The following was written by my fiancee, Kim. This has been bugging us both for awhile now, and she worded it better than I could and still walk the streets in safety….

Female Sports Commentators: Get Off The Field
by Kim

I am a woman; a woman who happens to like sports. I liked sports long before a sports-loving man came into my life but, due in part to his presence, I am much more cognizant of sports that I ever was before now.

I love my Patriots and have a love/hate/love/hate relationship with my Red Sox dependent upon how much they are screwing up at any point in the season. I have way more baseball knowledge that anything else, but due to my incessant questions on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights, I am improving every week in my quest for football knowledge. I must say, that is partly because of the extreme patience with which those silly, basic questions are received and answered each time I feel the need to ask one. That extreme patience that is nothing short of amazing to me. (Thanks, Bob!)

I consider myself to be fiercely independent. I was a single mother for a long time and have encountered struggles throughout my life that have made me a stronger woman. As a strong woman, I know there are many things I can definitely do. More importantly, I know there are things that I probably shouldn’t even attempt. I shouldn’t be in a dark alley alone at 2 a.m. because I know I am physically unable to strong-arm some man who may be there to harm me. I know I shouldn’t be on the front lines of a battle because my physical limitations would slow down my fellow soldiers putting them in harm’s way. I know my brain does not handle statistics and numbers, as well as that of a number of my male counterparts, which sometimes put me at a disadvantage during technical talk. Most of all, I know I shouldn’t be a sportscaster.

Don’t get me wrong. Even with my limited knowledge of sports, I can usually hold my own in a sports conversation. I know the basic premise is to win and be the best. I know about a number of sports related issues and can discuss them intelligently. I also know how much it irks me to see a woman on the sidelines asking some athlete how he “feels”.

Last night, while watching the Red Sox celebration after clinching the AL East title, the question of “feelings” came up time and time again. Being a woman of reasonable intelligence, I knew exactly how they felt. I have won things before, most of us have. We all basically know how it feels to win and be the best. Even if by some slim chance you have never won anything in your life, you could have taken one look at how the players were behaving and quickly determined for yourself exactly how they felt. Red Sox commentators Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo weren’t asking anyone how they felt. The thought to ask such an asinine question probably never even crossed their minds. No matter though, because the strategically-placed women in the locker room and on the field had the feelings aspect covered completely and, frankly, it made them look somewhat ridiculous.

As a marketing ploy, I am sure having a “hot chick” deliver the sports news or ask some athlete how he feels was thought to be pure genius. Not only does that satisfy a man’s visual nature but also plays into a woman’s emotional, “How do you feel?” nature, but enough is enough. You’ve made your point. Take the women out of the locker room and off the field and the feelings will follow. Let’s get back to the task and hand and let some former player ask an athlete what he thinks the next step is or how they plan to keep winning. Maybe, instead of asking them how they feel, someone, other than the hot chick, can offer some first hand expert analysis on what has happened and what is, hopefully, to come. Let the athletes play their games and, win or lose, keep their feelings to themselves. We, as fans, know EXACTLY how they are feeling as we are all feeling it, too!

Are you ready for some REAL football? I certainly am.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.