I loved that article on Joe Namath. Still thinks he is a stud after all of these years...

I wanted to answer your question to why women sportscasters litter the side lines and not the booths. I think that they will not put women in the booths because there still is that belief that women don't know a lot about sports, which is bullshit. I also think that they are afraid it may turn off the male viewers who feel that women don't belong anywhere near the broadcast in the first place, and there are many men out there like that. I have a friend who is a local sportscaster in Philly and she also covers college football (on the sidelines) for ABC sports, and she knows more about sports than any man I know. I am in awe of her vast knowledge of many different sports. She is blonde and loves baseball-just the woman for you PK...

The sideline gig for women is a brief interview where they can be given all questions in advance, where as being in the booth you really have to know your shit to be spontaneous and talk non-stop about the sport being played. Besides, who the hell are you going to get to sit in the booth w/ John Madden that won't make him look even scarier? I love John Madden but what is with the eyebrows?

I agree with Cass (must be the holiday spirit) about the belief that somehow women don't know as much as men about sports, and so can't keep up with the non-stop stats that are tossed around during the table talk on the sports shows.

I think there's another element: the belief that women wouldn't fit in, or have the right 'chemistry' with a bunch of ex-jocks whose main schtick is as much the testosterone, hail-fellow-well-met, hoo-rah, we're-just-way-too-fricking-cool-for-words- as it is their knowledge of past games.

And that's a component too- the fact that many of them played pro sports. Last night on ESPN they were asking each other "so how long did you play?" 4 years for one, 11 years for another... They trade on their previous work experience in professional baseball/football/basketball/hockey to get them that spot around the table. Such a question would fall pretty flat if a woman were sitting with them.

Perhaps it is the fact that the nature of some of the banter might have to change (although change can be good!), and the fear that with a woman sitting there they couldn't be act like the idiots they sometimes do- or that she couldn't keep up with the male banter.

At any rate, it's sorta like women in combat- you can't go up the ranks unless you've had combat duty, but you can't have combat duty because you're a woman.

Hate those catch-22s.

just to chime in...
have you ever heard a woman do play by play for a sporting event...it just doesnt fit...and i dont mean that in any bad way but imagine a woman dick vitale...try putting a female in there with sean salisbury and tom jackson...i cant see it working..

My friend, the female sportscaster, knows more about baseball then alot of people. When you get her started on the topic, men shut up and listen because she knows her shit. Actually, I told her once that I was jealous of some of her expertise as it must be great for meeting men. She said that it mostly works against her because guys feel inferior or intimidated. She is also gorgeous and fun, so I guess that is how she meets men.

I can assure you that if you put me in a booth at at any NHL game, I could talk with the best of them. Of course I never played pro hockey (I am a woman) but I know everything about the sport, I was raised on hockey and just as importantly I am passionate about it.

HOW CAN ANYONE SAY THAT A WOMAN DOING PLAY BY PLAY IN THE BOOTH WOULDN'T FIT, YET THAT NON-ATHLETIC IDIOT, DENNIS MILLER, WAS ALLOWED TO DO IT? His only qualification is that he has a dick. He never played pro-ball. The closest he ever got to football players is when he got his ass kicked by them in the school yard as a kid. I stopped watching Monday Night Football just because of him. He ruined MNF for me. I would have preferred a knowledgable woman over him any day.

I have a female friend who was a sportswriter for a daily paper. You wouldn't believe how many times men would tell her, "For a woman, you know a lot about sports." Tactless.

Good site, but don't you get tired of sucking the Yankees dick?

When I was at the 1997 MLB play-offs (Cleveland) i was checking out of my hotel the same time as Bonnie Bernstein, at the time with ESPN (used to be hotter too). That woman had 4 gigantic trunks, like the kind you'd see in the hold of an ocean liner. I don't know how they'd even fit on airplanes. It was her changes of clothes for being on the sidelines. Someone told me her producer fed her her lines too.

Dennis Miller in the booth was the worst thing they ever tried, and they couldn't get rid of him fast enough. But, if you want a woman in that booth, who comes to mind?
For me, I want guys in the booth that have played the game. Al Michaels is the only exception. And I don't want women in the goddamned locker rooms, unless you can get me a gig going into the womens' locker rooms after their games.

I would take the guy locker room interview gig in a heartbeat. No one is more perfect for that job then me. What guy wouldn't want a woman interviewing them while he is standing there in a towel? I would give every athlete a few intelligent questions to answer, let them re-cap the game in their own words and then I would rip the towel off of their body when they least expect it. Now that would be worth tuning in for. The first locker room interviews I would like to conduct are Derek Jeter (Yankees), Jeremy Roenick (Flyers)and Chad Lewis (Eagles). Seeing them naked would be newsworthy and informative:).

I am not complaining that there isn't any female broadcasters in the booth, but it is interesting that they don't exist. There are many women that could hold their own in that position. I love John Madden (though I loathe the eyebrows) and he cannot be replaced. Gene Hart was the best hockey broadcaster Philadelphia ever had. I agree with Neal--good riddance to Dennis Miller. He was a hack.

Not Hannah Storm. Good Lord, that woman is an annoyance. I watched her when she was just hired at CNN with Nick and Fred oh, like 15 or so years ago (16?), and she didn't know squat about sports. She'd fuck up the basics about hockey EVERYTIME, and basketball and baseball almost everytime. She'd occasionally get something right about football. I can put up with some mistakes by anyone, especially a rookie broadcaster and the rare woman back then to boot, but she could have at least taken the effort to learn the fucking difference between a winger and a defenseman. A couple of years ago the former Mr. Lucy and I saw an article about her, RAVING about how wonderful she was in sports broadcasting. Pfft.

Women have to be twice as good as men, sometimes, and it's not fair and it's not right but there it is. It's when they're just as bad as the rest of them that they get nailed instead of the other idjits....

I'm going to segueway from the talk of female sportscasters and and echo what Paul wrote about giving kudos to Brett Favre. Not only is Brett a class act, but he represents triumph in the face of adversity. Brett's play was amazing tonight...a wonderful tribute to his Dad.

I am a huge devotee of BR as well, and would suggest that you do as I do and sponsor a page (I sponsor the Kent Tekulve listing). For only a few bucks you can sponsor your favorite Yank (Oscar Gamble is only $15, and Mickey Rivers only $20), or $10 each for a gaggle of gagging Mets or Red Sox teams.