what it is. So what if the Cubs players were giving each other the general nod of approval guys give to each other. It happens. As long as they weren’t disrespectful towards her, let it be.

To be fair, here’s an interview that Nadal did with Deadspin defending his side of the story: http://deadspin.com/5031910/mike-nadel-got-your-e+mail-and-is-actually-quite-a-reasonable-fellow

Furthermore, here’s Andrews’ response to all of this stuff. http://ww3.startribune.com/blogs/randball/2008/08/02/erin-andrews-my-overall-reaction-is-that-its-really-sad/

I think in the end that Nadal and others are feeling some form of envy towards Andrews. She has become a major commodity. If she sucked at her job and was just getting by on her looks, then I can understand the dislike towards her.

However, she and many other female journalists like Suzy Kolber, Andrea Kramer, Pam Oliver, Bonnie Bernstein, Michelle Tafoya, Hannah Storm, Leslie Visser and a whole bunch of others do a good job at what they do. I really don’t care how they look. I’m watching the game more than anything.

If anything the crappiness of overall sports broadcasting announcers currently should be a bigger issue.

If Nadal thinks that there are some unattractive women out there who aren’t getting sports broadcasting positions because of Andrews, that’s probably true, but tough luck. While sports are a business, it’s also entertainment. The entertainment world works like this.

Finally, its frickin sports! Just relax.

This isn’t like Anderson Cooper interviewing President Bush on the Iraq War or something like that. Its sports.

I would love to hear your opinions on this topic. If you agree with me, cool. If you don’t agree with me, I would love to hear that side as well. And if you’re that minority that I’ve mentioned throughout this post, you will get premium coverage in my post in response to this post, because you know that’s coming.

For now, here’s Michael Scott’s prospective of women in the workplace. If you follow his lead, I guarantee a firing from your job and possibly a sexual harassment suit. Good times! Because you deserved it.

If marriage is like this, why get married? (Football edition)

I came across this article a few days ago and I’ve wanted to address the topic before and this is a good opportunity to.

The article was on Deadspin, which should tell you immediately that it shouldn’t be taken seriously. I recommend taking a look at it before you read my thoughts on it. Here’s a link: http://deadspin.com/5025638/your-nfl-season-brownie-point-calculator

OK, hopefully by now you’ve at least skimmed it. The basics are that this guy feels compelled to make a list of items that he can do for his wife to watch football games in the fall.

I’m going to list each of the items that can be done for the wife and give my thoughts.

First, I have several things to say. I’m single and never had a serious girlfriend. I’ve also don’t have any children. My opinions may be limited to this scope, but it’s the prospective that I have.

Second, in general, if your wife is giving you crap for watching a football game, seriously reevaluate that situation. If you can’t take a few hours to watch your favorite team play a ball game without getting crap from your significant other, that’s a shame on you moment.

OK, here are the tasks:

1) Stealing Gossip Magazines from the gym or doctor’s office: This wouldn’t be an issue because I read that stuff all the time. Yeah, make fun of me for caring about stuff going on in the Hills or Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. It’s a guilty pleasure. I’ll still read Sports Illustrated but throw in a People magazine in there as well. No problems here.

In relation to this, get your girlfriend stuff she likes once in a while. While you’re picking up that case of beer or getting those nachos, get some stuff she needs, even the unfun female hygene items, if you know what I’m saying. Don’t be selfish.

2) Take the kids out for a full morning/afternoon by yourself: First, IT’S YOUR FRICKIN KID! For someone who grew up with a single mother, it’s a shame that spending time with your kid can get you brownie points.

Kids are a pain in the ass at time, I know, but its your family. I personally enjoy spending time with my nieces and nephews, taking them to games, going shopping, stuff like that. I like shopping at A&F or Claires with my niece. Don’t hate.

BTW, a good way to pick up women is to have a little kid with you. They’re better than dogs! If you don’t have a wedding ring on, most women will know that you’re not married. Even if they think its your kid, most women are fine with dating a single parent so that shouldn’t scare them off. If you interact with the kid well, it shows your nurturing side, but it has to be natural because women can see through an act.

3) Doing some random chore without her having to ask: Clean up after yourself, wow that sounds like such a challenge!

4) Watching her favorite tv show/movie with her: Ladies, here’s something you may or may not know. That TV show/movie that your significant other complains about not liking, he may actually like it! Don’t let him fool you into thinking that he completely despises watching Project Runway or Grey’s Anatomy or America’s Next Top Model or whatever female-driven show is out there.

I can watch any show or movie, find the hot chick in it and be content. Most guys can do the same.

Anyway, spend time with your lady. As cool as it is to stay up till 1 AM playing video games or watching my soap operas and court room shows, any girl that wants to watch anything with me is fine in my book, whatever it is. Besides, she’s probably put up with watching Sportscenter and stuff she’s not interested in. Balance.

5) Doing Taxes: Do them together, you have to check your money. DTA, kids. Don’t trust anyone, wife, girlfriend, baby mama, none of them.

6) Planning some sort of special dinner, birthday party or brunch: If it involves food, I’m down with planning it. This shouldn’t be a problem at all.

7) Conceiving and completing some sort of godforsaken house project: I have many skills but housework isn’t one of them. If you want me to build you a deck or make a counter, that’s not going to happen.

However, I know my limits. As I learned from my sister-in-law Angie, never, ever make a promise to a woman that you can’t keep. If you say that you’re going to mow the lawn in the morning, make sure that you do it. It makes life easier.

So if the wife wants me to do something I’m not good at, I’ll just tell her. She married me, she knows what’s up.

8) Fixing something without having to call a service to do it: Read above.

9) Going out on couple dates where wives are best friends but the husbands have little or nothing in common: First, every guy has something in common with another guy. It can be sports, movies, tv shows, music, something.

I don’t think that spending time with others should be a way to get in with your wife. Just tell the wife that you don’t like doing couple dates and work on a compromise.

10) Not being a golfer. I’ve never played golf, so I’m not the best reference for this one.

It’s cool if you want to hit some balls once in a while, but my goodness, if you spend every waking moment trying to play golf instead of being with your wife, once again, reevaluate your situation.

It goes both ways, if you don’t abuse playing golf all the time and just want play a few holes once in a while, go ahead and do it. She has to be understanding of your hobbies. Balance.

11) Finishing all of the Sun Chips: This considered something that will get you less time watching football.

If you’re sharing some food with your wife, don’t take all of it. Even better, you can get some food for her and some for you. I like to eat and hopefully your wife does too. Nothing annoys me more than some girl that acts like she doesn’t want to eat. Have that burger when we’re on a date!

Those were the ones mentioned in the article, but let me finish with some final thoughts.

First, get frickin TIVO!

Second, a lot of these potential problems can be solved with two things.

1) Communicate with your girlfriend/future wife about some of this stuff before you get married and have kids. I’m going to work in sports for the rest of my life. It’s a grueling profession that takes your time and you make minimal to no money. It sucks for relationships, but all of my future girlfriends and maybe wife will know of this stuff at the beginning. I’ll lay it out for her so she’ll know what’s up.

I also like sports in my spare time. So, if I’m watching some crappy WAC football, she’ll know that its just part of my personality. Besides, I’ll TIVO the game, wait till she goes to sleep and watch the game alone, without commercials later.

2) Compromise. Sports are fun, but they shouldn’t be the most important thing in your life if you decide to get married and have kids. Please don’t let a most likely crappy football game weaken your bond with your family. Just catch the highlights on the NFL Network or ESPN.

Also, incorporate your wife/girlfriend into your sports. Don’t treat it like it’s a separatist event. I love explaining to women the rules of any game that I’m watching with her. Teach her some stuff and she may like the sports and become a fan. Then, you can watch the game with her, hence you get your sports fix and you spend time with her. Perfect.

However, if you’re hell bent on watching every single game with your buddies, then don’t get married or have kids.

I may never get married or have kids because of my sports career. It will be lonely, but I know that this is the life that I’ve potentially chosen and I’ve accepted it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Here’s some clips from the Office, that’s what she said!

Sunday Reflections (with a twist)

Sunday Reflections are going to be different this week. I starting writing on some topics and they are getting lengthy. As a result, I’ll incrementally post each topic separately throughout Sunday night.

I also cleaned out some of my favorite Web sites over the weekend and found some interesting videos. This one is of the best moments of the verbal warfare of Michael Scoot and Toby on The Office.

I might have to watch Get Smart after all

Besides fawning over Anne Hathaway as a hot spy, I had no motivation to see the new movie, Get Smart. However, my opinion may have changed.

This was a funny moment recently from the Daily Show when Jon Stewart interviewd Michael Scott, aka Steve Carell. Watch out for the five-minute mark. Good stuff.